This is the tune list for a weekly session I play. We go through a lot of material, most of it kind of unusual, and many things that are rather challenging. I shlep this big […]
Category: tunes
Playing weird tunes
You go through stages of learning jazz repertoire. In high school I would play Charlie Parker tunes on the snare drum— just the melody rhythm. Then I learned about some standard forms, like 12-bar blues […]
Rub-a-dub lesson: Doxy
Another rub-a-dub lesson— getting as much of this in as I can before the end of the year, so there’s a robust section on it in the upcoming 2018 Book of the Blog. This page […]
How to play Autumn Leaves
Playing Autumn Leaves should be a no brainer for a drummer: it’s an easy standard, and one of the first tunes everyone learns. No problem, except some players always do a certain zombie jam session […]
Rub-a-dub lesson: Au Privave
Something a little more challenging to try rub-a-dub style. Since it’s not just a lick, but a way of playing figures and setups, musical context is important— we’re trying to make some written kicks, so just […]
Rub-a-dub lesson: Equinox
Here’s an easy little lesson for doing this rub-a-dub business in a musical context, using the tune Equinox by John Coltrane. Equinox is based on some very common jazz rhythmic figures, so this should be […]
Transcription: Connie Kay – Billie’s Bounce
Here’s a basic bebop study, looking at how Connie Kay plays the head of Billie’s Bounce— we’ve got the drums transcribed, along with the melody rhythm so you can see how they intersect. Kay was […]
From the zone: The Wizard, by Albert Ayler
I’ve been preoccupied the last few days whipping into shape the 2013 Cruise Ship Drummer! Book of the Blog (available for order next week), so here’s a quick little something from my old notebooks: a […]
Another list of standards
On George Colligan’s Jazz Truth blog there is a group email sent out by a student who sounds nearly as dickish as I was in college, with the heading: The George Colligan Standards List…LEARN THEM […]
How to play Dear Old Stockholm
Dear Old Stockholm is the English title of a traditional Swedish song, which, you are probably aware, has become a jazz standard. I don’t know who first started playing it as a jazz tune, but […]
2013 tour repertoire
Here’s a list of the tunes we’ll be working with on my group’s Belgium trip next week. We won’t end up playing all of this stuff, but it’s in the books. A little over half […]
How to play Stablemates
The bop tune Stablemates, by Benny Golson, is something of a test piece for drummers. As now-Portland pianist George Colligan said, “Stablemates can be revealing for a drummer….”, and Golson himself said “It moves around […]