After doing this feature for about five years, I finally get around to doing a basic jazz waltz. Doing easy stuff wasn’t supposed to be its purpose, but it’s a familiar format, and not everyone […]
Month: October 2018
Cymbals are IN
UPDATE: Videos for most individual cymbals are now on YouTube, including the Swish and Krut. Videos for more Holy Grail cymbals coming tomorrow. Amazing day Friday picking out cymbals at Cymbal & Gong headquarters here […]
Syncopation p. 37: rub-a-dub method, mach 1
Now this is the level of drum geekery I aspire to, with the defiantly gibberish post title, and everything. I was writing out a very laborious explanation of the next steps in my evolving quasi-Mel Lewis […]
Chaffee linear patterns in context – 02
Yes, I’m determined to finally resolve some minor issues I have in practicing Gary Chaffee’s linear thing. Today let’s work through a short phrase that will be useful in jazz settings, starting after the 1, […]
Practice loop: Sivad
This is a fun one, and just about my favorite ~45 seconds of music in the world: the opening of Sivad, from the Miles Davis album Live Evil. Tempo is 86 bpm. Rock out.
Developing a method for rub-a-dub
I’ve been working up a practice method for learning what Mel Lewis called rub-a-dub— I hate to use his term, because I only just saw it explained for the first time in Chris Smith’s video. I don’t […]
Chaffee linear patterns in context – 01
Gary Chaffee’s linear system— found in book 3 of his Patterns series— is a major entry in the literature of drumming, but it has always felt unfinished to me. There are some extra steps required […]
CYMBALISTIC is on line
OK, it’s time to go public with this sucker: CYMBALISTIC, my new site retailing Cymbal & Gong cymbals is now on line. In case you hadn’t heard, Cymbal & Gong is a Portland company which […]
Mel Lewis rub-a-dub
Well, we ignore the blog Four On The Floor at our peril. I hadn’t visited in awhile, and then yesterday, BLAM, there’s a great post with a video from Chris Smith— he’s the author of The View […]
A minor rant: Elvin’s 18
In Elvin Jones’s 1982 Modern Drummer interview, Rick Mattingly asked him about his use of an 18″ bass drum: RM: I’ve heard various explanations of why jazz drummers started using 18″ bass drums. Some people […]
Chop busters in 5/8 – 01
Hey, two odd meter things in two days. I’ve really turned around my thinking on the value of this subject— it really forces you to have a heightened awareness of rhythm, which is a good […]
Groove o’ the day: Tombo in 7/4
More from Airto’s great record Fingers. I got burned last time crediting the drumming to Airto when it was really another great drummer da América do Sul, Osvaldo Fattoruso; this time I think it really is […]