Dave Laing "Joy Spring"

Another post today featuring the amazing Dave Laing, my former drum teacher at McGill University (Montreal, QC).

Here's Dave demonstrating how to orchestrate melodic ideas around the drum set, in this case Clifford Brown's transcribed trumpet solo from the Max Roach/Clifford Brown hit tune "Joy Spring":



This is very impressive and a stark reminder of how much vocabulary and creative information we can gain from studying solos of jazz musicians of ANY instrument, not just the drums.

In fact, when I interviewed Dan Weiss for my doctoral research he spoke at length about how this particular concept has influenced and informed his own "melodic" approach to the drum set.

Boston's Bob Gullotti also spoke to me extensively about how he teaches students how to learn melodic drum solo vocabulary by means of studying Charlie Parker's solos and phrases found within the pages of the Charlie Parker Omnibook. I've been investigating these ideas myself and find it a fascinating study.

Well, back to the drawing board/woodshed...