Now I remember why it takes me so long to do these things; it’s a lot of work, even when 98% of the content is already written. But! The 2013 Book of the Blog is […]
Category: downloads
Page o’ coordination: bass drum variation in 6/8
Are you getting to the point that you can work these up in a few days, and then retire them, yet? We’ve done a big pile of these POCs, but they cover a fairly narrow […]
Transcription: Les Humphries — Ching Miau
In honor of Yusef Lateef, who we just lost a few days ago, at age 93, here is the thing that inspired yesterday’s post: Lex Humphries playing on Ching Miau, a one-chord modal tune in […]
Page o’ coordination: across the barline in 5/4
This is a classic situation when you start improvising in 5/4: you get a little cocky about your ability to just vibe the meter and come out OK, and in a few moments you observe […]
Transcription: Ed Blackwell solo — Tarik
Oh, what the hell, happy Saturnalia— I went ahead and transcribed the solo from the GOTD of a few days ago, Tarik, by Ed Blackwell, from Dewey Redman’s album of the same name. It’s a […]
Todd’s 11-note pattern: some examples in 4/4
One of the earlier things we did was a pretty exhaustive, four-page write up of an 11-note pattern which has for some time been coming up spontaneously in my playing. I’ve been working on it […]
Afro 6/8 exercise: getting the 3/4 pull
More on this. All I can say is, my readers should be absolutely killing it with their Afro 6/8 in the next 6-12 months. This is a basic counting and coordination exercise I’ve been using with […]
Transcription: Tiki intro
Hey, some time ago I promised you a new book— a collection of transcribed intros— before the end of the year. Work on that got sidelined as I was preparing for tour, and there’s no […]
Transcription: Jon Christensen — Keep It Like That- Tight
Here’s Jon Christensen doing some nice open, dynamic playing on a slow, static vamp: Keep It Like That — Tight from Terje Rypdal’s self-titled album on ECM from 1971. We love Christensen because he’s a […]
Transcription: Raymond “Monchito” Muñoz — Caminando
Here we have a Latin percussionist funking out a little bit on Caminando, a hip cha cha* recorded by Eddie Palmieri on his great album Vamonos Pa’l Monte. The drummer, Raymond “Monchito” Muñoz, brings very […]
Page o’ coordination: 6/8 Rumba clave in the left hand
Like I said: a lotta 6/8. That feel has always been one of the stronger elements of my playing, but I thought I’d see what happens if I do a whole lot of more work […]