FOUR ON THE FLOOR: The Monday Morning Paradiddle

Well, it's been a minute since our last monthly column. Welcome back, thanks for checking in and I hope you are all keeping safe out there.

Fortunately, despite the challenges of our current circumstances, many great musicians are still doing and sharing really great things on-line these days. If so inclined, there is no lack of really great resources to learn from out there. I'd encourage all of you to take advantage of these opportunities and support those artists who are trying to make the best of the situation.

Onwards & Upwards!

Anyways, here's a collection of items, old and new, that have been making the rounds lately and caught my attention:

1. Hey look I now have a proper website! Thanks to Andrew Millar who did a fantastic job putting this together. You can click on the link on the sidebar on the upper right hand side of this page or visit: www.jonmccaslin.com (btw Four on the Floor will be staying right here but you'll be able to access it through my website as well...)

If you need someone to put together a website for you, I can't recommend Andrew highly enough and you can reach him through his own website www.andrewmillardrums.com.

Oh yeah, Andrew is a pretty mean drummer himself (as you'll see below) and he was always one of my favourite drummers to listen to during my brief time in living in Toronto (2007-2009):

2. Russ Gleason and Neal Wilkinson are doing really great things over at Drum Hangs, presenting weekly Zoom webinars with the world's greatest drummers. These are really well curated and I'm consistently impressed with the drummers who are invited and the discussions that take place. Some of the great drummers they have featured so far include the likes of Jeff Hamilton, John Riley, Adam Nussbaum, Bill Stewart, Martin France, Zildjian's Paul Francis, Mark Guiliana, Steve Gadd, Simon Phillips, Ed Soph, Terri Lyne Carrington, Peter Erskine, Johnathan Blake and many, many others.

Upcoming sessions include guests such as Ari Hoenig, Bernard Purdie, Jeff Tain Watts, James Gadson, Kenny Washington and Antonio Sanchez so don't miss out on these opportunities to virtually rub shoulders with these Masters and ask them questions.

Thank you Russ and Neal and keep up the great work!

3. Anders Mogensen has been offering great things to practice with his Weekly Drum Diary project. Check that out here and sign up for his mailing list to receive weekly lessons in .pdf with examples posted on YouTube.

Anders always has interesting and challenging exercises to offer!

4. Check out these recent JAZZ.FM91 Session Notes features with Ted Warren and Morgan Childs, two more really great jazz drummers from Toronto that I always enjoy listening to.

5. Jazz Profiles features the great Frankie Dunlop, an underrated drummer (in my humble opinion) and someone all jazz drummers need to study.

6. A series of articles from pianist Ethan Iverson on rhythm and jazz drumming:

Hands and Feet

Rhythmic Folklore

And be sure to read his interviews with Billy Hart, Albert Tootie Heath, Mickey Roker and Steve Little.

7. A "Before & After" listening session with Johnathan Blake from JazzTimes Magazine.

8. And also from JazzTimes, a cover story on Jeff Hamilton (check out Jeff's latest album "Catch Me If You Can")

9. Noah Becker interviews Rodney Green for Becker's Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art.

10. Edu Ribeiro from Open Studio has been offering a wonderful weekly Q&A session with a host of great drummers (Edu is a really great drummer himself!)

It was really great to hear Edu's interview with Ignacio Berroa:

And here's his recent session with John Riley:

And speaking of John Riley, I've really been enjoying his series of cymbal features with Zildjian's Paul Francis, from the nice folks over at the Memphis Drum Shop.

Here's a recent spotlight with Paul Francis and John Riley on the history of Zildjian cymbals:

11. Congratulations to Terri Lyne Carrington who was recently named an NEA Jazz Master!

Here is a recent interview with Carrington, from Pablo Held:

12. Matt Wilson was featured in this Jazz Times piece by Nate Chinen and he also offered this liberating drum lesson in 2019.

Here is a recent interview on his latest musical offering "Hug":

13. Rudy Royston interviewed by The Drum Shuffle:

14. Joe Farnsworth on his latest album "It's Time to Swing!":

15. A wonderful duet featuring Jeff Ballard and Gilad Hekselman on Pat Metheny's "Last Train Home":

16. Peter Magadini in a solo spot with Slide Hampton, recorded live in Toronto at Bourbon Street circa. 1978:

17. An interview with the prolific Trilok Gurtu:

18. Here's a great duet with Milford Graves and Joe Lovano!

19. Many thanks to Travis Knights who shared this Max Roach interview with Ben Sidran:

And thank you Benny Green for sharing via Facebook this rare 1953 recording of Max Roach with Charlie Parker, Hank Mobley, Bud Powell and George Duvivier:

20. The University of North Texas offers this informative 10 Questions Plus+ Zoom session with veteran jazz great Roy McCurdy:

21. Here's Jeff Tain Watts on Giant Steps!

22. Chad Anderson remembers the late, great Alvin Fielder:

23. Jason Marsalis continues with his One Man Drums Show, this time with a piece entitled "Bench Brush Battle", inspired by his brush jams with Adonis Rose: