UPDATE: The book is now coming up at the usual $99.95 price. Hopefully a few people were able to take advantage while the opportunity was there. It’s still a worthy addition to your library at […]
Year: 2011
Something key
Jon McCaslin presents a very core principle of modern jazz drumming, via a lesson from Alan Dawson. The 3/8-within-4/4 polyrhythm has been present in a variety of forms in jazz since the beginning, and became […]
Occasional Blakey: Afrique
While I put myself back together after a long holiday in Seattle with the family, here’s a favorite old Art Blakey track, Afrique, from the album Witch Doctor, written by Lee Morgan. Buy it. Purely […]
Podcast – Episode 5 – Paul Motian
A small collection of performances by the great master we lost today. You can also listen to it at the Podomatic site, or download it as an mp3. Track list after the break: The Rich […]
Paul Motian 1931-2011
Update 2 – more notices: Jazz Times obituary Said saxophonist Joe Lovano, who worked often with Motian over the past three decades, “Paul was a strong, charismatic character, with a lot of energy and passion. […]
Favorite albums: Special Edition by Jack Dejohnette
Special Edition by Jack Dejohnette 1980 – ECM 001161902 Arthur Blythe – alto saxophone David Murray – tenor saxophone, bass clarinet Peter Warren – bass, cello Jack Dejohnette – drums, piano, melodica It’s been awhile […]
The Ed Blackwell story
From Branford Marsalis’ NPR show Jazz Set, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, Billy Higgins, Joe Lovano, Max Roach and others talk about Ed Blackwell. Glad to see this resurface- I remember being glued to this, and […]
Bass drum variations for bossa nova
Bossa nova can be a very static style for novices- I’ve noticed in teaching that they have a hard time getting away from the standard, repetitive pattern. And, aside from Ed Uribe’s book, I really […]
DBMITW: Ndugu
Here’s one of my favorite funk performances ever, by Ndugu Leon Chancler on Watch Out, Baby!, from George Duke’s Reach For It. It’s pretty NSFW, so you may want to put on the headphones if […]
Masahiko Togashi
Here’s a very interesting drummer you don’t hear much about- Masahiko Togashi. In the early 00’s I heard a record he made with Don Cherry and Charlie Haden, and dug his very “drummy” style, but […]
Making any money in jazz
Dollar bill. This is something I wrote last week, but decided against posting, as it can be kind of a downer. I have actually officially banned from my presence discussion of how much being a […]
Making bird drawings
Just so you know I haven’t forgotten about you- I’m seeing a lot of great posts from Trap’d, FOTF, and The Melodic Drummer, and Dave Aldridge and feeling bad that I’m posting kind of sparsely […]