The Monday Morning Paradiddle

Welcome back. Hope all is well in your respective parts of the Jazz drumming realm. Thanks to our hardworking Four on the Floor correspondents, working day and night to bring you only the very best that the wide world of Jazz drumming has to offer, here's some recent finds to check out:


- Drummer/drum set historian Daniel Glass has recently started a series of very informative podcasts to check out over at iTunes and his website:

http://danielglass.com/podcasts/


- Here's a piece via the Smithsonian on the legacy of the Zildjian cymbal company:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/arts-culture/how-zildjian-cymbals-made-it-from-the-ottoma/?no-ist


- Via Jazz Times magazine, here's Stanton Moore on his favourite brush recordings:

http://jazztimes.com/articles/147780-artist-s-choice-stanton-moore-on-great-brush-performances


- New York drummer Charles Ruggiero has recently published his father Vinnie's handwritten Jazz drumming method book and it is excellent. Find it here and buy your copy today:

http://www.vinniesbook.com/vinnie.html

More on this one very soon…


- A nice feature on Victor Lewis via allaboutjazz.com:

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/victor-lewis-the-drummers-spirit-victor-lewis-by-victor-l-schermer.php


- Dig the drumming of Claude Ranger over at the Canadian Jazz Archive:


http://www.canadianjazzarchive.org/en/concerts/claude-ranger-quintet-1982-02-01.html


- Renee Rosnes interviews Canadian Jazz drumming legend Terry Clarke on CBC's Jazz Portraits, a wonderful radio series featuring many icons of Canadian Jazz music:

http://www.batteryradio.com/Pages/JazzPortraits.html

And also from the Canadian Jazz Archives, here's Terry Clarke with his own trio:

http://www.canadianjazzarchive.org/en/concerts/terry-clarke-trio-2001-01-15.html


- A series of podcast interviews with Jeff Williams, a veteran Jazz drummer who's only recently been on my radar but definitely one who I  look forward to hearing more of:

http://www.londonjazznews.com/2013/06/podcast-interview-with-jeff-williams.html

http://www.londonjazznews.com/2013/06/podcast-interview-with-jeff-williams_25.html

http://www.londonjazznews.com/2013/07/podcast-interview-with-jeff-williams.html


- Two interviews with Mike Clark via Drum Magazine and The Red Bull Academy:

http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2016/02/mike-clark-interview?linkId=21107638

http://www.drummagazine.com/features/post/mike-clark-forever-cool/

- I found this one on Todd Bishop's excellent blog Cruiseship Drummer awhile ago, wishing that some one had told me these things 20 years ago!

https://medium.com/@michael_dangelo/advice-to-a-college-music-student-dfdaf4b53429#.2hqvq4fxc


- A wonderful piece on the importance of listening via my dear friend, bassist Kristin Korb:

http://www.bulletproofmusician.com/to-listen-or-not-to-listen-does-listening-to-a-recording-help-us-learn-faster-and-play-more-accurately/


- The ever eloquent Peter Erskine interviewed over Play Cajon:

http://playcajon.org/2016/02/18/ep-10-peter-erskine/


- From another recent blog/podcast I've only recently discovered, here's Jeff Tain Watts interviewed over at The Trap Set:

http://www.thetrapset.net/jeff-tain-watts-wyntonbranford-marsalis-alice-coltrane-solo/


- An interesting piece on the ever evolving rhythmic language of the Bata drums:

http://www.afropop.org/27508/ancient-text-messages-bata-drums-in-a-changing-world/


- Jazz at Lincoln Center's Alvin Atkinson breaks down his approach to playing the Shuffle:




- An interview with Matt Wilson from Neon Jazz:



And here's an excerpt from Matt's clinic at the JEN Conference Louisville, Kentucky last January:




- A nice drum solo from Johnathan Blake with Chris Potter and Scott Colley:




- Charles Mingus' sextet circa. 1960 performing "I'll Remember April" featuring Bud Powell on piano (with Dannie Richmond on drums):




- What am I listening to these days?

Mel Lewis Sextet "The Lost Art" - Mel Lewis (drums)

The Drummers of Burundi

Alan Jones Sextet "Climbing (Rough)" - Alan Jones (drums)

David Braid "Vivid: The David Braid Sextet Live" - Terry Clarke (drums)

Al Muirhead "Oop"

Dick Oatts "Standard Issue, Vol. 1" -  James Oblon (drums)

Wayne Shorter "The Soothsayer" - Tony Williams (drums)

Jill Townsend Big Band "Legacy: The Music of Ross Taggart" - Dave Robbins (drums)

Phineas Newborn Jr. "A World of Piano" - Louis Hayes (drums)


- And todays's Last Word goes to contemporary dance icon Martha Graham:

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open...No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others” - Martha Graham

(thank you to Vancouver's Kelly Proznick for passing this one along…)

The Money Jungle Revisited

Dig this concert length, contemporary re-imagining of Ellington/Mingus/Roach's "Money Jungle" as interpreted by Terri Lyne Carrington:



Carrington isn't a drummer that's ever really been on my radar but this great music soon led me to these finds as well:





And this lesson from the kind people over at Zildjian:

What Do Artists Do All Day?: Evelyn Glennie

From the BBC series "What Do Artists Do All Day?", here's a wonderful feature on percussionist Evelyn Glennie:





Incidentally, the other features in this BBC series, featuring diverse artists from a variety of disciplines, are all very good as well and worth checking out.

And if you are looking for even more inspiration/motivation, the fellow who posted these videos also curates a great youtube.com channel entitled "Art Documentaries" worth exploring:

https://www.youtube.com/user/taran333tula/videos

Doctoral Studies: Melodic Jazz Drumming

A little over a year ago I successfully defended by doctoral thesis "Melodic Jazz Drumming" at the University of Toronto. This project was the culmination of many years of hard work and I learned a great deal from the experience. I am very fortunate to apply the concepts and ideas I learned every time, it seems, whenever I sit behind a set of drums or work with a student.

My dissertation is now available on-line and if you are interested in taking a look, check it out here:

https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/69408/3/McCaslin_Jonathan_D_201506_DMA_thesis.pdf

Tain Revisited

I originally posted this series of interviews with Jeff "Tain" Watts back in 2010 and they are still up on youtube.com so I recently decided to watch these again and repost for a little motivation and inspiration:







Here's a great JazzTimes article on the legacy and innovations of Watts:

http://jazztimes.com/articles/170486-jeff-tain-watts-how-he-revolutionized-jazz-drumming

And a couple more clips to remind us of what a bad ass he is on the drums!

Buddy Rich Paris 1970

I guess it's Buddy Rich week over here at Four on the Floor….Thanks to Brad Shigeta who passed along this one that I haven't seen before:



And here's a condensed version featuring just the drum solos:



I think the organ is a nice change of pace for this music and dig the over head camera angles. Class is now in session!

Rich on Brushes

From the 1974 Buddy Rich album "Tuff Dude", here's Rich sticking with his brushes on a trio rendition of "Billie's Bounce" along with Kenny Barron on piano and Anthony Jackson on electric bass:



And here's another example of Rich's fine brush playing with his big band from an appearance at the Montreal Jazz Festival: