[Practicing is] very tedious and easily becomes tiresome… but when it really gets on my nerves, that’s when I know I should keep on with it. – Philly Joe Jones, Down Beat Magazine, March 1959
Category: Philly Joe Jones
Very occasional quote of the day: loud and musical
“I am comparatively a heavy drummer. I like to play heavy, and I play forceful, and sometimes I tend to get loud, and it might be overbearing because I’ve seen some customers who sit close […]
Very occasional quote of the day: real foundation
“My real foundation came from Joe Morris’s rhythm and blues band. It had two books, the rhythm and blues book and a good, swinging book. I really got my power in this band. When you […]
Who and why: the magnificent seven
New series, some thumbnail sketches of drummers who matter to me— to us, I’ll be that bold— and why. The title of this list is of Lenny White’s coinage, as far as I know— the […]
Transcription: Philly Joe Jones – Gaza Strip
Philly Joe Jones playing on Gaza Strip, from Lee Morgan’s first album Indeed!— recorded when Morgan was 18 years old, right around the time Jones was recording several of the famous Miles Davis Quintet albums. […]
Very occasional quote of the day: Joe gives advice
“When I was playing the Vanguard with Freddie Hubbard, I went back to the kitchen and Philly Joe was there. He said, ‘You’re playing good. You gotta kick Freddie’s ass, make his lips burn.’ All […]
Philly Joe set ups
Here’s a tune involving a lot of isolated kicks on the & of 2, where we get to hear a lot of different ways Philly Joe Jones sets them up— Blue Roz the Milt Jackson […]
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 […]
Transcription: Ahmad’s Blues – fours
Hitting the ground running with this 2024 business, here’s Philly Joe Jones trading fours with Red Garland on Ahmad’s Blues, from the Miles Davis album Workin’. Joe sounds quite beautiful, hand made, and direct after […]
Transcription: Philly Joe trading
Here is Philly Joe Jones trading eights and fours with Bill Evans on Minority, from one of my favorite records, Everybody Digs Bill Evans. It’s a good tune to learn. I’ve written just the drum […]
Know your tempos: Workin’ / Steamin’ / Cookin’ / Relaxin’
You can buy them all in one collection now. Hey, we haven’t done one of these in a while. All the tempos from four very famous Miles Davis records, with his very famous quintet from the […]
Playing Airegin
The title is Nigeria spelled backwards, usually pronounced AIRa-jin. I took a minute in the shower this morning figuring out how to pronounce it actually like Nigeria backwards: ah-ee-REE-jine. JINE rhyming with JIVE. A little […]