People in a band have a tendency to fall into ruts. They hear things only one way. They don’t really want to change that much. The guitar player will only play guitar a certain way. […]
Finale to self-exterminate
Heads up to Finale users— Finale’s publisher, MakeMusic, made this announcement yesterday: 35 years ago, Coda Music Technologies, now MakeMusic, released the first version of Finale, blah blah blah. Four decades is a very long […]
EZ 8th note groove with Stick Control
A simple 8th note groove sequence using the book Stick Control, played on the drum set. Use Stick Control pp. 5-7, or my page of sticking patterns, which I think is in a better order. […]
Reading a lead sheet
Some notes on a chart I had to play yesterday, on a festival gig with a pianist I’ve worked with quite a bit, Jasnam Daya Singh. He’s Brazilian, and quite a heavy composer. For a […]
Daily best music in the world: Al a la Roy
An interesting recording here, featuring Al Foster sounding for all the world like Roy Haynes— with the snappy, aggressive snare drum, occasional flamboyant tom tom moves, with a broken/open time feel the whole time. Much […]
Groove o’ the day: Max In Tunisia
A selection of grooves played by Max Roach on the Miles Davis album At Last!— a live recording made at The Lighthouse in LA in 1953, and released thirty years later. Max here has been […]
Transcription: Jack Dejohnette – Tumbleweed – 01
Jack Dejohnette playing on Tumbleweed, from Michael Brecker’s album Pilgramage— released a few months after his death. This is the type of playing much of what we do here is in service of. For a […]
More on that double timing tweak…
Clarifying the method behind that Reed tweak from last week, double timing the very familiar, friendly, happy, easy RH lead Reed system— RH plays book rhythm on a cymbal + bass drum in unison, LH […]
A worthless waste of time, so give it to me free
Vacancy Something sure to irritate and offend you, I’m afraid: an article written by someone named Joakim Book, Music Has No Economic Value. It’s all about how music has no economic value, because Spotify devalued […]
Very occasional quote of the day: better ideas
You know, there are no bad ideas. Only better ones. Let’s not say, “That wouldn’t work” or, “That’s a stupid idea.” If it’s a stupid idea, the rule is we don’t judge, we just keep […]