Adding to our already-voluminous background for playing an Afro feel, or any 6/8 or 12/8 feel. Here we’re phrasing in 3/2 and 12/8 at the same time, using a common cymbal pattern. It’s easier to […]
Category: Afro 6
Groove o’ the day: Like Sonny – alternate version
An Afro 6 feel recorded in 1959 by Lex Humphries on an alternate version of Like Sonny, from the John Coltrane Alternate Takes compilation. The master version of the tune was released on the album […]
Page o’ coordination: Afro 15
Hey, as long as we’re working on weird, non-traditional perversions of the natural world, here is a page of “Afro 6” groove in 5. Or 15/8, which is a triplet feel in 5. This groove […]
Page o’ coordination: Afro 9/8 – “African”
I was practicing this POC from last year, and wanted a version of it in 9/8, and here it is. I called it “African” only for the middle of the triplet rhythm on the hihat, […]
Groove o’ the day: Lex Humphries afro 6
Hm, Lex Humphries has been coming up a lot lately. I heard this tune played on KMHD, Portland’s jazz radio station: Taboo, played by Duke Pearson on his Blue Note album Profile. I should think about […]
Afro 12/8 – funk – updated
This page is an update of something I wrote in the wilds of 2013— a page of bass drum variations for a funk-feel Afro-Cuban 12/8, with a backbeat on 3. I had a student play […]
Practice loop in 6/4: Magdalena
Practice loop in 6/4 sampled from Magdalena, from John Zorn’s album O’o. Tempo is quarter note = 204, and there is an extra bar of 3/4 on the big figure at the end of the […]
Page o’ coordination: Afro 6/4 – triplets
Here we have our standard Afro-Cuban bell pattern extended a couple of beats to put it in 6. This page will work well with that Jimmy Garrison loop from the other day. Pairs well with […]
Practice loop in 6/4: Greensleeves
Practice loop in 6/4, sampled from Greensleeves, recorded by John Coltrane on the album Africa/Brass. Here we just have the bass line played by Jimmy Garrison. Tempo is 142 bpm. Garrison is phrasing the 6/4 […]
Best books: Rhythms and Techniques for Latin Timbales
UPDATE: I just realized we’ve already shared another excellent free-online book by Rendon, Timbale Solo Transcriptions. Get that too, if you haven’t. Rhythms and Techniques for Latin Timbales by Victor Rendon is sort of the […]
Page o’ coordination: Afro 6 – “African”
Quite of flurry of POCs lately— a plague of POCs. I like this format. It’s good for working on more complex independence; things too hard to do with a melodic line interpretation, which is my […]
Aka Pygmy clave
This is just a brief investigation of an interesting rhythm, a sort of clave rhythm clapped by the lead performer in the video below— a candid video of three Aka Pygmy people performing a polyphonic […]