Johnathan Blake!

Johnathan Blake has been a busy guy these days (which is no surprise, of course, because he's such a fantastic musician!) and here's just a few examples of the wonderful music he's been making lately including recent gigs with:

Terell Stafford

 

Chris Potter, Brad Mehldau and John Patitucci

 

a new trio recording with pianist Kris Davis and Robert Hurst

and Blake's own group featuring Donny McCaslin and Scott Colley

More Billy Drummond!

My previous post that I shared featuring Ken Micallef's insightful conversation with Billy Drummond was really well received after I posted it earlier this month. Thank you Ken and Billy for dropping all this wonderful knowledge and to the rest of you out there for all your feedback and enthusiasm. How lucky are we to have access to Billy's extensive knowledge of music shared with us like this? Well, you can never get enough of a good thing in my opinion when it comes to good music and lucky for us, Ken Micallef has uploaded yet another two fantastic instalments of his conversation with Billy Drummond.

 

All in favour of Billy Drummond hosting a regular podcast like this, please raise your hand...

In any event, and as always, when the Masters speak, we listen.

Dave Holland on Time Meters

 

As drummers, "rhythm is our business" but it's certainly not an exclusive club! 

Thanks to the people at SF Jazz here's a fantastic piece in which bassist Dave Holland shares his concepts dealing with time meters and rhythmic structures:

It's Time! a sonic tribute to Max Roach

 

It's Time!

a sonic tribute to MAX ROACH

featuring Jon McCaslin solo drums
and duets with Chris Tauchner keyboards
with special guest Raul Tabera percussion

Saturday, October 12th, 2024

8pm

Tickets $15

Congress Coffee
215 - 36th Avenue NE

Calgary, AB

www.congresscoffeeyyc.com

-----------------------------------

I am really excited to finally present this project next month in my hometown of Calgary, Alberta. This year represents the 100th anniversary of Max Roach's birth and since he's one of my biggest influences and a major reason why I even play the drums, it seemed fitting that I perform something to honour his legacy.

For this upcoming performance in October I'll be playing half of the concert solo and the other joined by the creative force that is Chris Tauchner on keyboards. My good friend, Cuban percussionist and heavyweight rhythmatist Raul Tabera will also join us a for a few numbers.

The solo repertoire I'll be performing will be my interpretation and a mix of Max's iconic solo pieces (including The Drum Waltzes, Conversation and Drums Unlimited, among others) as well as some of my own Max Roach-inspired solo drum pieces that I've been developing and exploring over the last few years.

The concept of performing solo drums is one that has intrigued and challenged me for a number of years. Last year I performed solo for a project with a solo contemporary dancer and this upcoming gig is the next step towards even more of this kind of thing. In addition to Max Roach I've also checked out and been inspired by solo works from the likes of Andrew Cyrille, Milford Graves, Gerry Hemingway, Beaver Harris, Pheeroan Aklaff, Ted Poor, Fransisco Mela, Billy Martin, Antonio Sanchez, Matt Wilson, Mark Guiliana and many more. So there's lots of material to work from and the sky is the limit. I'm hoping to record this music and further perform it in the future as well.

My duets with Chris Tauchner are somewhat inspired by the many iconic duets that Roach performed over the course of his lengthy career with artists such as Cecil Taylor, Abdullah Ibrahim, Randy Weston, Mal Waldron, Archie Shepp, Anthony Braxton, Clark Terry and, of course, Dizzy Gillespie (a personal favourite of mine...)

The repertoire we are going to play will be drawn from different points in Max's career as a composer and from artists that he collaborated with (of which there were many!). We'll also play a few of my originals that definitely feature the drums in the spirit of Max Roach (hopefully he would have dug them...)

Anyways, I'm really looking forward to this gig and hope you can check this out if you find yourself in Calgary in October.

Indeed, it's time!

Billy Drummond Talks Jazz Vinyl

Thanks to Ken Micallef for sharing this wonderful piece featuring Billy Drummond and his favourite jazz vinyl picks: 

As always, when the Masters speak...we listen!

Colleen Clark: Evolution of the Ride Pattern

And...we're back.

I hope you all had wonderful Summer holiday and now that September is upon us it's time to get back to work and back on saddle over here at Four on the Floor.

Today's blog post features some wonderful work from Dr. Colleen Clark and the Avedis Zildjian Company featuring Clarke's research of the evolution of the ride cymbal pattern.

https://ae.zildjian.com/education/the-evolution-of-the-ride-pattern-with-colleen-clark/

There is a ton of great and well researched information here and I encourage you all to check this out:

In this lesson series, Zildjian artist Colleen Clark provides a historiographical and musical analysis examining the jazz ride cymbal pattern, from its inception on woodblock, small accessory cymbals, hand cymbal mechanisms and brushes through what becomes known as the modern-day ride cymbal pattern. This research examines a wide array of drummers and bandleaders, with the objective of identifying the earliest recordings of this important addition to jazz drumming, and popular music history while analyzing the ride cymbal pattern’s evolution through definitive recordings.

Part One Pattern on Non-Drum Surfaces 1917-1924

Part Two Pattern Played with Brushes 1927-1933

Part Three Pattern Played on Hi-Hats 1928-1936 + Bonus Hi-Hat Lesson

Part Four Pattern Played on Small Cymbals 1927-1933

Part Five Zildjian's Influence on the Ride Pattern 

Part Six Pattern Played on Large Cymbals 1928-1940

Part Seven Transition to Bebop and the Influence of Kenny Clarke 

Oh yeah, make sure to check these out too: