This is kind of a throwaway track by Gal Costa, but the drum groove is cool— both the pattern, and the way it’s played. Most people would call it a funk samba, and it has […]
Category: Brazil
Daily best music in the world: Tamba Trio
Here are a couple of albums by Tamba Trio, a Brazilian group primarily active in the 60s-80s— the pianist I have used on my last couple of records, Jasnam Daya Singh (née Weber Drummond) was […]
Practice loop: Resolução
Practice loop sampled from the intro of Resolução by Edu Lobo, the great Brazilian songwriter. Style is bossa nova, tempo is quarter note = 167— standard bright bossa tempo. The sample is an arranged lick, […]
Transcription: Roberto Silva – Ana Maria
First, a service announcement: I’m heading to Germany in a couple of days, so posting will be rather light. I’ll be visiting some teachers and drummers in Berlin and Dresden, and showing them some Cymbal […]
Groove o’ the day: Tombo in 7/4
More from Airto’s great record Fingers. I got burned last time crediting the drumming to Airto when it was really another great drummer da América do Sul, Osvaldo Fattoruso; this time I think it really is […]
Groove o’ the day PLUS : Airto – Fingers
UPDATE: Correction from the comments, it is Fattoruso on drums! I’ll put the correct credit in the 2018 Book of the Blog. Until then, you’ll have to pencil it in onto your printout. Here is […]
Practice rhythms: partido alto logic
This is a collection of two measure practice phrases based on the concept of the partido alto rhythm, which typically has 3 or 4 quarter notes alternating with 3 or 4 upbeats. I’ve expanded on […]
Practice loop: Airto – Hot Sand
This is another loop I use a lot: Hot Sand, a bright samba by Airto, from his album Virgin Land. Great for use with my recent drumset batucada drill, and with my book Playing Samba […]
Groove o’ the day: Milton Nascimento – Tudo Que Você Podia Ser
My apologies for the lack of new posts. I’m putting together a new show of my paintings— first one in 15 years— and that has been occupying most of my spare time of late. Here’s […]
Bossa/Samba bass drum workout
It says “workout”, like it’s some kind of technical challenge, but it’s really a page of exercises for opening up some musical possibilities with your bass drum when playing sambas and bossa novas. A lot […]
Transcription: Airto — Hot Sand
Why am I not always talking about Airto? I’ve spent fewer hours listening to him than most other drummers at the top of my personal influences list; I never had a period of chasing down […]