We are all Hector Berlioz. Following up on my bad drummers post from some weeks ago. I hate to even say bad drummers, because playing badly is not an immutable thing. I like to think […]
Category: jazz
Rub-a-dub lesson: Equinox
Here’s an easy little lesson for doing this rub-a-dub business in a musical context, using the tune Equinox by John Coltrane. Equinox is based on some very common jazz rhythmic figures, so this should be […]
Page o’ coordination: basic jazz waltz – 01
After doing this feature for about five years, I finally get around to doing a basic jazz waltz. Doing easy stuff wasn’t supposed to be its purpose, but it’s a familiar format, and not everyone […]
Developing a method for rub-a-dub
I’ve been working up a practice method for learning what Mel Lewis called rub-a-dub— I hate to use his term, because I only just saw it explained for the first time in Chris Smith’s video. I don’t […]
Mel Lewis rub-a-dub
Well, we ignore the blog Four On The Floor at our peril. I hadn’t visited in awhile, and then yesterday, BLAM, there’s a great post with a video from Chris Smith— he’s the author of The View […]
Groove o’ the day: Jack Dejohnette – On the Nile
Here’s Jack Dejohnette early in his career, soon after his move from Chicago to New York. He’s playing in a very Elvin Jones-like mode with Jackie McLean, who is himself writing in a Coltrane Quartet-like […]
First jazz lesson
Here’s an item for teachers. This is a process I improvised in a lesson with a 6th grade student yesterday, to introduce him to playing the jazz rhythm on the drums. We did this verbally, […]
Very occasional quote of the day: soloing
“My idea of a drum solo is that you play like you sing. It comes from different things you listen to. And the beauty is always in the simple things.” — Kenny Clarke, from 1984 […]
Daily best music in the world: Louis Hayes
While I finish a long Jack Dejohnette transcription, and work on my new cymbal-related web site, here is a Louis Hayes album from 1960, shared on Twitter this morning by Ethan Iverson:
On hearing other drummers sound bad
A few thoughts that occurred to me while playing a jam session last night. I was the house drummer, and a couple of different people sat in who were playing some problematic stuff. The first […]