Do you think most of what you play in real life is hip, complicated, multi-layered, polyrhythmic, hybrid-rudimental madness? Sir, it is not. Most of what you play is normal, obvious, easy stuff. You want to […]
Category: jazz
11 Buddy intros
This is pretty interesting: Buddy Rich playing a drum intro on eleven takes of the same tune: Leap Frog, released on The Complete Charlie Parker on Verve box set. This is an actually an excerpt […]
Transcription: Barry Altschul – Jitterbug Waltz
Here’s a drum solo in 3/4 by Barry Altschul, on a modern arrangement of Fats Waller’s Jitterbug Waltz, from Altschul’s album Irina— a pretty obscure (to me) record you can now download off Amazon. The […]
Page o’ coordination: 2SB-2BS
Another entry using this slightly different conception of my page o’ coordination series— adding various cymbal rhythms to a repeating snare-and-bass coordination pattern. The cymbal rhythms are good for jazz, R&B, Afro-Cuban, or just general […]
Daily best music in the world: Miroslav
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 […]
EZ uptempo jazz method – 02
It’s not so much a method as it is “some things to try”, using pp. 10-11 (“Lesson 4”) in Ted Reed’s Syncopation. Last time we looked at ways of making a broken time feel using […]
EZ uptempo jazz method – 01
There is at least one other EZ uptempo jazz method— oh look, here’s another one— but this one is first in a series of similar things I’m writing now. If you learn to be creative […]
Key players: Paul Motian
Hey, let’s continue this series I started last year. When I first started getting into him 25 years ago, I was a little bit perplexed by him; no drummers I knew were into him; he […]
Paul Motian podcast
Here’s one you’re going to want to follow: Uncle Paul’s Jazz Closet. The caretaker of Paul Motian’s recorded archives has made a podcast that includes selections from his recordings— released and unreleased, live performances, rehearsal […]
Practice loop: The Sermonette
Here’s a jazz practice loop in 4/4, a sort of gospel 2 feel, sampled from The Sermonette, by Cannonball Adderly. It has a nice deep pocket and is good for all your jazz practicing needs. […]