Title track from Earth Beams, a great record by George Adams & Don Pullen, with Dannie Richmond on the drums— all three are Charles Mingus band alumni. Richmond was a key partner in that relationship […]
Category: listening
Daily best music in the world: Tootie with McCoy
Here’s a nice performance on brushes by Tootie Heath, on Five Spot After Dark, from McCoy Tyner’s album Today And Tomorrow. I don’t know how it passed under my radar that he died just last […]
Buy records: a screed
Go to places like this and buy things. I was half an hour early for an appointment with Tim at Cymbal & Gong— picking out a career ride cymbal for one of my students— so […]
Listening to The Musings of Miles
Listening to a Miles Davis record I never really heard before: The Musings of Miles. It’s a lower profile item in Miles’s catalog. These listening to albums posts are a test for me, because I normally […]
Playing charisma
Charisma: Compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others. – some dictionary In becoming better drummers and musicians— and in being lovers of music, and of percussion in music— I think, finally, we’re […]
Elvin isolated
Obviously I’m posting really lightly lately, getting ready to head to Germany next week, so: here are some recordings Elvin Jones plays on, with his drums isolated. Enjoy! Here’s Passion Dance, from McCoy Tyner’s album […]
Listening to Somethin’ Else
Somethin’ Else is a very famous record by Cannonball Adderley, that really belongs in that “the one jazz record I know” list, along with Kind of Blue and Moanin’. When I was in school nobody […]
Daily best music in the world: Billy Hart
This is an interesting record from 2014, by Bobby Hutcherson, with David Sanborn, Joey DeFrancesco, and Billy Hart on drums. The whole thing is real loose, and basically the opposite of everything happening in music […]
Batucada styles
Just did a gig playing all samba and bossa nova, so I’ve got Brazilian music on the brain. Here’s an old record offering a little round up of styles in Brazilian percussion: Batucada, by Paulinho […]
Listening to Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane
Some notes on the record Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane. I’ve been listening to Monk’s Carnegie Hall record a lot this week, let’s get into this one. I never owned it, and haven’t listened to […]
Listening to Sorcerer
Phew, long post here, but the topic merits it. Let’s listen to the Miles Davis record Sorcerer, with his famous 60s quintet including Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams. I bought it […]
Very occasional quote of the day: too loud
Another choice item from a 1981 column in Modern Drummer, in which Scott K. Fish talks to a lot of great bass players, about drummers: “Faults I hear in drummers? Mainly that they play too […]