The title is Nigeria spelled backwards, usually pronounced AIRa-jin. I took a minute in the shower this morning figuring out how to pronounce it actually like Nigeria backwards: ah-ee-REE-jine. JINE rhyming with JIVE. A little […]
Category: Kenny Clarke
Ben Riley on musicality
Extended excerpt from Ben Riley’s Modern Drummer interview from 1986, by Jeff Potter, in which he talks about melodic drumming, Max Roach, Kenny Clarke, and his other influences: JP: You have been called a “melodic […]
Kenny Clarke and Max Roach
It’s interesting that history doesn’t really move in a linear way, even when you have adjacent history-making players living in the same city at the same time, playing with the same people: “Kenny’s influence was that […]
Transcription: Kenny Clarke – Swing to Bop
Kenny Clarke playing brushes on Swing To Bop, from the album The Immortal Charlie Christian. This was recorded live at Minton’s Playhouse in 1941— epicenter of the formation of bebop. We’re hearing a strong quarter […]
Listening to Kenny Clarke
Let’s do a little guided listening. I caught this on Portland’s excellent jazz station, KMHD— If you don’t have a good station locally, and you probably don’t, you should be streaming KMHD live 24/7. The tune […]
Transcription: Kenny Clarke fours – 02
Put this in your binder with Kenny Clarke’s fours from Love Me Or Leave Me that I posted a few years ago. Here he’s trading fours on Two Not One from the album Lee Konitz with Warne Marsh. […]
Very occasional quote of the day: soloing
“My idea of a drum solo is that you play like you sing. It comes from different things you listen to. And the beauty is always in the simple things.” — Kenny Clarke, from 1984 […]
Very occasional quote of the day: it’s an instrument
“You don’t beat the drums— you play them.” – Kenny Clarke Thanks to Scott K. Fish for the quote— be sure to follow his excellent blog Life Behind The Cymbals.
Kenny Clarke at 100
[Oh heck, this is from 2014— oh well. Just saw it on Famoudou Don Moye’s Facebook feed today. Whatever.] Good of NPR’s Kevin Whitehead to take notice of Kenny Clarke’s (“inventor of modern jazz drumming”) […]
Transcription: Kenny Clarke fours
Here are Kenny Clarke’s fours, played with brushes, on Love Me Or Leave Me, from the album Walkin’, by Miles Davis. I’ve given the drum solo breaks only: The ties are due to some kind […]
Kenny Clarke plays an intro
Putting together a bebop podcast (which we’ll see here whenever I get it finished), this intro from 1941 by Kenny Clarke jumped out at me— the tune is Hot House, and the playing feels more […]
Expanding on The Kenny Note
What we have here are some very basic comping ideas based on the so-called (by me only, I’m sure) “Kenny” note— a snare drum punctuation on the & of 1 or the & of 3. […]