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 […]
Transcription: Jon Christensen – Dansere
This goes out to my old friend Tim Willcox, who turned me on to this record- Jan Garbarek’s Dansere, with Jon Christensen on drums. Christensen is pretty important to the current thing going on in […]
DBMITW: Jim Gordon
I’m working on a long transcription right now, and am determined to post the entire thing, so for now just enjoy the drumming of studio great Jim Gordon: Several more after the break- also see […]
On newstands now
Oh, my new Drum! Magazine piece– on polyrhythmic uses for Stick Control- should be on newstands now. It’s the April issue, which comes out in February. I don’t pretend to get how that works. You […]
Other people write good things
Of excellence. I haven’t been giving my fellow blogs enough love recently, but they’ve been producing a veritable tidal wave of excellent stuff: Trap’d has a long post about playing with large ensembles, with an […]
Groove o’ the day: Airto’s samba in 3
Here’s a favorite piece of drumming by Airto, from Chick Corea’s Return to Forever album on ECM. I’d like to transcribe this entire track, but today I just have the primary grooves for you. The […]
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 […]