Here’s a great record from 1970: Purple, led by Miroslav Vitous. With John McLoughlin, Joe Zawinul, and Billy Cobham. It’s very much in a post-In A Silent Way Miles mode, with Cobham sounding at times […]
Category: fusion
Free Steve Gadd book
Here’s an excellent free book on Steve Gadd by Danish drummer Hans Fagt. Originally released in 1985, it contains the key bits— mainly grooves and solos— from some of his bigger recorded performances, from the […]
Groove o’ the day: Steve Gadd – Casino
This is Steve Gadd’s opening funk-Afro 12/8 groove from Al Di Meola’s epically absurd fusion opus Casino, from the album of the same name: Listen to the recording and note the different qualities of accent— […]
Groove o’ the day: Spider Webb – It Feels So Good
This is by a drummer I need to know more about, because he’s great: Kenneth “Spider Webb” Rice. I guess I need to do some homework, dig up some records, and listen Jake Feinberg’s interview with […]
Linear Chaffee lick in 32nd notes
This is one of the more fun-and-easy-and-cool-sounding short linear phrases from the Gary Chaffee pantheon: 5 notes (RLRLB) + 3 notes (RLB). Today I’ve written out some ways of playing it as a 32nd note lick […]
Transcription: Jack Dejohnette – Backwoods Song
In honor of the passing of the guitarist John Abercrombie— along with Pat Metheny, John Scofield, and Bill Frisell, one of the most important guitarists of the last ~45 years— here’s Jack Dejohnette’s playing on […]
Chaffee linear phrase as 32nd notes
This is a thing I was working on with a student— this particular Chaffee-style linear phrase (5/3/5/3) happens to work really well as a fill— it sounds impressive, and it’s really easy to play. In […]
Linear phrases in 3/4, mixed rhythm – 01
More pages of Gary Chaffee linear patterns, in two measure phrases in 3/4, with 8th notes and triplets. If I was about doing things in a logical order, I would have done these pages a […]
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 […]
Basic funk ideas: four iterations – 03
Another page of this modern funk method— we’re going to need a better name for this thing, as we’re getting well beyond basic. This is turning into quite an epic. Normally, working on fairly demanding […]