Please pardon the lack of content. I’ve been occupied with other things this week, like our upcoming cymbal meets in Germany, and those couple of gigs with all the odd meters. Which worked out well— I […]
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 […]
5/8 control, part 2
Hastily scribbled practice notes It has been an interesting journey this week, preparing this challenging music— moderately challenging, I guess; there are a few grooves in time signatures I’m not used to, but I’m being […]
CYMBALISTIC: two bargain used Holy Grails
CYMBALISTIC: Two more bargain used Cymbal & Gong cymbals came in. Both were lightly used by an endorser for a tour. A 24″ Holy Grail Jazz Ride “Vishal”, a lush, complex light ride, still […]
5/8 control
Sid Catlett would always tell me, “Art, when you’re in trouble, roll. Just relax, you know what I mean?” Let’s talk about something I’m preparing for, kind of a hairy gig coming up next week, […]
Chaffee linear phrases: 8ths and triplets in 4/4
Some Gary Chaffee-style linear phrases in 4/4, in 8th notes and triplets. If I did things in a logical order, I would have written this five years ago, when I was writing those pages in […]
EZ ECM: entry to 7/4
Hey, a few broad, non-technical creative possibilities for playing a straight-8th, ECM-type texture in 7/4, which also apply to using Ted Reed’s Syncopation on the drum set broadly. First, we need some rhythms to work […]
Dodge Drum Chart
An interesting item: the Dodge Drum Chart, by Frank Dodge, edited and published by George Lawrence Stone. It was advertised on the back cover of my first copy of Stick Control, so it’s one of […]
Uptempo rock practice phrase
Here’s a quick one— a practice phrase combining two practice systems from the rock drill I posted recently, that’s good for fast tempos. It flows really nicely. I give you so many open-ended practice systems, […]
Max on the bass drum
An exchange on the evolution of the bass drum in jazz, from Max Roach, circa 1981, from his Modern Drummer interview with Scott K. Fish. SF: Back in the ’50s and ’60s jazz drummers were […]
Reed interpretation: Matt’s double bass method – 03
More of an expansive double bass method using the book Syncopation, that I’ve been developing with a student. Here we’ll get into 16th triplets on the bass drums. The method is a little obscure to […]
Stewart Copeland: complete clown
Stewart Copeland’s statements about jazz came up on line recently, and I was curious about that, so I dug around and found some things. He dubiously claims to have a jazz background, but as we’ll […]