Jochen Rueckert's Instructional Videos

German-born, New York based Jazz drummer Jochen Rueckert has recently produced and released a series of wonderful Jazz drumming instructional videos, all drawn from his extensive personal experience. These are really well done and I highly recommend these to anyone seeking to up their game as a Jazz drummer. Check out the new link and banner on my blog, located on the right hand side of the page. You can also visit his site here: https://www.jochenrueckert.net/#instructional-videos

Jochen has been active on the New York Jazz scene for over 20 years and has been played with a who's who of contemporary Jazz artists. Check out this clip of him with his quartet featuring Mark Turner:



And here's a little drum solo statement:



Jochen was also kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions about his latest instructional project:

-Tell us all about your new series of instructional videos. What is it all about?

I started releasing short instructional videos through my website late last year. So far I've released 6 episodes, each episode is around 20 minutes long and focuses on one topic. I've got one episode only focusing on brushes, for example. So, say you're not interested in my advice on brushes then you can skip that one. I tried to pack as much useful information into each episode as possible

-Why did you decide to pursue this project?

Well, I have been teaching increasingly over the last few years, probably because I am more visible now as a band leader. Frankly, I got tired of telling people the same shit over and over in private lessons . There seem to be so many common problems amongst my students, I thought It would be good to streamline the whole process into a video series and save a lot of people the arduous trip on the C train to my house. I also feel like a lot of the other jazz drum masterclass videos out there are all over the place, many are not very focused, with too much playing or showing off by the artist, and some, I feel, are way too advanced, some miss the point entirely or pass along very little useful advice. So I was hoping to improve those aspects with starting my own series. I am also continuously broke, as required by jazz-law, so i would be lying if I said making a little extra bread wasn't an incentive.

-What were the logistics involved in completing such a project?

Writing the material was easy - I really had to stop myself actually, so many things that come up in lessons that I wanted to get on tape. Much harder was finding the right format and dividing the material into episodes that make sense, since a lot of things are connected. Presenting that stuff on camera without an actual script or cue cards or a telepromter was a real bitch, though. You can see me being veeeeeery uncomfortable in the first episode and slowly getting adjusted throughout the series. Mostly you're watching exhaustion taking over my body once you get to episode 5. Originally, I was considering doing it for some of the platforms already out there: mymusicmasterclass, Jazz Heaven, and the soon to be launched elite music mentor- they're all cool but somehow it didn't quite work out timing-wise. Turns out my neighbour is a pro cameraman so we just went for it and we filmed all the stuff in my practice room here in my apartment in Harlem over two days. My buddy Matt Marantz did the drum recording with his mobile setup and it was pretty intense actually, with all the lights, cameras and mics in that small room. And the editing also really sucks, apart from it taking ages, it's also quite painful to watch oneself on screen over and over.

-What can you tell us about your background as a musician?

Just a quick overview- I am a jazz drummer mostly, I have been doing a lot of sideman work in a plethora of bands - notably the Kurt Rosenwinkel quartet, Melissa Aldana trio. Recently I play a lot with my own quartet, with Mark Turner and either Lage Lund or Mike Moreno and whatever bass monkey is available. I play a lot of "modern jazz" ( almost a curse word these days) and I love playing (and also writing) more traditional stuff, with a little modern twist perhaps. I am a little old fashioned that way in that I love jazz from the 60s. Apart from that, I make a lot of pretty far out electronic music under the moniker "Wolff Parkinson White" and here it's more about metric modulation from 17/16 to 25/8 every 2 bars and microtonal tone rows at 208.5 bpm.

-How did your musical background and experience shape and inform your ideas about developing this series of videos?

Well, as I mentioned, I am just a tad more old fashioned than some people think. I believe there should be a strong understanding of the history of jazz and that your playing should be rooted in that tradition. I get a lot of students that are clueless about that sort of stuff and can't swing their way out of a paper bag. I mean, they want to, but they can't. Then they just go on and study some more advanced stuff like weird odd meter things or metric modulation whatever. I am trying to bring some perspective to that: "first things first". You can't really do all that fancy stuff that people often seek me out for, before you have a solid base to build it on .

-What have been some of the highlights and challenges while working on this project?

As I mentioned before, editing is really frustrating and an absolute nightmare was getting subtitles made. I was hoping for some customers in Japan and China so I spent a lot of time explaining everything to various translators, then in the end there was basically no interest from Asia whatsoever, which was a bummer, so I stopped making asian subtitles. On the positive side, it was nice to not only get some positive feedback from drummer colleagues, but also from some people that play other instruments too.

-What does the future have in store for you and your activities? 

Well, I am about to hit the road for 3 weeks with my quartet, I am doing a little bit of big band work for the NDR big band, which is unusual for me, I am working on some new music for my jazz quartet and for a project with a larger, extended horn section band as well as slowly finishing up the next Wolff Parkinson White record I have been slaving away at for several years. This one will have different guest singers, so that'll be fun.

The Monday Morning Paradiddle

Well, looks like Spring is finally here. Personally I've had enough of this never ending Winter and it seems like it dragged on forever. Now I know how House Stark felt in Game of Thrones, all those years defending the Wall...Anyways, now that the snow is gone and the sun is finally shining and trees blooming, here is what we have on the go for this early Spring edition of the Monday Morning Paradiddle:

- Thanks to Adam Nussbaum who forwarded this nice piece on Albert "Tootie" Heath:

http://www.westword.com/music/jazz-drummer-albert-tootie-heath-plays-dazzle-in-denver-10169826

- An interview with Maestro Terry Clarke:

http://www.jakefeinbergshow.com/2017/04/the-terry-clarke-interview/

- Thanks to Four on the Floor correspondent Tim Mah for sending along this great segment on Herlin Riley and the legacy of the Lastie family from New Orleans, featured on WWNO:

http://wwno.org/post/legendary-lasties

- Chicago's Chad Taylor featured over at All About Jazz.com:

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/chad-taylor-myths-and-music-education-chad-taylor-by-jakob-baekgaard.php?width=1280

- Here's two wonderful podcasts that I have been following regularly of late,  to get me through this unnecessarily long Winter weather:

"Jazz Stories" from Jazz @ Lincoln Centre:

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/jazzstories/id405068170?mt=2

"You'll Hear it" from Peter Martin's Open Studio Network:

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/youll-hear-it/id1342674932?mt=2

- A wild and inventive improvised solo from Han Bennink:




- "Birdman Live" from Antonio Sanchez:




- A cool drum solo from Idris Muhammad, from a trio performance with Joe Lovano:




- Jeff Ballard plays a mallet-inspired drum solo in a museum:




- I posted this one before but it's really amazing and deserves to be posted again. Here's phenom Tyshawn Sorey with Master drummer Pedrito Martinez:




- Portland's Alan Jones in a little saxophone trio action on "All the Thing You Are":




- Marvin Bugalu Smith is a force. Check him out!


Truth be told, "BETTER THAN HOLLYWOOD” series 94 by Marvin Bugalu Smith b from Marvin Bugalu Smith on Vimeo.


- What am I listening to these days?

Solon McDade "Murals" - Rich Irwin (drums)

Terri Lyne Carrington "Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue" - Terri Lyne Carrington (drums)

The Art Ensemble of Chicago "ECM :rarum" - Famoudou Don Moye (Sun Percussion)

Brian Lynch & Conrad Herwig "Que Viva Coltrane" - Robby Ameen (drums), Richie Flores (congas)

Mark Turner "Lathe of Heaven" - Marcus Gilmore (drums)

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

Jackie McLean & Tina Brooks "Street Singer" - Art Taylor (drums)


- And today's Final Word goes to Joseph Campbell:

“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us. Follow your bliss." - Joseph Campbell

Butch Miles

A couple of short lessons today from the legendary Butch Miles: a cool brush pattern and some tips on how to play the hi-hat:

JoJo Mayer: Practice Wisdom

Thanks to Nick Ruffini from the Drummer's Resource Podcast Instagram page (check out his webpage here: www.drummersresource.com) here is JoJo Mayer's philosophy for a more effective practice routine:

"JoJo Mayer's Practice Rules"

Rule #1 - Practice what you CAN'T do.

Rule #2 - Be aware of WHAT you're practicing for. Be aware of WHY you believe you need to accomplish that. Start with the end in mind.

Rule #3 - Don't practice for hours...practice for RESULTS. Practice as short as necessary, not as long as possible.

Rule #4 - Observe yourself carefully. Practice with the same attitude you'd like to see yourself perform.

Rule #5 - If you get stuck too long with one thing...leave it, relax...try a different viewpoint.

Rule #6 - Practice is like raising children or growing plants: you can't force it to grow...all you do is CARE. Challenge yourself but be patient, have trust and have fun.

Rule #7 - Practicing is not a means to an end. If you're not sure why you're practicing, it's sometimes better to stop and do something else. Perhaps stop practicing for a while, and then pick it up again once you are certain WHY you want or need to.

Rule #8 - Don't focus on practicing the drums...focus on playing music!

Rule #9 - ACCEPT AND SURRENDER.

And furthermore, here is a fascinating Tedx Talk given by JoJo Mayer himself to check out:

Han Bennink: The Havana Dance Band

Thanks to Ireland's Noel Martin Jr. who posted a great clip of Han Bennink over on FB the other day that eventually led me to this gem, "The Havana Dance Band", recorded in 1983 as part of an art gallery installation.

As per usual, this is some exceptional playing from Bennink that demonstrates how many sounds and how much interest can be sustained with just a minimal drum set-up at one's disposal. We can all take a lesson from this!



And just in case you're not convinced and dismiss Han Bennink as some kind of a nut (you should get your head checked on that point alone!) then check out this footage of him playing with Wes Montgomery (I think he sounds like Kenny Clarke!):

Jabali Billy Hart: "Still Out of Control"

I was inspired by this brief faculty profile of Master drummer Jabali Billy Hart via the Oberlin Conservatory (check out his last comment Lol...and I'm also inclined to transcribe that cool paradiddle/cross-over pattern that he plays at 1:28):

And from a recent week-long trio engagement at the Village Vanguard with pianist Fred Hersch, here's Hart in action on Wayne Shorter's "Black Nile" and Thelonious Monk's "Bemsha Swing" (special thanks to Tim Mah for passing these along...):





Finally, from the Pace Report, here's an interview with this Master drummer who is always eager to share his wisdom:



As per usual, when the Masters speak...we must listen.

Johnny Griffin & Art Taylor: France 1970

I've posted parts of this one before but those clips are long gone on the YouTube....so here's some killing footage Johnny Griffin and Art Taylor GOING FOR IT from a 1970 French TV broadcast:

Steve Lacy: Lift the Bandstand

I had the opportunity to hear Steve Lacy play and speak in Montreal back in 2004, not that long before he passed away. Since then I've been quite inspired by his writings on music/art and found them to be quite inspiring in addition to his constantly forward thinking music.

Here is the Steve Lacy documentary "Lift the Bandstand" to enjoy this Easter long weekend:





This list has been making the rounds of the internet for quite some time now, but it's worth reading again. Here is a list of "advice" and music/life lessons that Lacy compiled during his time with Thelonious Monk:

Purdie Plays

I've been on a bit of a Bernard Purdie kick for the last while and I think these next two clips are amazing resources if you are interested in getting a clear sonic view of his legendary style:

Taps & Traps

Those who know me will recognize my appreciation for the art form of tap dancing and of its important relationship to the practice of Jazz drumming. Playing with tap dancers is one of my favourite things to do! I'm always amazed at their seamless sense of rhythmic phrasing, syncopation and movement.

My first introduction to tap was from listening to the seminal Jo Jones album "The Drums" in which Papa Jo imitates the sounds of his favourite tap dancers. Recently I've been digging what little I've seen of Savion Glover's collaborations with Marcus Gilmore and Jack DeJohnette.

I recently worked with a number of world class tap dancers (including Heather Cornell and Travis Knights) as part of the annual Rhythm, Body and Soul Festival produced by Tasha Lawson and the Tri-Tone Rhythm Society, in my hometown of Calgary, AB.

In corresponding with Heather Cornell afterwards, she praised the work of percussionist Jesse Stewart with whom she presented a tap and drums duo performance, as part of the 2018 Ottawa Winter Jazz Festival (see Tim Mah's earlier guest blog post for a full report). This is an ongoing project so look for these two master artists on a stage near you.

And fortunately for us, here's a couple clips of this recent collaboration between tap master Cornell and percussionist Stewart:


Taps and Traps: Heather Cornell and Jesse Stewart • Handpan Sand Dance from Hazi on Vimeo.


Taps and Traps: Heather Cornell and Jesse Stewart • Music for wooden box and wooden mocks from Hazi on Vimeo.


Taps and Traps: Heather Cornell and Jesse Stewart • Water wood from Hazi on Vimeo.

The Monday Morning Paradiddle

Not sure about you or wherever you are, but around here Winter has been dragging its heels for some time now. Enough of Winter. Please bring on Spring.

Anyways, enough with the depressing weather reports and here's what's been making the rounds over here in the Four on the Floor news room lately. Upwards and Onwards!

- Lewis Porter on Gene Krupa's legacy via WBGO:

http://wbgo.org/post/reconsidering-gene-krupa-great-jazz-drummer-hiding-plain-sight#stream/0

- Thanks to Adam Nussbaum who passed along this gem of a resource, Gene Perla's personal loft recordings which feature a who's who of important Jazz artists he's collaborated with:

http://www.jazzhistorydatabase.com/content/collections/perla_gene/audio.php?page=1

- Portland's Alan Jones interviewed via Coffeehouse Conversations:

http://www.oregonmusicnews.com/alan-jones-coffeeshop-conversations114

- Art Blakey offers some sage advice to Ben Sidran courtesy of Jazz at Lincoln Centre:




- Brett Primack's tribute to Roy Haynes, the hippest man in the known universe, who recently turned 93 years young last week:




- John Riley interviewed at Drummer Nation:




- A short solo statement from Jack DeJohnette from an outdoor performance at Woodstock taken a few years ago:




- What's better than a band with a swinging drummer? A band with TWO swinging drummers! Here's pianist Emmet Cohen's trio featuring Evan Sherman and Joe Saylor:




- Just a beautiful ballad featuring New York's Tyler Blanton on vibes with some tasteful brushwork from Johnathan Blake from a recent hit at New York's Mezzrow Jazz club:




- I've really been digging this trio out of Chicago lately: bassist Clark Sommer's Ba(SH) Trio featuring Geof Bradfield on tenor saxophone and powerhouse Dana Hall on drums:




- Montreal's Jazz drumming icon Dave Laing explores Herbie Hancock's piano solo on "Eye of the Hurricane", orchestrating it around the drums:




- One more from Portland's Alan Jones, one of my favourite drummers these days:




- What am I listening to these days?

Jodi Proznick "Sun Songs" - Jesse Cahill (drums)

Adam Nussbaum "The Leadbelly Project" - Adam Nussbaum (drums)

Various "Drums of Death: Field Recordings in Ghana" - Ashanti/Ewe Tribes of Ghana (drums/percussion)

David Braid Sextet "Zhen: David Braid Sextet Live, Vol. 2" - Terry Clarke (drums)

Bud Powell Trio "A Portrait of Thelonious" - Kenny Clarke (drums)


- And today's Last Word goes to Adam Nussbaum (special thanks to Roger Johansen who posted this one on FB):

"The drum thing is different than guitar players or trumpet players. There’s a more competitive thing going on there with those instruments. But with drummers, it’s more of a brotherhood. And at the end of the day, we know that the quickest way to change the sound of the band is to change the drummer. We can make a band, we can break a band. And there’s a certain camaraderie. We all get together and it’s a good feeling, it’s a beautiful scene, man. You know, we’re all just trying to get that groove together...make the band feel good, make everybody happy. That’s why we’re going to work. It ain’t about us sounding good, it’s about helping the band sound good."

- Adam Nussbaum

New Orleans Drumming

This rare resource recently popped up on the Tube, featuring Baby Dodds and a host of other drummers from the Crescent City I've never even heard of...(although apparently this obscure footage has been available on VHS for some time?)

Anyways, check this out and then get to work on your press rolls!

The Second Triplet

About five years ago I had the opportunity to work with saxophonist Ralph Bowen and play a concert of his music arranged for big band. It was a wonderful experience and I also took advantage of the opportunity to take a lesson with him during his time in Calgary. Ralph is a serious musician with huge ears and he KNOWS drummers and drumming when he hears them so I was very interested in his perspective on my own playing. We spent the better part of an afternoon playing saxophone and drum duets.

One idea that he suggested that I explore more closely was a phrasing concept, the idea of emphasizing more of the 2nd triplet of each beat in my comping patterns, when playing a slow to medium tempo swing groove.

Something like this:

Of course, to my ears anyways, this immediately suggests the drumming of Elvin Jones who was famous for his triplet-laced comping style and his own unique emphasis of the 2nd triplet within his own timekeeping phrases.

So I came up with a few exercises to further develop this concept:

1) Mess around with the orchestration of every 2nd triplet of each beat of the bar, playing it on the snare drum, tom tom, floor tom, bass drum and hi-hat, mixing it up in different combinations, all while keeping Time on the ride cymbal. Once you are comfortable with this and can get a nice flow happening, start to leave the occasional note out. Think compositionally and get comfortable with the placement and feeling of that 2nd "inner" triplet.

Here's a couple more fun exercises to further explore this concept:

2) Play the Jazz ride cymbal rhythm (right hand) with the 2nd triplet as a constant rhythmic ostinato on the snare drum (left hand).

Then using Stick Control, add a constant eighth-note shuffle between your feet, orchestrating it as follows:

R= bass drum

L= hi-hat

You'll find that you will create a constant stream of triplets underneath your ride cymbal but the feet will never line up with the 2nd triplet on the snare drum. Clever eh?

3) Same idea as above except use Page 37 etc. from Syncopation and orchestrate the rhythms between your feet while your right hand plays the Jazz ride cymbal beat and your left hand plays the 2nd triplet of each beat as an ostinato on the snare drum.

a) bass drum = long notes

    hi-hat = short notes

b) Reverse*

c) bass drum = Any rhythm that lines up on beats 1 and 3 (including the +'s)

    hi-hat = Any rhythm that lines up beats 2 and 4 (including the +'s)

d) Reverse*

Take it slow and remember: Keep it Swinging!

*Perhaps try playing the hi-hat as an open "splash" sound when interpreting it as a "long" rhythm...

Conor's Corner: Advanced Triplet Subdivision Rhythm Exercise

Today marks the first of what will hopefully be a regular, on-going series of guest blog posts from my friend and great Irish Jazz drummer Conor Guilfoyle. He's been posting lessons on YouTube.com for quite some time now and I've always admired not only his wonderful information but also his excellent delivery and concise explanations as well.

Today Conor offers us an excellent explanation on how to use odd-grouping subdivisions over a triplet subdivision:



And here's the written companion to this piece:

To learn more about Conor's activities check out his website www.conorguilfoyle.com (there are also many more great lessons to check out here) and this interview from irishdrummers.com:

http://www.irishdrummers.com/2017/06/conor-guilfoyle-supreme-jazz-drummer.html

Thanks again Conor and see you next time!

Kris Davis & Marcus Gilmore

Further to Monday's post, here's more footage from Kris Davis' album "Duopoly", this time featuring pianist Kris Davis with drummer Marcus Gilmore:





The world needs more music like this!

Kris Davis & Billy Drummond

One of my favourite recent albums of the past couple of years is pianist Kris Davis' "Duopoly". This album features improvised duets between Davis and various improvisors. One such pairing finds pianist Kris Davis with drummer Billy Drummond on two tracks (the other piano/drums duets on the album features Marcus Gilmore). One selection features improvisations on the theme to "Eronel" and the other, a completely improvised duet statement.

Here's a Modern Drummer article about this unique collaboration:

https://www.moderndrummer.com/2016/10/video-premiere-billy-drummond-track-eronel-improvising-pianist-kris-davis/

And, fortunately for us, here is video footage of both tracks from the album:





I've always been a HUGE fan of Drummond's drumming and have known Kris since she was barely out of high school (!) During the summer of 1997 we played together in a piano trio at the Banff Centre for the Arts with bassist Solon McDade, participating in the summer Jazz workshop. Definitely a highlight for me and I hope to play with her again in the future. I look forward to hearing more creative projects and collaborations from Davis in the years to come.

Tim Mah's Ottawa Winter Jazz Fest Review

Four on the Floor correspondent Tim Mah recently attended the 2018 edition of the Ottawa Winter Jazz Festival and here's his full report and impressions of this successful Canadian Jazz festival:

Recap of the 2018 Ottawa Winter Jazz Festival - Tim Mah 

Details:
When: February 8 to 10, 2018

Where: downtown Ottawa at La Nouvelle Scene (12 concerts on two different stages, and two late night jams) and the Mercury Lounge (one concert).

Seating: all performances were general admission.

Run time: most performances had an hour run time, with some running longer. The concerts were scheduled with minimal overlap.

Thursday, February 8

Quartetski

Personnel: Pierre-Yves Martel (electric bass, synthesizer), Isaiah Ceccarelli (drums), Guido Del Fabbro (violin synthesizer), Bernard Falaise (electric guitar), Philippe Lauzier (bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, melodica), Martin Tetrault (turntable)

The festival opened with Montreal chamber jazz group, Quartetski, performing music from their 2016 album called “Mikrokosmos: Quartetski Does Bartók”, featuring the band’s adaptation of progressive exercises and études by the great Béla Bartók.

Dock In Absolute

Personnel: Jean-Philippe Koch (piano), David Kintziger (bass), Michel Mootz (drums)

Dock In Absolute, a jazz trio from Luxembourg, performed music from their 2017 self-titled album. The trio has toured across Europe and Asia. Ottawa was their only Canadian stop on their current tour.

This is a video of “Submission” from the self-titled album of Dock In Absolute:

Barbra Lica

Personnel: Barbra Lica (voice), Marc Rogers (bass), Will Fisher (drums), Tom Fleming (guitar), Joel Visentin (piano, keys, accordion)

Performing songs from her album “I’m Still Learning” and new songs, Barbra Lica and her band sounded cohesive and polished. Barbra Lica quickly builds a rapport with her audience through her charm, wit and stories.

The EPK for the 2017 album “I’m Still Learning”:

Paolo Angeli

Personnel: Paolo Angeli (guitar, voice)

Touring North America in support of his 2017 album “Talea,” Paolo Angeli mesmerized the audience with his performance, featuring his customized Sardinian guitar. Here’s a video of his National Public Radio Tiny Desk Concert:

Friday, Feburary 9

Hilario Duran & the Ottawa Latin Jazz Big Band

Hilario Duran (piano), supported by the Ottawa Latin Jazz Big Band, delighted the audience, performing music from his repertoire, including “Parque 527” from his 2018 Juno award nominated album “Contumbao” and jazz standards (“Manteca”, “A Night in Tunisia”).

The EPK for Hilario Duran’s album “Contumbao”, released in 2017:

Emma Frank

Personnel: Emma Frank (voice), Jim Black (drums), Martin Heslop (bass), Elias Stemeseder (piano), Simon Millerd (trumpet)

Emma Frank’s concert included songs from her new album, “Ocean Av” (released on February 16, 2018). Her songs are beautiful and feature intelligent lyrics.

The musicians on her new album include Emma Frank (vocals), Aaron Parks (piano), Jim Black (drums), Rick Rosato (bass) and Franky Rousseau (guitar).

The following is the video for “Ocean Av”:

Chet Doxas

Personnel: Chet Doxas (saxophone, electronics), Matthew Stevens (guitar), Rob Ritchie (guitar, synths), Zack Lober (bass, turntables), and Eric Doob (drums, electronics).

Chet Doxas and his band faithfully reproduced the music and energy from his 2018 Juno award nominated album, “Rich in Symbols” (inspired by the “No Wave” art movement of New York City’s Lower East Side between the years 1975-85). As the band performed each song, the corresponding piece of art was projected behind the band. The concert program with the corresponding pictures of the artwork can be found on Chet Doxas’ website: http://www.chetdoxas.com/pics-for-show/

Below is the video for “Starcrossings” from the album:

Jim Black Trio 

Personnel: Jim Black (drums), Thomas Morgan (bass), Elias Stemeseder (piano)

The Jim Black Trio’s concert featured music from their 2016 album “The Constant”. A review of the album from NPR’s Fresh Air can be found here:

Saturday, February 10

Fred Hersch

Personnel: Fred Hersch (piano)

Twelve time Grammy nominated pianist and composer, Fred Hersch, performed a solo piano concert, in support of his 2017 album “Open Book.” He didn’t disappoint the sold out audience.

Fred Hersch “Plainsong” from the album “Open Book”:

Taps and Traps: Heather Cornell and Jesse Stewart

Personnel: Heather Cornell (dance – sand, wood, tap), Jesse Stewart (drums, percussion)

This concert featuring Heather Cornell and Jesse Stewart was fascinating; as Heather Cornell demonstrated her tap dance mastery and Jesse Stewart played some of his unique instruments (including triple flute, waterphone, handpan).

The performance was at Studio B in La Nouvelle Scene, which is a black box theatre with a flat floor. The first row was the best place to view Heather Cornell’s footwork. The rest of the audience would not have been able to see and hear the performance as well as those in the first row.

Joe Lovano Trio featuring Idris Muhammad

Just some great trio footage today featuring the late Idris Muhammad with Joe Lovano circa. 2000:

The Monday Morning Paradiddle

Welcome back and this is officially the very first Monday Morning Paradiddle column of 2018! Here's a vast assortment of random items to check out:

- Adam Nussbaum has new album out! (more on this one later...) Check out this feature from Downbeat Magazine on what promises to be a unique and interesting collection of music:

http://downbeat.com/news/detail/qa-with-adam-nussbaum-the-drum-thing

- Rudy Royston interviewed by Dave Douglas over at Greenleaf Music:

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

- A podcast interview with Joe Farnsworth from The Bird's Basement:

http://www.buzzsprout.com/95092/511584-ep-3-interview-with-joe-farnsworth

- DrumGab offers interviews with Mark Kelso:

https://www.drumgab.com/single-post/2018/02/11/Episode-64-Mark-Kelso

...and Eric Harland:

https://www.drumgab.com/single-post/2018/01/14/Episode-60-Eric-Harland

- Todd Bishop from Cruiseship Drummer with a wonderful column on the legacy of Paul Motian:

http://www.cruiseshipdrummer.com/2018/01/key-players-paul-motian.html

- Ethan Iverson pens a wonderful piece on the not-talked-about-nearly-often-enough Donald Bailey:

https://ethaniverson.com/drums-and-cymbals-by-donald-bailey/

- No drums (!) but Irish bassist Ronan Guilfoyle offers his favourite bass solos:

https://ronanguil.blogspot.ca/2018/01/11-great-bass-solos.html

- From Drummer Nation, an interview with Michael Carvin:



- A sneak peek of an upcoming trio album featuring Brian Blade, Jeff Coffin and Chris Donahue:



- Marcus Gilmore goes for it with Chick Corea:




- What am I listening to these days?

Geof Bradfield "Birdsongs" - Dana Hall (drums)

Clark Sommers Trio "BaSH" - Dana Hall (drums)

Barry Elmes "Dog's Breakfast" - Barry Elmes (drums)

Phil Stewart "Melodious Drums" - Phil Stewart (drums)

Rodney Jordan "Playing Jazz, Volume 1" - Jason Marsalis (drums)

David Friesen "Four to Go" - Alan Jones (drums)

Nat Adderley "In the Bag" - James Black (drums)

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


- And today's Final Word goes to Joseph Campbell with some sage advice for all those who are looking to get some practicing done:

"You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes to you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen." 

- Joseph Campbell

Bob Gullotti: Chasin' the Bird

Not at that long ago (in the last ten years anyways...), Bob Gullotti was a big help towards my own doctoral research through the University of Toronto (much more than he likely realizes!)
In examining the notion of Melodic Jazz Drumming (found here: https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/69408) I recalled an obscure article from a long out-of-print Jazz education magazine that I first discovered in the McGill University Library in which Gullotti described using the solo phrases from the Charlie Parker Omnibook to develop solo vocabulary on the drum set. This intrigued me then (late 90s?) and this idea not only left an impression on me as a Jazz drummer but also prompted me to reach out and interview Gullotti on this specific topic several years later.

We never met in person however we did speak at length over the phone and his description and explanation of his use of Bird's "melodies" and how to orchestrate them around the drums was a big help in my research. In fact, I somehow think of this and all the possibilities of Melodic Drumming in some way or another every time that I sit down to play and teach at the drums.

So here's an example of Gullotti demonstrating this very concept, on the Charlie Parker tune Chi Chi:

As you can see and hear, Bird's melodic ideas lend themselves very well to orchestration around the drum set.

Bob is also a founding member of the long standing Boston trio The Fringe with tenor saxophonist George Garzone and bassist John Lockwood. Be sure to check these guys out if you ever find yourself in Boston.



Here's a 2012 article from NPR on the legacy of this very important trio:

https://www.npr.org/sections/ablogsupreme/2012/05/11/152521838/forty-years-of-mondays-one-saxophonists-addiction-to-the-fringe

And if you are interested in learning more about Bob's drumming teaching concepts, I would highly recommend checking out this new instructional lesson from My Music Masterclass.com:

https://www.mymusicmasterclass.com/premiumvideos/bob-gullotti-drum-lesson-1/

Thanks for all your help Bob!