The Monday Morning Paradiddle

Welcome back y'all and I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Here's what's cooking over here around the Four of the Floor offices these days and presented to you in this edition of the Monday Morning Paradiddle:

- The ever-wise Victor Lewis interviewed by All About Jazz:

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

- Ignacio Berroa shares his thoughts over at The Trap Set:

115-ignacio-berroa-dizzy-gillespie-mccoy-tyner-tito-puente-solo-artist

- WBGO gives the drummers some in this column, featuring new releases brought to us by several current drummers:

http://wbgo.org/post/take-five-gives-drummer-some-justin-brown-jonathan-barber-susie-ibarra-and-more#stream/0

- An interview with Ralph Peterson Jr. in Modern Drummer magazine:

https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/december-2016-ralph-peterson-forward-motion/

- Toronto drummer Nick Fraser recently featured in Downbeat magazine:

http://downbeat.com/news/detail/nick-fraser-rides-the-new-wave-of-toronto-jazz

- Thanks to Adam Nussbaum who sent along these two links to a 1972 concert in Paris featuring Elvin Jones and his quartet!

https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/les-legendes-du-jazz/elvin-jones-en-1972-a-paris-1-2-60676

https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/les-legendes-du-jazz/elvin-jones-en-1972-a-paris-2-2-60649

- Bill Stewart gets busy...



- Billy Hart sets up a tune with his quartet:



- Adam Nussbaum and Seamus Blake get into it with Italian organist Alberto Gurrisi:



- Herlin Riley puts it all out on the line (the second line?) with this one...



- New York drummer Colin Stranahan offers his creative experience on The Creative Mindset Podcast:



- Willie Jones III with some musical advice from a recent masterclass:



- Mark Nelson, a GREAT drummer from Montreal, demonstrates some nice Gretsch drums, brought to us by the nice people over at Timpano Percussion:



- Tenor Saxophonist Ben Wendel with drummer Justin Brown from Wendel's new "Standards with Friends" series:



- Special thanks to John Riley who forwarded along this AMAZING clip of Ruben Bellavia's transcription performance of Tony Williams' drum solo on "Walkin'":



- What am I listening to these days?

Joe Henderson "Double Rainbow: The Music of Antonio Carlos Jobim" - Jack DeJohnette, Paulo Braga (drums)

Al Henderson "Dinosaur Dig" - Barry Romberg (drums)

Kenny Barron Quintet "Concentric Circles" - Johnathan Blake (drums)

Bill Charlap Trio "I'm Old Fashioned"

Bud Powell "Off Minor" - Kenny Clarke (drums)

Don Thompson Quartet "CBC 1977" - Claude Ranger (drums)


- And today's Final Word goes to the late John Birks Gillespie:

"Take care of the Music, and the Music will take care of you!" - Dizzy Gillespie

Mr. Higgins

I've posted this one before but because it is so good, I am sharing it again because....well, just because!

Rudy Royston

I've really been enjoying Rudy Royston's 2016 trio release "The Rise of Orion" lately. Royston is a dynamic drummer, engaging composer and I really dig his energy and creative orchestrations around the drum set.

Here's a peek of Royston's trio featuring saxophonist Jon Irabagon:



Dig this feature from Modern Drummer magazine from a few years ago:

https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/october-2014-rudy-royston/

Also, check out this interview with Rudy from Dave Douglas' Greenleaf Music:

https://greenleafmusic.com/a-noise-from-the-deep-podcast-episode-16-rudy-royston/

John Riley Solo

A very brief but fun and action packed drum solo from John Riley today (recently filmed somewhere in Europe, I believe?) Dig the cool multi-coloured light show happening behind him. Jazz drumming could use more of that, I think...



Anyways, as always, Riley's drumming is super musical and I've always really admired his loose, flowing technique while moving around the drums and the great sound he gets from the instrument.

Marcus Gilmore

Thanks to a lesson with John Riley last month, I've been inclined, upon his suggestion, to check out what Marcus Gilmore is up to lately. He's definitely been making waves (sound & otherwise) these days. Here's a wealth of links and clips to check out of this very unique, modern Jazz drummer.

- A feature from NPR:

https://www.npr.org/sections/ablogsupreme/2013/02/06/171249897/when-your-grandfather-is-the-greatest-living-jazz-drummer

- Interview with Jazz Speaks:

http://www.jazzspeaks.org/marcus-gilmore-see-what-happens/

- An interview with Nick Ruffini over at the Drummer's Resource Podcast:

http://www.drummersresource.com/marcus-gilmore-interview/

- A podcast from Chick Corea's website (somebody who knows a thing or two about drummers!):

http://chickcoreamusicworkshops.com/podcast/lets-just-throw-it-down-marcus-gilmore/

And finally, here's a bunch of cool clips featuring this dynamic and creative musician:

Bugalu

A few cool clips today of a favourite (but not very well known) drummer of mine, the great Master drummer Marvin Bugalu Smith. Check him out:

Conor's Corner: Syncopation in Paradiddles

Another episode of Conor's Corner today, brought to us by the venerable Irish Jazz drummer Conor Guilfoyle.

Today, Conor offers us a practical way to develop interesting paradiddle combinations while using Ted Reed's classic Syncopation text. I've been messing around with this myself all week on my drum pad and have found this to be a very good method in terms of developing fluency with paradiddles, all in the context of melodic phrasing.

Check the out the link to his website here: https://www.conorguilfoyle.com/files/syncopation-in-paradiddles.pdf or check out the accompanying .pdfs below for the written explanation.