Here’s the drum solo from the same tune as our GOTD the other day: Afrique, from The Witch Doctor, by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers. Blakey’s solos with his group often serve a compositional […]
Category: Afro 6
Groove o’ the day: Art Blakey – Afrique
Here’s Art Blakey playing an Afro 6 feel in 1961, on Afrique, from the Jazz Messengers album The Witch Doctor— the first Blakey record I ever bought. I should start noticing when this type of […]
Page o’ coordination: Afro-Peruvian – 01
Let’s get it out of the way up front that I know nothing about Afro-Peruvian music— I played a session with John Butler, a Portland guitarist who plays it, and he hipped me to its […]
Page o’ coordination: Afro 6 across the barline
We haven’t seen one of these in awhile— seriously, I have posted more stuff on this Afro 6 groove than anybody in the world, and if you have thoroughly practiced any three or four of […]
Page o’ coordination: “Afro Blues” bell – 02
Another page of coordination patterns for this Afro/shuffle cymbal pattern, which I’ll go ahead and call “Afro Blues” because I feel like it. It came up in my own playing, and I’m not aware of […]
Page o’ coordination: Afro shuffle bell pattern
This is something that came up in playing Back At The Chicken Shack, a shuffle by organist Jimmy Smith . We play a pretty open interpretation of the style on that tune, not a strict Blue Note […]
Page o’ coordination: Ventimiglia
This is something I wrote for working on one of my own tunes: Ventimiglia, from my 2014 album, Travelogue. It’s a bright 6/8 with a strong pull towards 3/4. The bass line is borrowed from […]
Page o’ coordination: Afro 6 – 6/4 feel
Another Afro 6 POC. It’s a very rich and rewarding style, which is why I do so bloody much stuff with it. I was surprised to see I had never written up this variation before— […]
Page o’ coordination: Latin in 3 — 02
Another page of Latin in 3/4— get the previous one here. You’ll notice these are very similar to our 6/8 Latin pages; the use the same bell pattern, but the BD/HH rhythms are slightly different, […]
More Igbo grooves for drumset
More grooves from that video of Igbo percussionists from the other day— I called it “ogene”, but that is the name of the bells the musicians are playing; the name of the tribe and the […]
Groove o’ the day: Ogene 6/8
Via African Muzik Magazine and Famoudou Don Moye, music by traditional Ogene musicians, from Nigeria: I’m transcribing some of the cool instrumental breaks they’re playing on the bells, between vocal parts, but until I get […]
Page o’ coordination: “Latin in 3”
“Latin 3” is not a style name you often hear; it’s not a true Cuban/Salsa style that I’m aware of, and is not a super-common Brazilian style. But jazz musicians will call for it occasionally, […]