Philly Joe Jones playing on Gaza Strip, from Lee Morgan’s first album Indeed!— recorded when Morgan was 18 years old, right around the time Jones was recording several of the famous Miles Davis Quintet albums. The intro Jones plays here is real similar to what he plays on Tune Up, on Miles’s recording Cookin’.
I’ve transcribed the 8 bar drum intro, the figure he plays at the top of the solos, and his playing on the five 12-bar choruses of Morgan’s solo. It’s all very classic Joe, you’ll start seeing patterns in the comping very quickly.
He’s using a fairly limited palette with his comping— in case you’re worried about not doing enough different crap in that respect. I think a lot of people need to revise their concept of what comping is even about— in a way it’s related to groove more than it’s about interacting with a soloist. It’s an expression of the changes, the form, of forward momentum, and somewhat reflective of vibe/energy shifts. That’s largely what we’re seeing here.
You’ll notice a lot of punctuations with the bass drum on 4, followed by a snare drum accent on the & of 1, especially on the first two choruses. At the end of phrases he’ll tend to hit the & of 2/& of 4, and leave a little air at the beginning of the new phrase or chorus. And of course at the very top of a new solo he will play the one strongly, followed by some big accents off of a dotted-quarter rhythm. You’ll notice he accents similarly in the short excerpt at 0:43, and on the beginning of Morgan’s solo.
On the six stroke rolls in the intro he plays the accents strong, and slurs the rolls. The lick in bar 48 looks a little funny— it’s essentially ruffs on the floor tom on the & of 1, and on 3, with the grace notes on the snare drum. The cymbal in between the ruffs is apparently flailed in. Play around with it, find a motion that works.