This Elvin thing is turning into a real epic– well, a very small epic, maybe, if you think about it- and I still have to complete the transcription. Here are the tom moves I would […]
Category: jazz
Developing Elvin’s Afro-Waltz
Here’s a little something for developing the left hand using the feet-and-cymbal part from Elvin Jones’ groove on John Coltrane’s Your Lady. I always did that type of thing by just going for the sound […]
VOQOTD: on learning jazz
Following Andrew Hare’s Why learn jazz? post: “[I]t seems to me that playing jazz gives a drummer more sensitivity for the drumset and much more of a rounded concept. It’s hard to explain that without […]
Playing in 2
I got a nice note from Ben at the excellent Melbourne Drumming Online blog (adding him to the blogroll- be sure to pay him a visit), requesting that I write something about playing in 2- […]
Todd’s waltz
Or, the presumptuously-named Todd’s waltz, as I call it. I’m not attempting to claim the radical innovation of adding a hihat on the & of 3, it’s just how I often play a waltz, and […]
Several big band drumming books
A couple of new/old big band drumming books dropped into my lap recently, so what the heck, I thought I’d round them up for you: Studio & Big Band Drumming by Steve Houghton – 1985 […]
Jazz percussion
This is a concept I’ve been kicking around for years, I think since the term first came up for me in reference to Tony Williams in the history section Jack Dejohnette/Charlie Perry book: Tony didn’t […]
DBMITW: Elvin Jones
I was going to include this as an example in the jazz percussion post, but it really needs its own entry: It feels wrong- totally point-missing- to bring it up, I couldn’t help noting the […]
DBMITW: Billy Cobham
Here’s a live version of another fusion classic: Billy Cobham’s “Anteres” – The Star, from a record I stole from my brother a long time ago, Alivemutherforya: That’s a rare use of the Tama Octobans […]
VOQOTD: Mel Lewis
“…you should start with a crash and end with a crash. I see drummers ending with a crash cymbal, but then choking it. When you hit that big chord at the end, let it ring. […]