This is a page of jazz comping exercises based on Max Roach’s playing on Sonny Rollins’s Freedom Suite, which I’m transcribing right now. There’s a lot of interplay between the snare drum and bass drum, […]
Ruff bossa on the drums
This is something I was working on with a Skype student* recently: ideas for practicing Alan Dawson’s “ruff bossa” method on the drum set. …first, nobody ask why it’s called ruff bossa, because I don’t […]
Protecting your business
Maybe not. This is a situation I had recently, which is common for teachers working with music stores, teaching studios, or other services. Many of those businesses require teachers to sign contracts to keep them […]
Transcription: Jack Dejohnette – Tennessee Waltz
Jack Dejohnette plays Tennessee Waltz! One of the most cursed tunes in the standard repertoire. I don’t know what’s going through his head here— maybe he’s having a wonderful time. I know a couple of […]
CRUISE SHIP DRUMMER! rhythm guide
Everyone has seen things like this polluting the internet: What fun. I get that I’m the only person who thinks these are the trashiest possible associations to attach to anything musical— judging from the delighted […]
3/4 rhythms – a special set
See, this is what I’m talking about: no matter how much drum stuff gets written, no matter how many thousands of pages of drum books I have in my studio, and even after having written […]
Transcription: Mel Lewis fours
Here is Mel Lewis trading fours on Stoppin’ at the Savoy, from Bob Brookmeyer’s album The Blues Hot and Cold. These are pretty interesting. Lewis isn’t anybody’s idea of a chops guy, but he’s not […]
Page o’ coordination: Simple 3:2
Coming at that 3:2 hemiola polyrhythm from the triplet side— all of our recent hemiola funk stuff has been using it in a duple subdivision. Here we’ll use the 2 side as the primary pulse, […]
Groove o’ the day: John Von Ohlen – Love for Sale
A Latin groove played by John Von Ohlen on Love For Sale, arranged for the Blue Wisp Big Band by Carroll DeCamp. From their famous album Butterfly. This was one of the first serious big […]