Here’s another practice loop, with a page of things to play with it. What I’ve done here is sample two measures from Herbie Hancock’s Cantaloupe Island, and write out a page of fills to fit […]
Category: jazz
Daily best music in the world: Splash
Slow week. Of course we can’t just have a continuous onslaught of new stuff— I don’t write just to hear myself bloviate, and I’ve already put on the blog far more information than I was […]
Barry Altschul on playing melodically
This is an excerpt from a pretty amazing 1981 Modern Drummer article by Barry Altschul, in which he discusses the drummer’s relation to tunes, form, and melody, and playing melodically: It is […] the drummer’s […]
Daily best music in the world: Connie Kay swings
We don’t get to hear much of Connie Kay— usually he’s buried in the back of the Modern Jazz Quartet, playing very conservatively. Here, with French(?) guitarist Andre Conduant, we get to hear him forward […]
Page o’ coordination: anticipations — 03
[NOTE: PDF link is working now! -t] So, today is going to be jazz comping day, in our little fund raiser. If you haven’t made a cash contribution yet, please do. Help give me some […]
Random Billy
For fun I’ve pulled at random some four measure comping phrases from recordings featuring Billy Higgins on drums. Sort of at random: I’ve grabbed the first thing I heard on the track that stands out […]
Species of ride cymbal interpretation in jazz
Following up on George Collligan’s commentary on this subject: The way you play the cymbal pattern is really the center of your artistry as a jazz drummer, so let’s do a little survey of the […]
George Colligan on playing the ride cymbal
THAT cymbal— listen and copy the sound. Some good advice from former-New York/now-Portland/Jack Dejohnette-sideman/pianist/(and drummer, too) George Colligan, on the importance of your ride cymbal interpretation in jazz. The context is that he was judging […]
Transcription: Frankie Dunlop — Green Chimneys / Rouse’s solo
2024 UPDATE: Oops, apparently Ben Riley plays on this record. I need to look at the sleeve before posting these things. It sure sounded like Frankie Dunlop to me. Thanks to Andrew Wicks for the […]
Page o’ coordination: Ahmad’s vamp
Something to go with yesterday’s practice loop, with some hihat splashes with the left foot. It’s nice and slow, but the track pushes and pulls a little bit, so the timing might be a little challenging […]