Buddy Rich drum solo on Big Mac, a prodigious funk/rock arrangement by Ernie Wilkins, from Rich’s album Ease On Down The Road— it’s actually better known from Roar of ’74, but I have it on […]
Category: big band
Three Buddy Rich transcriptions
London-based drummer Caroline Scott has posted three Buddy Rich transcriptions— Big Swing Face, Mexicali Nose, and Love For Sale— sort of the big three of Buddy tunes for me, plus Ya Gotta Try. Very worth […]
Mel Lewis on cymbals
More on cymbals from Mel Lewis’s 1985 Modern Drummer interview. This is pretty much the bible of the subject, as it relates to jazz: Number and type The average drummer usually uses two to four […]
Groove o’ the day: “They called him Craw.”
This new grooves book is almost done, believe it or not— the 20% discount on the transcriptions book should be good for just a couple of more days. The last new thing I put in […]
Several big band drumming books
A couple of new/old big band drumming books dropped into my lap recently, so what the heck, I thought I’d round them up for you: Studio & Big Band Drumming by Steve Houghton – 1985 […]
VOQOTD: Mel Lewis
“…you should start with a crash and end with a crash. I see drummers ending with a crash cymbal, but then choking it. When you hit that big chord at the end, let it ring. […]
Butch Miles on ensemble playing
Big band drumming tips from Butch Miles, from the Oct. 1977 issue of Modern Drummer. They apply to all types of music, of course: SUPPORT. If the band has a difficult passage, support them strongly. […]
Krupa G.P.
Still light posting, but listening to the Mel Lewis history of jazz drums interview and they’re discussing a favorite move of Gene Krupa’s- during a shout chorus leaving a dramatic silence where there would normally […]
Basic big band set-ups
Another in the recent series of easy stuff, here is a page of basic set-ups for ensemble kicks on the & of 4. You can apply these to my earlier piece, Kicks and Set-ups Using […]
Kicks and set-ups using Syncopation
Here’s a little method I devised for working on basic big band-style kicks and set-ups, using Ted Reed’s Syncopation. Like many of the ways of working with Reed, it involves some selective reading/interpretation, but in […]
March 1985 Modern Drummer interview: John von Ohlen
Interview with big band drummer John von Ohlen from Modern Drummer, March, 1985, by Scott K. Fish, with the many good parts pulled out here, by me. Von Ohlen toured with with the Woody Herman […]