Or not. Here are a few pointers on a subject with which I am all too intimately familiar: getting lost while soloing over over a form, and while reading: SOLOING First, whatever various hells break […]
Category: performance practices
Some observations on a Brian Blade performance
Last night Brian Blade played in town, and I thought I’d share a few impressions from it. I can’t promise they hold any sway outside of that concert as perceived by me from the side […]
Butch Miles on ensemble playing
Big band drumming tips from Butch Miles, from the Oct. 1977 issue of Modern Drummer. They apply to all types of music, of course: SUPPORT. If the band has a difficult passage, support them strongly. […]
Ethan Iverson interview with Billy Hart
Here’s part of another great interview by the Bad Plus’ Ethan Iverson, this time with Billy Hart: Miles and Tony Tony, for his age, seemed to me more thorough in the study of the jazz […]
Very occasional quote of the day: on forethought
“[T]his shit is an accident.” – Paul Motian
VOQOTD: Joan Miró
In the beginning, it’s a direct thing. It’s the material that decides. I prepare the ground-by cleaning my brushes on the canvas, for example. Spilling a little turpentine can also work quite well. If it’s […]
Very occasional quote of the day: Jeff Watts
Messing up is not really that bad; it’s the recovery that’s important. – Jeff Watts
Bill Evans speaks
Here’s a nice, timely (given the last post) find from Ted at Trap’d: pianist Bill Evans talking at length about music:
Different values
I usually keep just one CD in my car for days or occasionally weeks at a time- recently for me it’s been Don Cherry’s Art Deco, an old favorite that had been languishing in the […]
Another way of counting odd meters
Here’s something new to me- though for all I know it’s a common thing- for stupid dogmatic reasons I for years stayed pretty willfully ignorant about the finer points of playing in odd meters. Probably […]
Dispatches
Not that easy a life. Here’s a note I received from a British drummer currently working on a ship in the Mediterranean: “I’m presently doing a stint as a cruise drummer in the Med and […]
Quotable Bob Moses
A few stand-alone quotes from Drum Wisdom by Bob Moses: [T]ake one idea and expand it., instead of playing a lot of ideas. The greatest musicians are those who can take one idea and make […]