Quincy Davis: Q-Tips Part 1

Those who have been following my blog for sometime know that I am a big fan of Quincy Davis' regular video lessons that he posts on YouTube. Quincy teaches jazz drums at the University of North Texas and up to great things as both a player and teacher. 

There are tons of people offering great content on the internet these days (and, unfortunately, even more offering mediocre, or less!) I think what Quincy has been offering is among the best out there and we are very lucky to have access to his knowledge. I recommend digging into what Quincy has to offer. As Kenny Washington once imparted on me during a lesson: "Watch, Listen and Learn."

I usually try to share his videos as he releases them but I got behind (!) so I'll be sharing his most recent videos in instalments, over the course of this coming week.

Quincy is also offering a series of on-line group lessons coming up soon so check out his website for more information and to register:

https://www.quincydavisjazz.com/projects-6

I also highly recommend checking out his series of play-a-long recordings that he's produced. These are excellent resources to practice along with (in fact Q talks at length about the importance of playing along to recordings in his most recent video).

Check those out here: https://qsdigitaldownloads.sellfy.store

Also, make sure to subscribe to his YouTube channel to keep on top of his regular updates.

The Monday Morning Paradiddle - November 2021

Well, I got so busy last week that I neglected to post anything (!) however now that things have calmed down for a bit, here's the November edition of the Monday Morning Paradiddle with more than enough interesting items for you to peruse.

Check it out:

1) Art Blakey and Philly Joe Jones both featured extensively in the Howard University Jazz Oral History Project

2) JazzTimes Magazine with tons of great jazz drumming content including features on Kenny and Peter Washington Willie Jones III Billy Drummond and a Before & After listening session with Joe Farnsworth

Joe Farnsworth also shares this important lesson from the great Art Taylor:

 

3) Ireland's Ronan Guilfoyle continues with his excellent podcast series The Art and Science of Time in this episode featuring Eric Ineke:

     

4) Carl Allen interviewed by Zoom sound recorders and here's some outstanding footage of Carl with Benny Green on piano and Ben Wolfe on bass from way back:

 

5) This piece is five years old (but new to me!) Here's Jabali Billy Hart with the WDR Big Band:

THE BROADER PICTURE: BILLY HART & THE WDR BIG BAND arranged and conducted by CHRISTOPHE SCHWEIZER from christophe schweizer on Vimeo.

6) Victor Lewis interviewed by The Pace Report:

 

7) Mike Clark interviewed by Ken Micallef:

 

8) Two episodes from Ali Jackson Jr.'s 'Bout It series featuring Al Foster...

 

...and Louis Hayes:

 

 

9) Jake Feinberg interviews Charli Persip:

 

10) Adonis Rose interviews Herlin Riley on the legacy of New Orleans drumming from Jazz Congress 2021:

 

11) Quincy Davis interviewed by the Avedis Zildjian Cymbal Company:

 

12) Rochester's Mike Melito interviewed by Drummer Nation:

 

 

13) Outstanding drumming from Brazil's Edu Ribeiro!

 

14) Ulysses Owens Jr. continues with his excellent regular interview series The Drummer's Perspective (thanks for the shout out!) featuring:

Greg Hutchinson 

 

Cindy Blackman Santana

 

George Fludas 

15) Thanks to my good friend Jesse Cahill who shared this footage with me of the Chris Laurence Quartet in concert with Martin France on drums:

 

16) Check out Curtis Nowosad's trio set from the on-line Kensington Market 2021 Virtual Jazz Festival (his portion starts around the 1hr 53min mark):

 

17) A recent hit from Toronto's Terry Clarke on drums with Kirk MacDonald on tenor saxophone and Mike Downes on bass:

 

18) The alway super swinging and super musical Kenny Washington with pianist Bill Charlap and bassist Peter Washington:

19) What am I listening to these days?

Rob McConnell "Tentet" - Terry Clarke (drums)

Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas Sound Prints "Scandal" - Joey Baron (drums)

Bill Charlap Trio "Street of Dreams" - Kenny Washington (drums)

Antonio Sanchez "Bad Hombre" - Antonio Sanchez (drums)

Scott Colley "This Place" - Bill Stewart (drums)

Roy Haynes "A Life in Time" (compilation) - Roy Haynes (drums)

20) And today's Final Word goes to whomever came up with this art installation in downtown Calgary, Alberta:

Yes, it most certainly is...

4-Way Linear Coordination Using Stick Control + The Jon McCaslin 4tet +1 appearing at the King Eddy!

Here are some simple but effective linear exercises that I've been working on with a student lately. I like practicing these because they put my limbs in different combinations and make me play things that I'm not used to (always a good thing in my opinion...)

These were inspired by some linear "flow" concepts that Matt Wilson assigned me when I studied with him in 2004 which, I believe (?), were derived from some exercises he had learned during his own time studying with Ed Soph and George Marsh (my apologies as it was a long time ago and my mind is a bit fuzzy with the details Lol). George is well known for his book Inner Drumming (highly recommended) and of course Ed Soph is a legendary drum set educator who taught at the University of North Texas for many years (see my previous blog post from Christopher Smith featuring both Ed Soph and Steve Houghton).

Anyhow, I digress (!) and the point of these exercises that I've come up with is to develop a connected and unified sense of flow around the drums, between the hands and feet.

Here's how it works:

Use the hand-to-hand sticking patterns from the first few pages of Stick Control as a template and apply the systems below, all while playing a steady stream of 8th notes. You could also use any single, double or triple paradiddle combination as well.

A few suggestions:

- Play all the Right hand parts on the ride cymbal, Left hand on the snare drum

- Play the Right hand on the snare drum, Left hand on the left side crash/ride

- Play the Left foot on the hi-hat both both closed and open (ie. splash)

- Take John Riley's suggestion and play through all of these variations not only as 8th notes but at a triplet rate as well 

*ed. note: the idea of using Stick Control as a template for different exercises also comes from my studies with John and I believe this was a concept used by Joe Morello as well (credit where credit is due, just saying!)

And don't forget:

Take it slow and make it groove!

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And now a Four on the Floor Public Service Announcement

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Hey everybody! 

If you find yourself in Calgary, Alberta this weekend please come check out my band and new project presented by the 2021 TD JazzYYC Canadian Festival:

The Jon McCaslin Quartet +1 

featuring Lisa LaTouche

Friday, November 12th - 830pm

Appearing at the King Eddy 

(Studio Bell - West Block)

438 9 Avenue SE

Calgary, Alberta 

CANADA

Featuring:

Jon McCaslin - drums & cymbals

Jim Brenan - tenor saxophone

Josh Krushel - piano

Jonathan Wielebnowski - bass

Lisa LaTouche - tap

I am excited to play with this great band on Friday night. We'll be performing my new original compositions, most of which were written over the past year.

Come on by and tell them that Four on the Floor sent you!

For more information and tickets please visit:

https://www.jazzyyc.com/jazz-events/the-jon-mccaslin-quartet-1-featuring-lisa-latouche/

Bad Hombre: Antonio Sanchez with Martin & Facundo Lombard

I'm obviously late to the party seeing as this was released a year ago (!) but nevertheless I still think this is really quite amazing and want to share this with you all. 

Here is drummer Antonio Sanchez with tap artists Martin and Facundo Lombard from a short film they produced together.

Yeah!