UPDATE: Pdf download link is fixed! Talking a bit about how you think while soloing— some mental cues for what you do with a solo motif, by which I mean “something you played that you […]
Category: improvisation
Very occasional quote of the day: mistakes
“The idea of a mistake is beside the point, for once anything happens it authentically is.” – John Cage
The Lulu line
Here’s a little four measure phrase by Thelonious Monk, which has been a big influence on my thinking, in playing the drums. It’s a little microcosm of the way you develop a melodic idea in […]
You’re improvising wrong
Or so says blogger, and composer Aaron Gervais. I thought he was mainly into trolling artists on economic issues, but then I saw this post, “Most Artists Don’t Really Get Creativity”, and I thought, OK, […]
The raggedy edge
Here’s a great post by Sam Nadel, on a subject I think a lot about— which I alluded to in the recent African ritual music DBMITW— “the importance of being reckless”: “Part of the problem […]
“If I think of something beforehand then I should not play it.”
Pianist George Colligan has posted a really great interview with drummer Jeff Ballard on his blog, Jazz Truth. It’s really hard to excerpt anything from this because it’s all so good; I put in a […]
Branford Marsalis on the problem with jazz
In the Seattle Weekly, Branford talks about what’s going on with jazz- here are a few excerpts: You put on old records and they always sound better. Why are they better? I started listening […]
Getting started soloing over a form
This is more a roughly-progressive series of guidelines than a step-by-step how-to; this is a much larger subject than can be fully addressed in one little blog post. Players spend years or decades developing a […]
Airto: 1983 Modern Drummer interview
Here’s part of another great Modern Drummer interview, from 1983, with Airto, the famous Brazilian drummer and percussionist. As always, I’ve excerpted the parts that are most important to me, and the headings are mine. […]