I hope you dig all of this Stick Control stuff; I just happen to be working with this book a lot right now. One of my reservations I’ve always had about it- about the way […]
Category: jazz
More Stone on the drums
Here’s something timely to the ECM feel post. I’ve been using Stick Control quite a bit in my practicing lately- particularly my application in 5/4 (and a similar thing in 7/4), and in fooling with […]
A crash course in the ECM feel
Look for the photos with water and the Helvetica font. The “ECM feel”, as it’s now being called, is a style that evolved in the late 1960’s and 70’s, and has since become one of […]
Free jazz handbook
That’s free as in free beer, not as in Albert Ayler. Jamey Aebersold, the godfather- I guess- of jazz playalongs, has a very useful book covering the basics of jazz improvisation of available as a […]
Getting lost
Or not. Here are a few pointers on a subject with which I am all too intimately familiar: getting lost while soloing over over a form, and while reading: SOLOING First, whatever various hells break […]
Basic solo vocabulary with Syncopation
Hey, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything downloadable of my own, and you don’t want to hear me prattle on about cymbals and crap, so here’s a basic solo vocabulary builder I’ve been working […]
Some observations on a Brian Blade performance
Last night Brian Blade played in town, and I thought I’d share a few impressions from it. I can’t promise they hold any sway outside of that concert as perceived by me from the side […]
Three Paiste cymbals
UPDATE: I think I’ve correctly ID’d one of the other cymbals. I’ve been on a vintage Paiste cymbal-buying kick recently. Here are the findings on my finds: 22″ Formula 602 Dark Ride – circa 1975-76 […]
Tune of the moment: Feet First
I didn’t intend for the “tune of the moment” to be an all Steve Swallow feature, but what the hell, I’m just playing his stuff a lot these days. Like a lot of his tunes, […]
MD column: Alternative open roll stickings
Here’s an interesting piece from that same old Modern Drummer from 1977. The writer, Mickey Earnshaw, proposes a set of alternate roll stickings, using the RLLR/LRRL paradiddle inverion or the RLLR/RLLR sticking in place of […]