Catching up on my albums that came out over 20 years ago, with Kenny Garret’s Standard Of Language, with Chris Dave on drums. I’ve really never heard him play in a normal modern jazz setting, […]
Category: jazz
Jazz patterns for massive repetition
For a younger student of mine. Right now he has a notebook of stuff like the baghad vita, sometimes you need to pare it down for them. This is a small collection of jazz patterns […]
Right hand lead quintuplets? For jazz?
Dropping a big ol’ stinkbomb in your lap as I prepare to wing off to Europe, here is a thing I’ve been working with, under Jack Dejohnette’s influence. I’ve been working on an extended transcription […]
Reed interpretations: Billy Higgins-like uptempo method
Here’s a little thing suitable for jazz at fast tempos, resulting in a Billy Higgins-like sound. Billy Higgins at times. He’ll do a lot of unisons between hands, partial spangalangs, and alternating singles. There are […]
Five interviews with Paul Motian
It’s not no deep fuckin’ secret! People talk about this shit like it’s some kind of… – Paul Motian From jazz writer Ted Panken, several unedited interviews with Paul Motian— he posted this in 2014, […]
Jazz loops embedded – slow tempos
Some good slower tempo jazz practice loops. All maintain a pretty consistent triplet feel, no one’s double timing his cymbal beat. Forms on most of these are 12 bar blues, except Stella By Starlight is […]
Listening to Shelly Manne
A few notes while listening one track of a live piano trio record by Michel Legrand, with Shelly Manne, Ray Brown on bass. Recorded in 1968. The movie The Thomas Crowne Affair just came out, […]
I get in fights
Smart person, or contrarian? Or flat out giant pain in the ass? What is the difference between a contrarian and FOGPITA, anyway? I don’t know. I find myself disagreeing with a lot of things said […]
Page o’ coordination: jazz waltz with 4:3 – UPDATED
UPDATE: Eh, I decided I didn’t write that page very well. I’ve revised it and posted it below. If you want to get the old one, it’s there, too. A collection of practice patterns exploring […]
The Freedom Principle
I used to think I was a free jazz drummer, now I just want to play tight arrangements.– Todd Bishop The book The Freedom Principle, published in 1984, by John Litweiler, was my my listening […]
Cousin Mary
Working with the John Coltrane tune Cousin Mary. I feel about some of his tunes the way Jon Krakauer felt about Mt. Everest— too chunky, too broad of beam, too crudely hewn— and almost as […]
Reed interpretation: RH lead 16ths – swing
A little item I’ve been working with, adapting our familar right hand lead Reed system for 16th notes, giving the rhythms in the book a dotted-8th/16th swing interpretation— as we do with this paradiddle inversion […]