This is one of the more fun-and-easy-and-cool-sounding short linear phrases from the Gary Chaffee pantheon: 5 notes (RLRLB) + 3 notes (RLB). Today I’ve written out some ways of playing it as a 32nd note lick […]
Category: fusion
Transcription: Jack Dejohnette – Backwoods Song
In honor of the passing of the guitarist John Abercrombie— along with Pat Metheny, John Scofield, and Bill Frisell, one of the most important guitarists of the last ~45 years— here’s Jack Dejohnette’s playing on […]
Chaffee linear phrase as 32nd notes
This is a thing I was working on with a student— this particular Chaffee-style linear phrase (5/3/5/3) happens to work really well as a fill— it sounds impressive, and it’s really easy to play. In […]
Linear phrases in 3/4, mixed rhythm – 01
More pages of Gary Chaffee linear patterns, in two measure phrases in 3/4, with 8th notes and triplets. If I was about doing things in a logical order, I would have done these pages a […]
Transcription: Gerry Brown / School Days
Here’s a funk/fusion classic: School Days, by Stanley Clarke, with Gerry Brown on the drums. Along with Weather Report’s Teen Town, and Donna Lee, this was one of the most-learned fusion things by electric bassists […]
Basic funk ideas: four iterations – 03
Another page of this modern funk method— we’re going to need a better name for this thing, as we’re getting well beyond basic. This is turning into quite an epic. Normally, working on fairly demanding […]
Daily best music in the world: Spirit of ’86
Funny how dramatically the zeitgeist can change in a few years. Did you know that fusion was actually a serious thing, for many years? Until Wynton Marsalis hit us with his thing in the mid […]
Daily best music in the world: Gateway
Do you listen to enough Gateway? That’s a trio with guitarist John Abercrombie, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Jack Dejohnette. I believe they released four albums total on ECM— two in the 70s and two […]
Daily best music in the world: Weather Report
Lots of other action right now, so light posting is going to continue this week, so enjoy 8:30, by Weather Report. Peter Erskine is on drums. I used to set my turntable to repeat, and […]
Transcription: Tony Williams — Lopsy Lu
2021 UPDATE: See my new listening guide for this track. Here’s the third of four big-deal transcriptions I have lined up for the fund raiser. I was going to save this for next week, but […]
Groove o’ the day: Terry Bozzio with Group 87
This is not the Bozzio thing I was talking about in that last post— this is just a teaser for the big-Bozzio thing yet to come. This is Sublime Feline, by Group 87— a band […]
Groove o’ the day: Tony Williams — Lopsy Lu
This is a super-classic bit of 70s fusion, from Stanley Clarke’s first self-titled solo record, with drumming by Tony Williams. I got this album used for 3 bucks around 1985, when I was buying everything […]