Alan Dawson’s Para Bossa system, from John Ramsay’s book, The Drummer’s Complete Vocabulary, is a way of interpreting exercises in Ted Reed’s Syncopation as 16th note paradiddles, and extended paradiddles, with a samba rhythm in […]
Category: Alan Dawson
Very occasional quote of the day: groove interference
“Coordination is a nice thing to have going, don’t get me wrong. But taken to extremes, you set up rhythmic interference instead of maintaining a groove. It’s not that you’re being too busy. It’s just […]
Now you’re talking
Here’s what I like to see— London drummer/blogger Sam Yadel has adapted Alan Dawson’s “Rudimental Ritual” into 5/4: I’m not much of a RR guy— it was just never a part of the drumming culture […]
Alan Dawson’s “Ruff Bossa”
We’re laying it on pretty thick with the Reed interpretations right now, but I just went over this with a student, so I need to put up one more. It’s a swing interpretation with partially […]
Ralph Peterson interview
Here’s a nice interview with Ralph Peterson by now-Portland pianist George Colligan. They talk about a lot of things, but I’ve pulled out the bits most related to actually hitting the drums, because that’s what […]
Something key
Jon McCaslin presents a very core principle of modern jazz drumming, via a lesson from Alan Dawson. The 3/8-within-4/4 polyrhythm has been present in a variety of forms in jazz since the beginning, and became […]
Two Stone applications by Alan Dawson
Here are a couple of Stick Control applications by Alan Dawson, from JohnW in Massachusetts, a knowledgeable Drummerworld.com forum contributor who studied with him in 1982-83. For the hands: Use Stick Control p. 5, ex. […]
1978 Modern Drummer interview: Tony Williams
From the Modern Drummer digital archive, here are some excerpts from a 1978 interview with Tony Williams. I’ve edited out the large hunks of it where they discuss single-headed toms, the merits of fiberglass drums, […]
1985 Modern Drummer interview: Alan Dawson
Have I mentioned lately what a great resource the Modern Drummer digital archive is? Here are my excerpts from a 1985 Modern Drummer interview with one of the great teachers of the drums, Alan Dawson. […]