What if you think of something to play that doesn’t have a standard technique? That’s what jazz cats have been doing since jazz was born. All of a sudden, you want to play something that […]
Category: Barry Altschul
Very occasional quote of the day: play what you hear
“Play what you hear, and if you can’t play it, then practice it.” – Barry Altschul, Modern Drummer interview by Rick Mattingly, November, 1982 Periodic reminder that, creatively, the fundamental equation is real simple. Of […]
Transcription: Barry Altschul – Jitterbug Waltz
Here’s a drum solo in 3/4 by Barry Altschul, on a modern arrangement of Fats Waller’s Jitterbug Waltz, from Altschul’s album Irina— a pretty obscure (to me) record you can now download off Amazon. The […]
Barry Altschul on playing melodically
This is an excerpt from a pretty amazing 1981 Modern Drummer article by Barry Altschul, in which he discusses the drummer’s relation to tunes, form, and melody, and playing melodically: It is […] the drummer’s […]
Cracking 5/4: further listening
Aaaand I thought we’d end this series with some more listening, starting with some more modern things: Jive Coffee – Brad Mehldau with Jeff Ballard Much more after the break: Jive Coffee – Bill Stewart […]
Favorite albums: Ballads by Paul Bley
Ballads by Paul Bley 1967 – ECM 1010 Paul Bley – piano Gary Peacock, Mark Levinson – bass Barry Altschul – drums Compositions by Annette Peacock This is kind of a funny entry to this […]
A crash course in the ECM feel
Look for the photos with water and the Helvetica font. The “ECM feel”, as it’s now being called, is a style that evolved in the late 1960’s and 70’s, and has since become one of […]
Barry Altschul interview
Barry Altschul has been on my mind a lot lately- this performance kind of got stuck in my head, plus I was listening to a lot of Paul Bley before my recording session last week– […]
DBMITW: Sam Rivers with Barry Artschul
Another track from Sam Rivers’ Sizzle plus some bonus Barry Altschul after the break: