[Practicing is] very tedious and easily becomes tiresome… but when it really gets on my nerves, that’s when I know I should keep on with it. – Philly Joe Jones, Down Beat Magazine, March 1959
Transcription: Elvin Jones – Blessing In Disguise
From the record East Broadway Run Down, by the late Sonny Rollins. The record is an old favorite of mine, but not one of his most famous. Recorded in 1966, the recorded quartet includes Elvin […]
Playing JPFMR
Playing the page jazz patterns for massive repetition— some pretty ordinary jazz patterns— the way I typically would practice that kind of thing. I’m not learning them for the first time, so I’m free to […]
Artists I have cooled on
Another art post— continuing the theme of artists I’ve hated, and loved, and here, grown less in love with. Jackson PollockI studied him very intensely for a few years, his work is what gave me […]
RIP Sonny
I don’t know what to say about the death of Sonny Rollins. He was one of the last people of his era of music, and his community of players, and it’s remarkable to me that […]
Very occasional quote of the day: practicing
I don’t think I’ve practiced two hours in 20 years. But it’s different with me than it is with a lot of younger guys, because I’ve been playing practically every night for 20 years. If […]
Paradiddle-diddles embellished
Some things to do with paradiddle-diddles. This started with this lesson— we were playing them with a slight crescendo, with an accent on the end. These aren’t necessarily great for speed, it doesn’t matter. There […]
Matthew’s Tunji lesson
Was working with a student on a couple of recent things: this sort of approach, using these pages as a rhythm library, playing along with the loop sampled from Tunji, by John Coltrane. These are […]
From the zone: some New Orleans rhythms
Here is a collection of rhythms written by Cymbal & Gong’s own Tim Ennis, for another drummer. Tim has a home in New Orleans, as well as in Portland, and frequently visits and performs there, […]
Standards now
Jazz context. Tunes we call standards— originally contemporary popular songs that everyone knew, that were a standard part of a working group’s book. These terms arose when there were regularly working bands and an active […]
Alternating triplets, off the 1
Dealing with a lot of small items lately. We know all the big stuff, now we’re getting into how to practice it in a musically natural way, how to fit it naturally into a continuity. […]