Nothing particularly ground-breaking here, but this came up today while I was working on Mevlevia, an ECM-type tune in a moderate 5. I’ve taken some basic patterns in 5/8, and applied them to a usable […]
Category: drums
Cascara coordination — 01
OK, I am seriously in need of a break from working on the book— finishing the damn thing is always the hardest. So here’s a page of exercises for developing coordination with the cascara, a […]
Groove o’ the day: “They called him Craw.”
This new grooves book is almost done, believe it or not— the 20% discount on the transcriptions book should be good for just a couple of more days. The last new thing I put in […]
Problem Child fills
I listened to Problem Child by AC/DC a lot when I was in the 8th grade, and just happened to put it on for the first time in a few years, and realized how much […]
Pete LaRoca 1938-2012
Another very great drummer has died, Pete LaRoca Sims. I heard that he had entered a hospice a few days ago; his condition must have deteriorated very quickly. He was of roughly the same generation […]
Transcription: Milton Banana — Flor de Liz
As I mentioned before Milton Banana is one of the great Bossa Nova drummers, and since that tends to be an under-understood style (by the whole rhythm section, actually), I want to go a little […]
Transcription/GOTD: Betty Davis — Nasty Gal
H/t to my brother on this one— he played me this record. This is from the title track of Betty Davis’s album Nasty Gal. Davis (*née Mabry) was married to Miles Davis in the late […]
First lesson in 5/4 — swing feel
A rare two-pager today. Here I’ve put a little flesh on the bones on the process I outlined in my earlier Cracking 5/4 series, with an easy first lesson coordinating snare drum and bass drum […]
Transcription: Bob Moses — Mevlevia
Here’s a quick take of a tune that will be part of my set on the Europe trip this year: Mevlevia, from the Gary Burton record Ring, with drumming by Bob Moses. This is one […]
Groove o’ the day: Philly Joe with Hank Mobley
The 50’s were apparently also the heyday of the quasi-Afro feel— all of the hard bop guys seem to have had their own way of making it. This one is by Philly Joe Jones, on […]