Oh, what the hell, happy Saturnalia— I went ahead and transcribed the solo from the GOTD of a few days ago, Tarik, by Ed Blackwell, from Dewey Redman’s album of the same name. It’s a […]
Author: Todd Bishop
VOQOTD: the way it was, then
[F]ifty years ago, long [running gigs] were more commonplace. Oh, yeah. There was a club on 52nd Street called the Hickory House. I played in there for three months with Bill Evans, and for three […]
Groove o’ the day: Ed Blackwell — Tarik
Here’s something from I think the first record with Ed Blackwell I ever bought: Tarik, by Dewey Redman. It’s sort of Blackwell’s tom tom thing boiled down to it’s smallest essence: It will be up […]
Todd’s 11-note pattern: some examples in 4/4
One of the earlier things we did was a pretty exhaustive, four-page write up of an 11-note pattern which has for some time been coming up spontaneously in my playing. I’ve been working on it […]
Groove o’ the day: Ronald Shannon Jackson — Behind Plastic Faces
I guess I’m blogging in couplets this week. Speaking of one of my favorite records, Decode Yourself, by Ronald Shannon Jackson’s Decoding Society— long totally out of print, from a not-very-collectible era in jazz— I’m glad […]
VOQOTD: Ronald Shannon Jackson
“I play music and I play rhythms. I play them and I work on it because I hear something, then I just go sit down and start working on it. It’s like when my wife […]
Afro 6/8 exercise: getting the 3/4 pull
More on this. All I can say is, my readers should be absolutely killing it with their Afro 6/8 in the next 6-12 months. This is a basic counting and coordination exercise I’ve been using with […]
Transcription: Tiki intro
Hey, some time ago I promised you a new book— a collection of transcribed intros— before the end of the year. Work on that got sidelined as I was preparing for tour, and there’s no […]
Groove o’ the day: Tiki Fulwood — Red Hot Mama
Another GOTD by my favorite Funkadelic drummer, Tiki Fulwood. The tune is Red Hot Mama, from Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On, by Funkadelic, of course. The groove for the verse: The song […]
Smackdown
This is fun. Musicians at all levels of the business are becoming increasingly incensed at the devaluation of our work by people with money, and in the culture in general, and are becoming vocal about […]