The Monday Morning Paradiddle

Not sure about you or wherever you are, but around here Winter has been dragging its heels for some time now. Enough of Winter. Please bring on Spring.

Anyways, enough with the depressing weather reports and here's what's been making the rounds over here in the Four on the Floor news room lately. Upwards and Onwards!

- Lewis Porter on Gene Krupa's legacy via WBGO:

http://wbgo.org/post/reconsidering-gene-krupa-great-jazz-drummer-hiding-plain-sight#stream/0

- Thanks to Adam Nussbaum who passed along this gem of a resource, Gene Perla's personal loft recordings which feature a who's who of important Jazz artists he's collaborated with:

http://www.jazzhistorydatabase.com/content/collections/perla_gene/audio.php?page=1

- Portland's Alan Jones interviewed via Coffeehouse Conversations:

http://www.oregonmusicnews.com/alan-jones-coffeeshop-conversations114

- Art Blakey offers some sage advice to Ben Sidran courtesy of Jazz at Lincoln Centre:




- Brett Primack's tribute to Roy Haynes, the hippest man in the known universe, who recently turned 93 years young last week:




- John Riley interviewed at Drummer Nation:




- A short solo statement from Jack DeJohnette from an outdoor performance at Woodstock taken a few years ago:




- What's better than a band with a swinging drummer? A band with TWO swinging drummers! Here's pianist Emmet Cohen's trio featuring Evan Sherman and Joe Saylor:




- Just a beautiful ballad featuring New York's Tyler Blanton on vibes with some tasteful brushwork from Johnathan Blake from a recent hit at New York's Mezzrow Jazz club:




- I've really been digging this trio out of Chicago lately: bassist Clark Sommer's Ba(SH) Trio featuring Geof Bradfield on tenor saxophone and powerhouse Dana Hall on drums:




- Montreal's Jazz drumming icon Dave Laing explores Herbie Hancock's piano solo on "Eye of the Hurricane", orchestrating it around the drums:




- One more from Portland's Alan Jones, one of my favourite drummers these days:




- What am I listening to these days?

Jodi Proznick "Sun Songs" - Jesse Cahill (drums)

Adam Nussbaum "The Leadbelly Project" - Adam Nussbaum (drums)

Various "Drums of Death: Field Recordings in Ghana" - Ashanti/Ewe Tribes of Ghana (drums/percussion)

David Braid Sextet "Zhen: David Braid Sextet Live, Vol. 2" - Terry Clarke (drums)

Bud Powell Trio "A Portrait of Thelonious" - Kenny Clarke (drums)


- And today's Last Word goes to Adam Nussbaum (special thanks to Roger Johansen who posted this one on FB):

"The drum thing is different than guitar players or trumpet players. There’s a more competitive thing going on there with those instruments. But with drummers, it’s more of a brotherhood. And at the end of the day, we know that the quickest way to change the sound of the band is to change the drummer. We can make a band, we can break a band. And there’s a certain camaraderie. We all get together and it’s a good feeling, it’s a beautiful scene, man. You know, we’re all just trying to get that groove together...make the band feel good, make everybody happy. That’s why we’re going to work. It ain’t about us sounding good, it’s about helping the band sound good."

- Adam Nussbaum