Here’s Jake Hanna trading fours with Duke Jordan, on Jordan’s album Live Live Live— a Japanese import release from the late 90s. This is a pretty ordinary club date; Hanna was almost 70 and Duke […]
Month: April 2022
Kenny Clarke and Max Roach
It’s interesting that history doesn’t really move in a linear way, even when you have adjacent history-making players living in the same city at the same time, playing with the same people: “Kenny’s influence was that […]
Transcription: Kenny Clarke – Swing to Bop
Kenny Clarke playing brushes on Swing To Bop, from the album The Immortal Charlie Christian. This was recorded live at Minton’s Playhouse in 1941— epicenter of the formation of bebop. We’re hearing a strong quarter […]
My objections to drumming videos
Posting this instead of the bilious, totally unproductive anti-YouTube drumming video rant I was working on, entitled Satan’s Vomitorium. Don’t worry, it wasn’t any good, or even finished— you’re not missing anything. See this post […]
Todd’s rock drill
Along the lines of that jazz drill from a few weeks back, here’s a rock/funk drill I’m playing— or universal backbeat-music drill. My wife, Casey Scott, is a songwriter, and is getting ready to record […]
Practice loop: Stolen Moments
Finished my taxes and I am exhausted, so here’s something for you to practice with: Freddie Hubbard’s solo on Stolen Moments, from Oliver Nelson’s Blues And The Abstract Truth. At 111 bpm, it’s a good […]
CYMBALISTIC: more cymbals!
CYMBALISTIC: I just got a few more cymbals in stock, videos will be coming soon! [4/18 – videos are up!] • More of the very popular thin Turks! 18/20/22″ 4/18: I discovered a small defect […]
Natural music
Some open ended musing here. Lately I’m getting a lot of accidental music from younger drum students. Like with that “worst drummer ever” video from a few months ago, they naturally do some things that we […]
Jazz fills with Stone
Another item from a drum lesson. A student and I were playing around with Stick Control, using it as a launch pad for jazz fills. The starting place was my post on rubadub using Stick […]
Reed interpretations: Matt’s double bass method
Here’s a Reed system for double bass drums, made up by a student of mine, with a few tweaks by me. Apply it to the rhythms in Syncopation, pp. 34-37. The first examples will be […]
Get it while you can: Different Drummers
4/23 update: It’s gone. You can try reaching Mr. Mintz through his website, to purchase a copy of the book, if he’s selling it, and/or send him some money for the illegal download. Now available […]
Practice loop in 7/4: Freddie Hubbard / Heidi-B
While I finish up my taxes, here’s the practice loop I was playing with when I was doing that Reed in 7 thing: Heidi-B, from Freddie Hubbard’s album Sweet Return. Tempo is quarter note = […]