Let me say up front that I’m always a little paranoid about venturing into Afro-Cuban music on the blog— I don’t have a lot of field experience playing it with knowledgeable people, and have had […]
Author: Todd Bishop
Paradiddle-diddle variations, for jazz
Hey, we haven’t done anything for the snare drum in awhile— in my own practicing I’ve been preoccupied with Dahlgren & Fine’s Accent On Accents books, and Buster Bailey’s Wrist Twisters, and my students are […]
VOQOTD: Erskine on Keltner and space
When you think of Keltner you think of these delicious, huge gaps, and when that backbeat comes down, it’s just sweet. And the reason it’s sweet is that it’s not filled up with a bunch […]
Groove o’ the day: Chico Hamilton — Conquistadores
Here’s a little 60’s funky LA cha cha (or guajira? Or something— it’s not a standard style) from the relatively unsung drummer/bandleader Chico Hamilton. This is Conquistadores, from his 1965 album El Chico: The right hand […]
Kenny Clarke plays an intro
Putting together a bebop podcast (which we’ll see here whenever I get it finished), this intro from 1941 by Kenny Clarke jumped out at me— the tune is Hot House, and the playing feels more […]
Page o’ coordination: another 5/4
OK, if you get burned playing a 5/4 because you haven’t practiced enough, don’t come crying to me. I’m doing all I can. This page is based on an ostinato that is sort of a […]
Crap!
A TECHNICAL NOTE: With the mid-90’s siren gif and everything, so you know it’s serious. Evidently our downloads have been, ah, down— inoperative— for a couple of days now, without my knowledge. The problem is […]
Transcription: Superstition — groove variations and fills
Experimenting with a different kind of transcription here. Stevie Wonder’s Superstition— from the album Talking Book, drums played by Wonder himself— is mainly a groove piece, but the groove is highly variable, and writing out […]
Perspectives on cymbals: part two
A recording engineer cries out: […] I’ve been giving some thought to the one thing that pisses me off the most when recording rock bands: drummers who incessantly bash the cymbals so they’re the loudest […]