It’s a *mechanical* tool, from way back. I had a conversation with a student about counting subdivisions when you practice— “the grid.” It’s a common thing to do, that I don’t recommend— not all the […]
Year: 2020
CYMBALISTIC: New cymbals are in!
Just acquired some new Cymbal & Gong Holy Grail series cymbals for sale: there are two 18″ crashes, two 20″ jazz rides, a 22″ jazz ride, and two sets of 15″ hihats. All excellent jazz […]
Unearned info
A long, wordy post with extended quotes from a forum questioner, who felt that the knowledge in drumming books may come too cheaply, and from drummer and author John Riley, who showed up out of […]
Roy Haynes intro – Alto-itis
I’m being very slovenly about posting as things continue being politically crazy. It’s a little distracting. So here’s something easy: a four bar drum intro played by Roy Haynes on Oliver Nelson’s tune Alto-itis, from […]
EZ stock beats for all music
This is a page I’m using with some younger students this week— a variety of stock beats that can be used in most playing situations. We get so involved with technical improvement, it’s easy for […]
Listening: Art Blakey groove number
Let’s do some more guided listening. Here’s Art Blakey playing a little Quincy Jones groove arrangement with a nine piece ensemble: Plenty, Plenty Soul, from the Milt Jackson album of the same title. The form […]
Tootie Heath brush lesson
True old school guys approach things a whole different way from the modern technocratic thing. Here’s Tootie Heath giving a brush lesson: h/t to Larry Appelbaum
Daily best music in the world: 1-5 of ten albums
Reprinting this from my Facebook page— I encourage you to head over there and add me as a friend. There’s a thing going around where musicians list ten albums that were most important in their […]
Very occasional quote of the day: Jimmy Cobb
“Miles could tell me the things he wanted from the drums but I didn’t let him tell me how to play them.” — Jimmy Cobb, 1979 interview by Rick Mattingly
Practice loop: slow blues
A new practice loop sampled from Blues at Twilight, from Milt Jackson’s album Plenty, Plenty Soul. Horace Silver is on piano here. Tempo is 75 bpm, so this is a good one for getting your […]
Three voice / four note patterns
Continuing in the vein of the recent three voice/three note patterns item. Let’s call this series “things I have always been against writing that I am now writing.” I’ve been playing around with an online […]