The general topic here is jazz comping— some general concepts thereof, getting into what I think is missing from a lot of students’ playing, even as they do the basic thing pretty well. The following […]
Category: comping
Transcription: Mickey Roker – Essence
Here’s Mickey Roker playing behind Donald Byrd on Essence, from Byrd’s record Electric Byrd. It’s vibey modal thing, in a slower 4/4 swing feel. It looks busy on the page, but this is mostly about […]
Transcription: Jeff Watts – Housed From Edward – 03
Part three of Branford Marsalis’s Housed From Edward, from the album Trio Jeepy, with Jeff Watts on drums. Let’s do the whole thing. This begins in the middle of Marsalis’s solo at 3:21, and ends […]
Transcription: Jeff Watts – Housed From Edward – 02
Part two of Branford Marsalis’s Housed From Edward, from the album Trio Jeepy, with Jeff Watts on drums. Let’s do the whole thing. This begins at the top of Marsalis’s solo, at 1:27. Most of […]
Transcription: Jeff Watts – Housed From Edward – 01
Trio Jeepy by Branford Marsalis is a long time favorite album of mine, that was very influential on my concept of jazz. It’s got Jeff Watts on drums and Milt Hinton on bass. This tune Housed […]
Triplet burnout with the jazz waltz telephone page
Here are some things I do over the course of 15-20 minutes playing that jazz waltz telephone page, in addition to just playing repeating measures as written, in 3/4 time: 1. Play each measure in […]
Jazz waltz telephone – 01
This is a writing experiment, starting with a jazz waltz cymbal rhythm with triplets filled in, changing one note per measure— or two notes. The cymbal rhythm stays the same, and bass drum is added, […]
Transcription: Charli Persip blues
Charli Persip playing a medium blues with Oliver Nelson: J&B, from Nelson’s 1961 record Main Stem. Persip is really enjoyable to listen to, and has a little bit of Roy Haynes’s edgy, modern thing happening. […]
Practical comping lesson with Rothman
Joel Rothman’s books don’t get a ton of attention in the jazz drums-learning world, but they’re good. I like the comping materials in his book Basic Drumming (duplicated in his book Drumming And All That […]