This came out of the groove part of my recent Country Rock thing. It’s a kind of subtractive method for voicing the snare drum and bass drum. Not unlike my John Riley-inspired “that with interruptions” […]
Category: New Orleans
Groove o’ the day: two by Idris Muhammad with Melvin Sparks
Two similar grooves played by Idris Muhammad with the guitarist Melvin Sparks. The tunes are also very similar, following the same basic template. Both grooves have this as the main snare drum rhythm: It’s a […]
Groove o’ the day: Billy Higgins – Una Muy Bonita
Some variations on a groove Billy Higgins plays on the Ornette Coleman tune Una Muy Bonita, on Bobby Hutcherson’s album Stick-Up!. It’s a New Orleans type thing, reminiscent of parts of Poinciana, as played by […]
Groove o’ the day: Street beat in 7
Here’s a New Orleans street beat-style groove in 7/4, played by Bill Stewart. The tune is 7th Floor, from John Scofield’s album Hand Jive. This is the basic groove from the intro of the tune; […]
Transcription: Joey Baron – Resistor
Here is Joey Baron playing on Don Byron’s solo on Resistor, from the Bill Frisell album This Land— Baron’s playing on this record is one of the major blowing performances of the 90s. The tune […]
Practice loop: The Meters / Cabbage Alley
Take care of your mental wellbeing and forget this political nightmare for awhile, with this cheery practice loop, sampled from Cabbage Alley by The Meters. Excellent for use with this late plethora of funk materials. […]
Transcription: James Black – Hook And Sling, pt. 2
This is something very special— it’s probably classical music to anyone well versed in New Orleans music, and anyone in the sampling world, but I only heard it for the first time recently: James Black […]
New Orleans street beat – Reed method
As promised, another method for developing a NOLA street beat, this one perhaps more musical than the last. Definitely. Here we’ll be using Progressive Steps to Syncopation, by Ted Reed, pp. 33-44— the “Syncopation” section […]
New Orleans street beat – Stone method
This is the first of two pretty-easy methods for developing a New Orleans-style street beat— or rather, for expanding on it, and playing it in a “modern” way. They’ll also be good for getting a […]
Grooves o’ the day: three street beats by Fred Staehle
Kicking off a little series on playing New Orleans-style street beats, here are some grooves by Fred Staehle. These are from Dr. John’s Gumbo, a very famous album of classic New Orleans tunes, recorded by, […]
Transcription: Zigaboo Modeliste — The Mob
Here’s the rest of that thing we were looking at the other day: Zigaboo Modeliste’s playing on The Mob, from the Meters album Look-ka Py Py. On the first and last A sections, he improvises […]
Grooves o’ the day: all the grooves from Look-ka Py Py
Let’s do a whole record for the groove of the day— and a very famous one at that: Look-Ka Py Py, by The Meters. The drummer is Zigaboo Modeliste, the New Orleans funk legend. We’ve […]