Here we’ll develop some bass drum variations for playing Songo, a popular Afro-Cuban/salsa drumset style, in case you’ve never heard of it. The first exercise is the ostinato, played with the hands only— the parts […]
Category: salsa
DBMITW: Eddie Palmieri
While we’re on the Salsa music, here’s a Mozambique entitled Comparsa De Los Locos, by Eddie Palmieri, from his Vamonos Pal’ Monte album from 1971. Nicky Marrero plays drums, along with several percussionists. What the […]
Clave capers
Please don’t ask me about the title of this piece— I just wrote the first two words I thought of. I think there’s a Billy Taylor tune called Cuban Capers I played once… it’s not […]
Cascara coordination — 01
OK, I am seriously in need of a break from working on the book— finishing the damn thing is always the hardest. So here’s a page of exercises for developing coordination with the cascara, a […]
Drum chart: Mamblues by Cal Tjader
Here is a chart of Mamblues, from Cal Tjader’s album Soul Sauce, transcribed by me. It’s a pretty straightforward (but burning!) salsa tune on a blues form, with a cascara groove, mambo on the vibes […]