Here are some generic snare drum and bass drum coordination/performance patterns for use with the bell patterns in the Bembe Wheel. Each one of those patterns deserves at least one individually-tailored “page o’ coordination”, but […]
Category: Afro 6
African bell pattern and its inversions
What we have here is the familiar 12/8 or 6/8 bell pattern (here called “short”; in the US it’s commonly called “Afro-Cuban”, or Naningo, or Bembé), run through several common inversions, each starting on a […]
Groove o’ the day: Ed Blackwell — Lop-o-lop
Another Ed Blackwell 6/8 today, from an album you may have some trouble finding, Dewey Redman’s Tarik, on Aktuel. The drums play in two, and the bass (Malachi Favors, I think?) plays a fast 6. […]
Groove o’ the day: Philly Joe with Hank Mobley
The 50’s were apparently also the heyday of the quasi-Afro feel— all of the hard bop guys seem to have had their own way of making it. This one is by Philly Joe Jones, on […]
Groove o’ the day: Ed Blackwell — 6/8 variations
Here are some more variations on the Afro 6/8 feel, played by Ed Blackwell on the tune Mopti (an old favorite from Flatland days, which I’ll be reintroducing to the set on the Europe trip […]
Busy
Busy all day doing tour-related junk, and transcribing charts– Blood by Paul Bley, Priestess by Billy Harper, following Gil Evans’s arrangement, and a couple of Don Cherry tunes I used to play in the 90’s. […]
Groove o’ the day: Ed Blackwell – another 6/8
UPDATE: Whoops, a typo, gitoutcher pencils– scratch that last tom note in the second measure. Here’s another entry in my little project of cataloging as many of Ed Blackwell’s grooves as I can figure out. […]
Afro 6/8: left hand variations – the basics
Here’s something challenging for you. I’ve been working with left hand variations within the Afro-Cuban 6/8 (or Bembe, Naningo, whatever term you use) in a variety of formats for about the last year– mostly applying […]
Groove o’ the day: alternate Afro 6/8
Here is a another, simplified Afro 6/8 groove as played by one of the major session guys for Blue Note Records in the early 60’s, Roger Humphries, here on the tune Mary Lou from Horace […]
Todd’s methods: Afro-Cuban in 6/8 and 3/4
Here’s something I wrote strictly for my own use, which I thought I would share for you to make of what you will. The Afro 6/8 has been one of my stronger vehicles for a […]
Afro 6/8 – basic coordination
This is something I’ve been working with daily for several weeks now- getting the usual jazz coordination/comping stuff together with the Afro-Cuban/Bembe/Naningo bell pattern. It’s pretty tricky, and it’s a good idea to do it […]