As I was listening to the Kenny Clarke record Detroit Jazzmen it jumped out at me that Clarke really favors comping with the snare drum on the & of 1 and/or 3: Get the pdf […]
Category: drums
Groove o’ the day: T & T, too
While you’re feverishly working on yesterday’s GOTD by Ed Blackwell, allow me to throw at you a similar version of the same groove from later in the tune, which again is T & T by […]
Groove o’ the Day: Ed Blackwell – T & T
Here’s another Ed Blackwell groove, from the intro to Ornette Coleman’s T & T, off the album Ornette: For clarity, here is the same groove written as separate rhythms, without the bass drum: We’ll be […]
Rock in 5/4: Water by PJ Harvey
Here’s a song I was working on with one of my students which happens to be timely since it’s in 5/4— Water, by PJ Harvey, with a great pop drumming performance by Robert Ellis. What […]
Afro 6/8: left hand variations – the basics
Here’s something challenging for you. I’ve been working with left hand variations within the Afro-Cuban 6/8 (or Bembe, Naningo, whatever term you use) in a variety of formats for about the last year– mostly applying […]
Cracking 5/4: issues and things, and conclusion
In this final-for-now post on playing in 5/4 I want to talk about a few stray issues, and things that you may observe happening, or happening to you. This is a work in progress for […]
Groove o’ the day: casually provided by Jack Dejohnette
Today’s groove is a little unusual, in that it comes from a YouTube cymbal demo and not from a real record, but since the demo is by Jack Dejohnette, I figured what the heck. He […]
More fun with waltzes
I’ve been using these Elvin’s Afro-Waltz things almost daily in my practicing since I started writing them, and they’re working really great for me, so here’s a new one. This uses the same concept as […]
Cracking 5/4: more architecture
Beyond the 2/4+3/4 or 3/4+2/4 phrasing we’ve already discussed, there are a few common constructions you should be familiar with. Just learning the things covered in the first part will take a fair amount of […]
Groove o’ the day: Al Foster – Rated X
As promised– or hinted at, rather– here is Al Foster’s hip and unusual groove from Miles Davis’s Rated X, from the record Get Up With It: As you can hear, the 1 and the 4 […]