A little drum solo intro played by Philly Joe Jones on Stablesmates, from Milt Jackson’s record Bags Meets Wes!. It’s 16 bars long, even though there are no 16 bar phrases in the tune— the […]
Louis Bellson reading text in 4/4
Here are CRUISE SHIP DRUMMER! we spend a lot of time with the book Syncopation, and not so much with its more expansive, more serious-seeming companion, Louis Bellson’s Modern Reading Text in 4/4. I use […]
Fundraiser time
UPDATE: Bumping this to the top of the blog, scroll down for new posts. You may have noticed I’ve added a Patreon account, for those who prefer to support the site that way. Well, we’ve […]
Heavy Metal triplet groove
This is a 70s type of rock triplet feel groove that doesn’t seem to be used much any more— I don’t know why, it’s easy and fun to play, and must have an easy guitar […]
Dejohnette patterns
UPDATE: Oops, there’s a duplicate pattern in there— I think pattern 9 happens three times. And I got sloppy with my beaming standard. Oh well, it happens when you’re rushing to post stuff. Some […]
Transcription: Jack Dejohnette – Directions
Here’s that Jack Dejohnette transcription I mentioned yesterday— on the intro of Directions, from Miles Davis Live at the Fillmore East – It’s About Time. The 8th note quintuplets I mentioned happen right up front, […]
Quintuplets from normal rhythms
The question of odd tuplets came up in conversation with a student recently, and again when I was working on a Jack Dejohnette transcription, where he was playing some 8th note quintuplets in cut time. […]
The demon-haunted world: jazz snobs
Here’s a desperation special. When I can’t write much, I pull something not-that-great out of the drafts folder, like this: a few snippets of people battering their insecurities into submission by attacking a mythical demon, […]
Tony Williams interview
A nice 1983 interview with Tony Williams in Downbeat magazine, by Paul De Barros. Shared on Twitter by Richard Scheinin of SFJazz. Tony talked a little bit about his time studying with Alan Dawson: What […]