OK, it’s formal announcement time: I, your blogger, Todd Bishop, am now offering live online lessons, via Skype. I’ll be happy to work with you on single lessons— say, if you’d like help with something […]
Year: 2014
Three Camps in first inversion paradiddles
2024 UPDATE: This page looks really awful. I’ve just posted a much nicer looking version of it. Here’s an adaptation of the traditional snare drum piece Three Camps, played with first inversion paradiddles— the very useful […]
Site update!
Normally I try to make big site changes at the beginning of the year, but, the heck with it, I was getting tired of looking at the old design. The big template change is self-evident, […]
Page o’ coordination: hihat splash
Here’s a relatively easy jazz waltz page o’ coordination, with a minor twist— we’ll be incorporating an open sound on the hihat, played with the foot. This is a jazz feel, so swing the 8th […]
Son clave basic coordination
Here’s a companion piece to our page of Rumba clave coordination, this time using Son clave. The format is basically same: the first patterns are logical, and the later ones build a few common Afro-Cuban […]
Playing in Seattle tonight…
Hey, if you’re in Seattle, come on down to Egan’s in Ballard tonight— my group will be playing at 10:30, as part of the Ballard Jazz Festival. The band includes Richard Cole, Jasnam Daya Singh […]
Transcription: more Serge, more Dougie
What the heck, let’s do some more Dougie Wright. The last thing was a little goofy, but today’s transcription is for me a minor classic of 70’s studio rock drumming. The album again is Serge […]
Groove o’ the day: Dougie Wright — En Melody
I spent a lot of time listening to French songwriter Serge Gainsbourg as I was working on my album of his music a few years ago, and came to appreciate a very British, very 70’s, […]
Straight 8ths within Afro 6/8
I keep feeling like I have to justify doing so much with the Afro 6/8. I’m just working with it a lot, and here we are nothing if not personal and idiosyncratic. I also feel […]
Transcription: Rick Marotta plays a waltz
UPDATE: The download link is working now. Here’s a portion of Spirit of Summer, from the album Deodato In Concert. If you don’t know who Deodato is, he’s a Brazilian pianist, composer, arranger, who was […]
Some observations on an Ari Hoenig performance
A few weeks back I saw Ari Hoenig play in Portland with Kenny Werner’s trio, and scribbled down a few notes after the fact. Hoenig is one of the leading current guys, but I haven’t […]
Groove o’ the day: Idris Muhammad — The Windjammer
Here’s a funk groove with a couple of unusual touches, and a New Orleans flavor, by Idris Muhammad. The tune is The Windjammer, from Grant Green’s 1970 album Green Is Beautiful. On the intro Muhammad […]