Let’s gooo, this is now a full-time Billy Higgins site. Here he is playing a New Orleans/Poinciana/Vernel Fournier kind of groove, on the Duke Ellington tune The Mystery Song, on Steve Lacy’s record Evidence: Swing […]
Year: 2023
Beware of formulas
Making that Shadow Wilson transcription, I was reminded of this video fellow blogger Jon McCaslin shared with me (and Ted Warren of Trap’d), in which drummer Bernie Dresel shares his formula for comping with the […]
Transcription: Shadow Wilson comping
A little bit of Shadow Wilson’s playing on Nutty, from Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane, at Carnegie Hall. This is Monk’s second solo chorus, starting at 2:33. The tune is 32 bars long, form is […]
Solo transcription: Billy Higgins – Dear John
More soloing from Billy Higgins, on Dear John, on Freddie Hubbard’s record Bolivia. The tune has the same chord changes as John Coltrane’s Giant Steps, which is a 16 bar form, but the drum solo […]
Very occasional quote of the day: too loud
Another choice item from a 1981 column in Modern Drummer, in which Scott K. Fish talks to a lot of great bass players, about drummers: “Faults I hear in drummers? Mainly that they play too […]
CYMBALISTIC: videos are up!
4/24 UPDATE: Bumping this— I have the other two 22″ Extra Special Janavars now— I just played them and, yeah, I’m not hyping them, they’re great. I may keep one for myself, my birthday is […]
Whither the hihat foot
What does it do? Right up front: in playing the drums, the left foot is basically subservient. A lot of people vaguely suspect they’re not doing enough with it. Some go on to become fixated […]
Very occasional quote of the day: futuristic
“A lot of drummers try to be futuristic and more modern, but they lose the groove and find themselves nebulous instead of in contact with what it really is. So all of the interesting things […]
EZ rock in 5 – 3+2
Extending this EZ fast rock / rock in 3 series, with quarter notes on the cymbal: here are some beats and ideas in 5, phrased 3+2. I wrote this series to illustrate the difference between […]
Ralph Humphrey in hospice, RIP Ivan Conti
Not great news in music this week. Ralph Humphrey, who had been undergoing cancer treatment, has entered hospice care. He’s one of the first drummers I ever knew the name of, from Frank Zappa’s album […]
It’s about records, it’s about records, it’s about records
I’m noticing— online, and to a lesser degree with some students— a lot of people approaching the drums mainly in terms of drumming media. Books and videos, and the drumming concerns they promote, are the […]