Every part of this is just so classically Art Blakey— except maybe his touch, which is somewhat gentler than usual. This is his intro on Straight, No Chaser, from Thelonious Monk’s album Genius of Modern Music, vol. 2, on Blue Note. This will be included in our upcoming Book of Intros, which will be ready to go hopefully before my tour in November:
At the beginning and end there are big accents played on the open hihat with the left hand, along with the cymbal. All of the snare drum notes are played as rim clicks, and Blakey feathers quarter notes on the bass drum up until the hihat lick in the last two measures. A figurative gold star goes to whoever finds the missing rim click— that will be corrected when the book comes out…
Audio after the break:
Measure 10, beat 2.
Thanks for the transcription!