This is another sampled practice loop I’ve been using for a long time, good for your triplety jazz materials. It’s four measures long, from the intro of Crazy He Calls Me, played by Ahmad Jamal, […]
Category: jazz
Transcription: Kenny Clarke fours
Here are Kenny Clarke’s fours, played with brushes, on Love Me Or Leave Me, from the album Walkin’, by Miles Davis. I’ve given the drum solo breaks only: The ties are due to some kind […]
Page o’ coordination: anticipations — 02
Here’s a companion to another recent POC in 4/4.We’re doing pure coordination in a jazz idiom here, and not an actual groove— hopefully that’s obvious— we’re just strengthening some of the internal structure of our […]
Quarter note-ism
The usual theory of practicing is that as you master really hard stuff, you’ll be super-good at the easy stuff. What often happens is that hard stuff just starts sounding like normal drumming to you, […]
Transcription: Ed Blackwell — Happy House
UPDATE: Download link is now working! Here is Ed Blackwell playing the head of a fairly well known Ornette Colman tune, Happy House, with the band Old and New Dreams. The beginning of the tune […]
Transcription: Al Foster — Pannonica
Oh, what the hey, hot on the heels of our Frankie Dunlop transcription of Pannonica, here’s Al Foster playing the same tune, the way I like to play it, in the original slow 4. It’s […]
Transcription: Frankie Dunlop — Pannonica
Here’s Frankie Dunlop, playing a walking ballad— maybe it’s a little fast to call it that?— by Thelonious Monk, Pannonica, on the album Criss Cross. I’ve transcribed just the accompaniment for the Charlie Rouse’s saxophone […]
Transcription: Elvin Jones — Lonnie’s Lament
I’ve transcribed Elvin Jones’s playing during McCoy Tyner’s solo, on Lonnie’s Lament, which you will have just listened to on the John Coltrane album Crescent. It’s medium tempo, with a subdued vibe for much of […]
Billy’s best
Here’s some more essential Billy Higgins listening for you. I hesitate to declare anything the best— because a) the man played on over 700 albums, of which I have been exposed to, what, 5-7%? And […]
1/2 of a concert with 3/5 of the Four & More band
First I want to acknowledge that headline… that just happened… OK… Does it seem like we’re in a Billy Higgins trough right now? I don’t feel like he’s getting talked about a lot— the current […]