Following is a very half-baked item that has been in my drafts for a long time. It’s a broad-ranging subject, and not the kind of thing you can just bang out, and have it be […]
Time economics of drum videos
Taking a break from a whole lot of teaching, business related emails— there’s a Seattle cymbal meet coming up, and a Germany trip in October— and whatnot. I get irritable when I don’t get to […]
Solo transcription: Ben Riley – Bemsha Swing
More Ben Riley! From the same record as yesterday— Thelonious Monk Live At The It Club— and in fact this is the very next tune they played at the gig, Bemsha Swing. So, two drum […]
Solo transcription: Ben Riley – Blues Five Spot
Solo by Ben Riley on Blues Five Spot, from the Thelonious Monk record Live At The It Club. Great record, and core literature. I think of Ben Riley’s playing as maybe the cleanest shot we […]
Very occasional quote of the day: loud and meaningless
“A drummer can be very, very loud and that can be just totally meaningless. Sometimes it can be very, very loud and it can be extremely exciting. So, it’s really not a question of how […]
Cymbalistic: videos are up – event dates
CYMBALISTIC: Videos and descriptions of the new cymbals are up, check them out at Cymbalistic. I’m putting a lot of ears on them ahead of upcoming events in Seattle and Germany (see below), so many/most/all […]
Sidebar: it’s things you do with rhythm
It is funny, I find myself typing the words SYNCOPATION and REED an awful lot, but this entire category of thing is not owned by that one book and that one author. We really talking […]
Reed tweak of a tweak: ending a solo phrase
Here’s a very small but useful tweak of a tweak: remember the Reed system with alternating triplets, hitting the accents on cymbals + bass drum… except we’d leave out the LH cymbal hits? It’s a good […]
RH lead triplets – useful excerpts from . 38
This is a little bit of a half baked item, illustrating something we did in a lesson. Should be useful for teachers, may not make a ton of sense if you’re not familiar with this […]
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 […]
CYMBALISTIC: SUNDAY – SW Washington drum gear swap meet
CYMBALISTIC: OK, if you’re located anywhere in the Olympia/Kelso/Aberdeen triangle you’ll want to make it to Chehalis tomorrow for a drum gear swap meet at Alexander Park. Hosted by members of Drumforum.org. Last year about a […]
Groove o’ the day: Mickey Roker funk
Here’s a lot of ink for you, for eight measures. Mickey Roker playing a funk groove with a lot of detail to it, on Goin’ Down South, a Joe Sample tune from Bobby Hutcherson’s record […]