Here are some fairly basic funk grooves, which I’m really only posting as an excuse to get you to listen to this track, and the way the drummer plays it. The tune is Slop Jar […]
Category: 70s
Transcription: Ndugu Leon Chancler – Earth
Happy holidays everyone. Instead of finishing the other transcriptions I said I needed to finish, I started a new, really long one: Ndugu Leon Chancler playing Earth, from Joe Henderson’s album The Elements. I don’t […]
Transcription: John Guerin – Backfence Cattin’
Here’s some 70s funk in 3/4: Backfence Cattin’ by Tom Scott, with John Guerin on drums. You could call Scott L.A.’s answer to Dave Sanborn— big in the 70s-80s, R&B saxophonists who made some popular […]
Transcription: Gerry Brown / School Days
Here’s a funk/fusion classic: School Days, by Stanley Clarke, with Gerry Brown on the drums. Along with Weather Report’s Teen Town, and Donna Lee, this was one of the most-learned fusion things by electric bassists […]
Transcription: Jeff Porcaro — Southbound
This is a song from my childhood which I only ever new from one line, which my college-age friend Tom, from the Big Brother/Big Sister program, used to sing at odd times: Southbound / unfold […]
Transcription: Barney Miller Theme
Here are the drum performances on two versions of the very famous theme song from the TV show Barney Miller, which ran from 1974-82. The show was in syndication for many years, so the tune […]
Groove o’ the day: Jabo Starks — The Payback
I don’t know karate, but I know karazy. Here’s Jabo Starks playing James Brown’s classic, The Payback, which, if you don’t already have the record, you may know from Lock, Stock, And Two Smoking Barrels, […]
Transcription: Tony Williams — Lopsy Lu
2021 UPDATE: See my new listening guide for this track. Here’s the third of four big-deal transcriptions I have lined up for the fund raiser. I was going to save this for next week, but […]
Groove o’ the day: Tony Williams — Lopsy Lu
This is a super-classic bit of 70s fusion, from Stanley Clarke’s first self-titled solo record, with drumming by Tony Williams. I got this album used for 3 bucks around 1985, when I was buying everything […]
Transcription: Airto — Partido Alto
If you’ve been reading the blog regularly, you probably know that partido alto is the name of a rhythm used in Brazilian music. It’s also a style of samba, a funk samba groove, and the […]