I have to apologize again for the light posting- I’m working on some unrelated projects that need my attention. I do have a couple of big pieces you’re going to enjoy coming soon, though! In […]
John Bishop w/Hal Galper at Small’s, NYC
Today is my brother’s birthday, so here’s a link for John Bishop playing with pianist Hal Galper at Small’s in New York in February. Also in the group is the great Seattle (and elsewhere) bassist […]
Transcription: Max Roach – Garvey’s Ghost
Here’s my brand new transcription of Max Roach’s drum solo over an Afro-Cuban vamp on Garvey’s Ghost, from Roach’s Percussion Bitter Suite. Includes a sample of the backing vamp, and of the drums on the […]
Chick Webb drum lesson – part 2
Another time I went to see him, and I thought I’d hang out with him all night. Instead, he put me upstairs with a metronome, made that damn thing go at the slowest tempo you […]
Drumming/jazz glossary roundup
Here I have briefly reviewed a selection of drumming and related glossaries from around the web. Writing definitions requires a special type of mind and writing skill, and is a pretty tedious, thankless task, so […]
Chick Webb drum lesson – part 1
He came in wearing a camel-hair coat and a cap, and brought Ella Fitzgerald and a chihuahua with him. He said, ‘Make a roll, kid,’ and I started rolling—what I thought was a roll. He […]
Frankie Dunlop on Monk
UPDATE: Scott Fish has posted some of his interview recordings of Dunlop, and they are hilarious. Much about playing with Monk in this interview with Ben Riley from 1986 as well. Do check out my Dunlop […]
Feel in samba
I’ll start this post with an enormous caveat that Brazilian music is not my field of expertise at all. Many people around me are learning Portuguese, making trips to Brazil and being very serious about […]
The DNA of swing drumming
I picked up this interesting book- Charley Wilcoxon’s Drum Method– as one of my local sheet music stores was going out of business. I’d been working with Wilcoxon’s more advanced Rudimental Swing Solos, but this […]
Todd’s Methods: Samba builder
Here’s a little method I improvised for developing some flexibility with the samba- I put this together pretty quickly away from the drums, so I’m sure I’ll add to it as I work with it […]