La mano dall’inferno OK, I want everybody stop saying “dominant” hand, “weaker” hand— anything like that, as if it’s a thing. It’s not a thing. None of your drumming abilities are dictated by the hand you […]
Practice loop in 6: Tekufah
A fun practice loop in 6/4 with a strong suggestion of 12/8. It’s really a compound pulse where it’s both things at the same time. Hit the time signature labels at the bottom of the […]
Transcription: Ivan Conti
Ivan Conti and Azymuth playing A Caça, a lightweight little 70s fusion arrangement, with some fun things happening. It’s from Azymuth’s album Águia Não Come Mosca. It’s such a clean and tight performance and arrangement […]
Bruce Gilden, a street photographer
A few videos of Bruce Gilden, a New York photographer. He’s known as a street photographer, and a rather invasive one. He gets right up in people’s faces and photographs them with a flash. It […]
Page o’ coordination: cut time funk / fusion cymbal rhythm
A Page o’ Coordination for getting together basic funk coordination using a common fusion cymbal rhythm, that comes from Latin drumming— it’s also the jazz cymbal rhythm, not swung. The rhythm is difficult enough for […]
Transcription: Billy Higgins – two breaks
Continuing yesterday’s theme, here are two slick drum breaks by Billy Higgins, from Hank’s Other Bag, from Hank Mobley’s octet album A Slice Off The Top. They happen at the beginning and end of the […]
Transcription: Ben Dixon 8-bar break
A little 8 bar break played by Ben Dixon— this is really just an excuse to listen to his playing on this track overall. The tune is Lullaby of the Leaves, from Grant Green’s album […]
Daily best music in the world: Pygmy music
I’m working on a couple of new book ideas right now, so you’ll have to content yourselves with perusing our voluminous archives, and digging this absolutely amazing Pygmy music— African people also known as Aka or […]
Updating the book
Time to rework the book for my events band again. It’s been eight years, and I really don’t want to see most of those tunes ever again. I always felt too obligated to make this some […]
Cymbal of the minit: 18″ Cymbal & Gong Turk “Toshiro”
I don’t use Turk-type cymbals much any more, but this one is really special: 18″ Cymbal & Gong custom Turk light ride. Weighs 1472 grams. C&G doesn’t have a regular Turk line— the smiths in […]