Thanks for checking in this morning and I hope you are all making the most of the Summer months despite the extraordinary circumstances we are currently facing.
Thanks again to everyone who has offered their kind words over the past month with regards to my ongoing project OH DRUM CANADA! It's been fun and stay tuned as the final episode drops this coming Wednesday.
Be forewarned, today's column is a long one...I'll be taking my yearly summer hiatus shortly so, in the meantime, here's a significant collection of various interesting articles and jazz drumming videos to check out and keep you occupied while I'm off in the woods and riding my bike. Thanks again for your ongoing support and be safe out there!
Anyhow, here's an assortment of interesting items that have been making the rounds of the Four on the Floor office lately:
1. Dafnis Prieto has been offering a series of brilliant solo drum performances on his website worth checking out entitled "Flying Solo"
2. Step Tempest offers Drums Out Front featuring new music from drummers Rudy Royston, Jerry Granelli and Steve Fidyk
3. The legacy of the late Jimmy Cobb (aka Mr. Elegant) celebrated by JazzTimes magazine
4. Jochen Rueckert interviewed by Leo Sidran at the The Third Story podcast
5. Franklin Kiermeyer offers these inspiring articles on The Spirit of Drumming, originally published in Canadian Musician Magazine (scroll down his page to read them)
6. Victor Lewis featured in The Drummer's Spirit from All About Jazz
7. Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science perform this NPR Tiny Desk concert
8. The always wise Billy Hart interviewed for the NAMM Oral History Program
9. Ireland's Ronan Guilfoyle offers this brilliant piece for RTE entitled Groove is in the heart: just what exactly is rhythm?
10. Joe Morello interviewed by Binny Lum circa. 1965
11. Rudy Royston featured on The Working Drummer podcast on the topic of solo drumming and story telling on the drum set
12. Barry Elmes is featured and talks about his music on JAZZ.FM's Session Notes
13. Further to my post last month on practicing and applying snare rudiments in a musical way, here's a great lesson with Ari Hoenig:
14. Let's take a moment to appreciate the great Ben Riley with Thelonious Monk:
15. An interview with Tony Williams:
....and some footage of Williams performing at Zildjian Day in Scotland circa. 1994:
16. The always musical Ulysses Owens offers this brief but musical hand drumming solo on his very nice and pleasingly resonant Tama drums:
17. Quincy Davis is back with another edition of his Q-Tip series, this time with some fusion drumming fun:
18. Joe Farnsworth's new album "Time to Swing" comes out in September. He and his stellar quartet (featuring Wynton Marsalis on trumpet) were recently featured at Smalls in Greenwich Village:
19. Antonio Sanchez in conversation with the New England Conservatory of Music:
20. A compilation of footage featuring Allison Miller on drums:
I also recently attended a wonderful virtual on-line masterclass of Allison Miller's, presented by Living Jazz. She spoke about many of the great jazz drummers, their contributions, their innovations and she also hipped us to this GREAT footage of Lenny White with pianist Geri Allen:
Thank you Allison!
21. Steve Smith with a mallet solo dedicated to Vic Firth:
22. A couple of Buddy Rich recordings that were recently recommended to me:
23. A great track from vibraphonist Terry Gibbs with the great Alan Dawson on drums:
24. This incredibly swinging 1962 concert featuring the Count Basie orchestra with Sonny Payne on drums was recently making the rounds via Facebook:
25. I recently came across this AMAZING footage of Billy Higgins and I'd suggest watching this one at least 50 times in a row...
26. I also really enjoyed this video production of Vincent Ho's composition Kickin' It 2.0 featuring Ben Reimer on drums and the Land's End Ensemble:
27. Some seriously swinging 1979 footage of Eddie Gladden with Dexter Gordon in The Hague:
28. A couple of great clips of Kenny Clarke...
...with the Roland Kirk quartet in Italy:
....and a brief latin-inspired solo:
29. Check out this percussive jam session featuring the always inspiring Francisco Mela on timbales:
30. Big thanks to the TD Edmonton International Jazz Festival who recently featured Kendrick Scott in this online drum performance and interview:
31. Calgary's Chad VanGaalen offers this cool animation of the Sun Ra Arkestra:
32. What am I listening to these days?
Miles Davis "Workin/Steamin/Cookin/Relaxin" - Philly Joe Jones (drums)
Kenny Burrell Trio "A Night at the Vanguard" - Roy Haynes (drums)
Johnathan Blake "Trion" - Johnathan Blake (drums)
Rudy Royston "PaNOptic" - Rudy Royston (drums)
Harry Vetro "Northern Ranger" - Harry Vetro (drums)
Jeff Cosgrove "History Gets Ahead of the Story" - Jeff Cosgrove (drums)
The Humanity Quartet "HUMANITY" - Leon Parker (drums)
33. And this Summer's Final Word goes to the great Billy Hart...
I recently attended a virtual on-line masterclass of Hart's presented by Healdsburg Jazz. When asked to offer his definition of "Swing", he replied:
Hope
Joy
Euphoria
and
Optimism
And he concluded his masterclass with this message:
"They say that the highest form of intelligence in the universe...is Love"
- Jabali Billy Hart
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