“You call it swing, but what I’m saying is it’s a rhythmic sophistication that causes a euphoric reaction, and on a folk level that reaction can go anywhere from sensual feelings, to partying, to dancing, […]
Category: swing
First jazz lesson
Here’s an item for teachers. This is a process I improvised in a lesson with a 6th grade student yesterday, to introduce him to playing the jazz rhythm on the drums. We did this verbally, […]
Practice loop: The Sermonette
Here’s a jazz practice loop in 4/4, a sort of gospel 2 feel, sampled from The Sermonette, by Cannonball Adderly. It has a nice deep pocket and is good for all your jazz practicing needs. […]
“Skiplet”?
In some ways I feel I’m watching (and contributing to) the death of the familiar jazz ride cymbal pattern as a musical thing, for a lot of reasons, but partly as the result of a […]
Swing coordination: Dahlgren & Fine format — 01
In the swing section of their book 4-Way Coordination, Marvin Dahlgren and Eliot Fine created a fairly ingenious framework for writing related exercises in multiple time signatures. With my Pages o’ Coordination I’ve been following […]
Kenny Clarke plays an intro
Putting together a bebop podcast (which we’ll see here whenever I get it finished), this intro from 1941 by Kenny Clarke jumped out at me— the tune is Hot House, and the playing feels more […]
VOQOTD: Dave Liebman on rhythm
Eighth notes are the main denomination of jazz time, much like the penny is to the American dollar. Although one may not play only eighth notes, they still serve as the underpinning of […]
What it is: swing rhythm
Extremely preoccupied with tour preparations, obviously, but fortunately I have a couple of things on deck: Swing interpretation is something we use a lot here, and I’ve mostly assumed people know what it is— you […]
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. […]
Transcription: Jo Jones – It Don’t Mean A Thing…
Here’s a transcription of Papa Jo Jones playing the intro and head of It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing, from a 1970 Black Lion recording, Paul Gonsalves Meets Earl Hines. […]
The DNA of swing drumming
I picked up this interesting book- Charley Wilcoxon’s Drum Method– as one of my local sheet music stores was going out of business. I’d been working with Wilcoxon’s more advanced Rudimental Swing Solos, but this […]