For some reason* this particular pattern is always difficult for me: snare-bass/bass-snare on the second two triplet partials. So let’s work on it, adding the left foot, and varying the cymbal rhythm. If you find […]
Category: Afro 6
Simultaneous clave triplet pull exercise
Here’s something you can do with that silly “both clave directions at the same time” idea. In clave-based Latin music, the clave rhythm is often not played with a strict march-like execution; the 4/4 version […]
Billy Higgins trading 4s
This is from the same tune as the recent post Comping The Billy Way— Things Ain’t What They Used To Be, with Hank Jones and Ray Drummond, from the album The Essence. Here Higgins is […]
Page o’ coordination: Latin in 3 – 05
This is a fairly subtle variation on this Afro 6 feel, which we’ve covered pretty fully in the past few years, and possibly one of the easier entries in the series. I suppose you could […]
Practice loop in 6/4: Lilin
Here’s that practice loop for yesterday’s Figure Control page in 6/4, sampled from Lilin, played by John Zorn’s Masada. The tempo is a little easier than the other recent loop in 6. You’ll also find […]
Figure Control: 6-4 – Lilin – 01
Let’s just assume every post begins with an apology for the light posting— I’ve just been very busy with playing, teaching, and getting ready for an art show this past few weeks. This Funk Control/Figure […]
Page o’ coordination: Latin in 3 – 04
Here’s a fairly easy page of exercises in 3/4 Latin. The bell/cymbal pattern is similar to the regular Afro 6/8 rhythm, but simplified— you sometimes hear American drummers playing this rhythm in the 50s and […]
Transcription: Art Blakey – Afrique
Here’s the drum solo from the same tune as our GOTD the other day: Afrique, from The Witch Doctor, by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers. Blakey’s solos with his group often serve a compositional […]
Groove o’ the day: Art Blakey – Afrique
Here’s Art Blakey playing an Afro 6 feel in 1961, on Afrique, from the Jazz Messengers album The Witch Doctor— the first Blakey record I ever bought. I should start noticing when this type of […]
Page o’ coordination: Afro-Peruvian – 01
Let’s get it out of the way up front that I know nothing about Afro-Peruvian music— I played a session with John Butler, a Portland guitarist who plays it, and he hipped me to its […]