If you watched that video of Jabo Starks playing with John Scofield et al, you’ll notice that he does some hip stuff on the bell of the cymbal behind the trombone during the bridge between […]
Category: Afro 6
Groove o’ the day: Herlin Riley afro groove
I spent about three hours yesterday listening to Kenny Garrett records, which is… he’s great, the bands are great, the records are great, the tunes are actually great, I just… let me put it this […]
Page o’ coordination: 2SB-2BS
Another entry using this slightly different conception of my page o’ coordination series— adding various cymbal rhythms to a repeating snare-and-bass coordination pattern. The cymbal rhythms are good for jazz, R&B, Afro-Cuban, or just general […]
Groove o’ the day: Ignacio Berroa 12/8
Another funk Afro 12/8 groove, played this time by Ignacio Berroa, on his record Codes, on the tune Woody’n You. From the intro: As you can probably see he’s playing rumba clave on the cowbell. […]
Groove o’ the day: Steve Gadd – Casino
This is Steve Gadd’s opening funk-Afro 12/8 groove from Al Di Meola’s epically absurd fusion opus Casino, from the album of the same name: Listen to the recording and note the different qualities of accent— […]
Page o’ coordination: SB / BS
For some reason* this particular pattern is always difficult for me: snare-bass/bass-snare on the second two triplet partials. So let’s work on it, adding the left foot, and varying the cymbal rhythm. If you find […]
Simultaneous clave triplet pull exercise
Here’s something you can do with that silly “both clave directions at the same time” idea. In clave-based Latin music, the clave rhythm is often not played with a strict march-like execution; the 4/4 version […]
Billy Higgins trading 4s
This is from the same tune as the recent post Comping The Billy Way— Things Ain’t What They Used To Be, with Hank Jones and Ray Drummond, from the album The Essence. Here Higgins is […]
Page o’ coordination: Latin in 3 – 05
This is a fairly subtle variation on this Afro 6 feel, which we’ve covered pretty fully in the past few years, and possibly one of the easier entries in the series. I suppose you could […]
Practice loop in 6/4: Lilin
Here’s that practice loop for yesterday’s Figure Control page in 6/4, sampled from Lilin, played by John Zorn’s Masada. The tempo is a little easier than the other recent loop in 6. You’ll also find […]
Figure Control: 6-4 – Lilin – 01
Let’s just assume every post begins with an apology for the light posting— I’ve just been very busy with playing, teaching, and getting ready for an art show this past few weeks. This Funk Control/Figure […]
Page o’ coordination: Latin in 3 – 04
Here’s a fairly easy page of exercises in 3/4 Latin. The bell/cymbal pattern is similar to the regular Afro 6/8 rhythm, but simplified— you sometimes hear American drummers playing this rhythm in the 50s and […]