Thanks everyone for checking in during the holiday season. Here is the final Monday Morning Paradiddle column of the year (and oh what a year it's been...)
Stay tuned as later this week frequent guest columnist Tim Mah, host of CJSW's weekly radio program Jazz Today, will be offering his annual choices for notable Canadian jazz releases of 2021.
Thanks again for your ongoing support.
Onwards and upwards in the year ahead 2022.
Stay safe everyone and keep your eye on the prize.
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Okay, so here we are.
Here's a list of interesting and thought provoking pieces to check out and keep you occupied and inspired over the holiday break as we head into the year ahead. Please enjoy.
4) Check out this rare and unique recording of Kenny Clarke on the album Spotlight on Percussion:
If you visit this website and click on the links you'll be able to hear some great unaccompanied recorded audio footage of Klook playing the snare drum.
5) Irish bassist Ronan Guilfoyle interviews Ron Carter, continuing his incredible podcast series "The Art and Science of Time":
6) Two interviews with Jabali Billy Hart from Jake Feinberg and WPFW Radio:
7) Joe Chambers interviewed by Samo Salamon:
8) Ali Jackson Jr. recently released his wonderful instructional series through jazzmemes.org entitled Universe of Grooves:
I've purchased his new series and there is lots of great and very informative material to practice and learn from in here.
Also check out this wonderful feature from Jackson on the late Barry Harris:
9) Antonio Sanchez with his interpretation of Thelonious Monk's Evidence:
10) Quincy Davis continues with his wonderful Q-Tips educational series on YouTube. As always, these are very informative and well done.
Check these out and learn from the best:
11) Willie Jones III percussive tribute to the late Ndugu Chancler on Something for Ndugu::
12) Berklee's Francsico Mela and vibraphonist Ed Saindon with a duet on Alone Together:
13) A couple of cool timekeeping clips from the always inspiring Allison Miller:
14) Kevin Dorn offers some insight into the hi-hat techniques of Jo Jones and Gene Krupa:
15) Thanks to the Drum History Podcast who posted this short clip of Dave Mancini with the Maynard Ferguson big band at the Playboy Jazz Festival circa. 1982:
Dave was my teacher at the International Peace Gardens during the summer of 1993 and it was with his help and encouragement that started me on my journey to where I am today.
Thanks Dave!
16) A great clip of vibraphonist Terry Gibbs with Barry Harris (piano), Alan Dawson (drums) and Sam Jones (bass):
17) A fun early animation from Muppets and Sesame Street creator Jim Henson featuring Chico Hamilton on solo drums:
Purchase his wonderful new publication and his other book The Stoic Drummer through The Revival Drumshop.
19) What am I listening to these days?
Phineas Newborn Jr. "We Three" - Roy Haynes (drums)
Antonio Sanchez "Three Times Three" - Antonio Sanchez (drums)
Rich Perry "Beautiful Love" - Victor Lewis (drums)
Morgan Childs Quartet "On the Street of Dreams" - Morgan Childs (drums)
Neil Swainson "49th Parallel" - Jerry Fuller (drums)
Steve Swallow "Damaged in Transit" - Bill Stewart (drums)
Max Richter "SLEEP"
20) And today's Final Word goes to Dan Weiss with a wonderful piece of advice given to him via his teacher during a summer jazz workshop he attended at the Berklee College of Music, shared with us via one of Dan's many inspiring and informative daily shares on Instagram:
*Please note that I read this one very quickly on IG awhile ago so I am paraphrasing as best I can so the wording is not exact Lol but it's an important message on the art of discipline nevertheless...thanks Dan!*
"If you are serious about wanting to be a musician you have to:
Special thanks to Chad Anderson who forwarded me these videos of Elvin Jones & the Jazz Machine from a series of workshops at the University of North Texas circa. 1984 (formally known as North Texas State University).
Here are the links to the individual pages and citations:
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:
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).
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
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:
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!)
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!
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.
Chris Smith, author of The Jazz Drum Hang took the time to produce this extensive series of interviews with Ed Soph and Steve Houghton, two very important and prolific drum set teachers. This is an incredible resource and I encourage anyone who is interested in teaching drums to check this out.
Here is what Chris had to say about this project:
These interviews revolve around indepth essays that Ed and Steve wrote about their backgrounds, influences, teaching styles, suggested listening, common problems on the drumset, and how to become a serious player.
A treasure trove of information that is free for you and available at the Google link below:
This project is about two friends (Ed Soph and Steve Houghton) both highly regarded drumset teachers, players, and authors, who recently retired from teaching. What became clear after numerous personal discussions was that education, as well as early and ongoing musical experiences shaped their teaching methods and lesson content, creating a very wide menu of drumming ideas and musical concepts. The common thread of course was always jazz drumming.
For further information from Ed and Steve follow the links below:
Now that October is upon us I hope that everyone is well into their Fall routine. Things obviously haven't quite returned to "normal" yet (!) but I think it's important to, as Clark Terry used to say, "Keep on Keepin' on."
This is the first Monday Morning Paradiddle column in awhile now (since last June in fact!) but I enjoyed a nice break over the summer. Here is today's collection of interesting things to check out.
But first a few updates from our sponsors:
Falk Willis continues to offer great, regular content through his wonderful site Jazz Heaven.
Here's what Falk has to say:
Because of drums not really coming across well sonically during our weekly live masterclasses, which we ran for over 2 years now (over 100 at this point and with no end in sight) we sadly hardly did any live masterclasses with drummers, but with lots of other fantastic Masters from Fred Hersch to Gary Thomas and many, many more. The exception being one with Richie Barshay on Alexander Technique for Musicians (he also played some drums).
And...one with Bill Stewart, Larry Goldings & Peter Bernstein that was great, informative and, you guessed it, at times very funny! We just released the recording of this live masterclass: LARRY GOLDINGS, PETER BERNSTEIN & BILL STEWART: Ask Them Anything! JazzHeaven.com/gbs (There is a 3-day free trial.)
So far it's still a bit "quiet" there. Feel free to pay it a visit and change that. This can hopefully develop into a nice resource for all of us to exchange knowledge and ideas.
Another long-time favourite of mine is Justin Varnes' extensive library of lessons on various topics at Jazz Drummers' Resource.
Here is Justin's update:
Now that the Jazz Drummer’s Resource video library contains nearly 300 lessons on everything from up-tempo technique and vocabulary to jazz theory and form for drummers, the site’s focus has turned more to individualized attention and something we call workouts.
A “workout” is just that; grab your sticks, sit down at the kit, press play, and in 20 or 30 minutes you will have learned a new piece of vocabulary or technique. This is a streamlined way to help solve one of the biggest issues we all have: what to practice and how to practice it.
I've been a fan of Chris Smith's Jazz Drum Hang since he first launched his platform and lesson series. His regular informative and relevant content and his enthusiastic, articulate delivery makes it a worthwhile investment in my opinion. I'm always impressed when I check into his site and see what he's come up with.
Be sure to check out Jochen Rueckert's excellent video lesson series found on his website www.jochenrueckert.net
This is a great collection of lessons on a variety of topics in which Rueckert offers a lot of very tangible and practical information informed by his extensive work as both a sideman and a leader.
Okay, now get to work!
Here's todays collection of things to check out:
1) Check out the new Paul Motian documentary Motian in Motion!
A link from that page led me to this past concert featuring pianist Mulgrew Miller and Wingspan and also this older piece from NPR featuring Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista and a concept known as Anthropofagia (or "Musical Cannibalism"!):
Be sure to check out Time Warp's recent re-release Down to Earth on Cornerstone Records featuring the drumming of Barry Elmes, originally released on cassette in 1985.
8) Irish bassist Ronan Guilfoyle recently launched his amazing new podcast series The Art and Science of Time
Make sure to bookmark his page and check out his very insightful and informative conversations about rhythm with the likes of Dave Liebman, Jim McNeely, Ramesh Shotham and many more to come.
Also here's a great lesson with Nick from Larry Graves' The Garage Sessions: Keeping Time with Nick Fraser:
10) Jack DeJohnette interviewed by Jake Feinberg:
11) Jazz Talk interviews Lewis Nash:
12) Ulysses Owens Jr. continues with his excellent weekly interview series The Drummer's Perspective featuring regular interviews with the great jazz drummers of our time including, among others, the likes of:
Billy Drummond
Matt Wilson
Johnathan Blake
13) Neon Jazz interviews Gerry Gibbs about his fantastic new release Songs from my Father dedicated to his father and vibraphonist Terry Gibbs:
14) Joe Farnsworth & Dan Weiss trade on Thelonious Monk's Evidence:
Joe Farnsworth pays a visit to John Ramsay's house to celebrate the great Alan Dawson:
And finally a preview of Farnsworth's latest piano trio outing Sounds of the City with Kenny Barron and Peter Washington:
15) Sherrie Maricle offers this warm-up routine using different roll combinations:
16) Billy Higgins!
17) Kenny Clarke!
18) Here's a very interesting one that I hadn't heard before of Max Roach with the J.C. White Singers from Germany circa. 1974:
19) What am I listening to these days?
Allison Miller "5am Stroll" - Allison Miller (drums)
Joe Farnsworth "Sounds of the City - Joe Farnsworth (drums)
Roy Haynes "A Life in Time" - Roy Haynes (drums)
Rob McConnell "Tentet" - Terry Clarke (drums)
Renee Rosnes "Kinds of Love" - Carl Allen (drums)
Steve Swallow "Real Book" - Jack DeJohnette (drums)
Stanely Turrentine "Up at Minton's" - Al Harewood (drums)
Roy Hargrove & Mulgrew Miller "Blues for Mr. Hill"
20) And today's Final Word goes to John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie:
I usually try to post something on Monday's but this week I got a bit behind. Fortunately I stumbled across these mini-lessons on New Orleans drumming featuring Joe Lastie and Shannon Powell and I think these are just fantastic!
Check these videos out for some great information, straight from the source.
I had the good fortune to study with John on a regular basis last spring thanks to a timely micro grant from the Calgary Arts Development Authority (and I now have no lack of challenging things to practice for the foreseeable future!)
John Riley is an incredible educator and I encourage everyone to pay attention to anything he offers.
A great series of brush lessons today from the Berklee College of Music's Jon Hazilla. As he explains in the first video, these are applications of Joe Morello's seminal work Master Studies using combinations of lateral strokes with the brushes (inspired by his lessons with Joe Morello, Mel Brown and Jeff Hamilton).
There is lots of great information here. These are great concepts and techniques that will only deepen your approach to brush playing. Thanks for sharing these Jon!
Thanks for tuning in and Four on the Floor is now back and into the swing of things following a nice summer break. I hope that your summer months were restful and productive despite the challenges of our current circumstances which remain to be unresolved. As we settle back into the Fall months, blogging will now resume on a regular basis.
Here's a wonderful piece featuring bassist Christian McBride and drummer Carl Allen on the art of playing uptempos:
Is this part of a longer, upcoming instructional feature from Open Studio? I sure hope so!
And here's a couple of good examples of those concepts put into action with McBride's trio playing Cherokee featuring Ulysses Owens Jr. on drums:
I am taking a break from blogging and all things internet in general for awhile. Thanks again for all your continued support and I'll see you in a minute.
In the meantime, don't forget to buy a limited edition Four on the Floor t-shirt. Hurry, while supplies last! (please e.mail me at fouronthefloorblog@gmail.com)
Frequent Four on the Floor correspondent Tim Mah returns once again today, this time offering his extensive mid-year list of music released by Canadian jazz artists, so far in 2021.
As you will see below there's already lots of great jazz music that has come out of Canada since December of last year.
Tim's weekly radio program Jazz Today can be heard on CJSW Radio 90.9 fm (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) on Thursday mornings from 530-7am MST. It is also streamed on the CJSW website and available through Apple Podcasts.
New Music From Canadians in 2021 by Tim Mah
As we head into summer, you may be interested in spending some of your time listening to new music. There are many albums released every week. It can be overwhelming and challenging to sort through it all. Below is a list of thirty albums, released from December 2020 to May 2021, and led (or co-led) by Canadians.
This list is in alphabetical order and is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all of the new releases from Canadians over this time frame. Rather, it is a starting point for readers to learn more about what is happening in the Canadian music scene.
Amanda Tosoff “Earth Voices”
Andres Vial “When is Ancient?”
Anna Webber “Idiom"
BLOOP (Lina Allemano & Mike Smith) “Proof”
BPM Trio (Phil Dwyer, Ben Dwyer & Mark Adam) “Audi Alteram Partem (Live)”
Carl Mayotte “Pop de Ville, Vol. 1"
CODE Quartet (Christine Jensen, Lex French, Adrian Vedady & Jim Doxas) “Genealogy”
Dan McCarthy (with Thomas Morgan & Rudy Royston) “A Place Where We Once Lived”
Dan Pitt Quintet “Wrongs”
David Restivo Trio “Arancina”
Emily Steinwall “Welcome to the Garden”
Erin Propp & Larry Roy “We Want All The Same Things”
Evan Arntzen “Countermelody”
Francois Bourassa “L’impact du silence”
James Danderfer & Quincy Davis “All The Flowers” (feat. Oliver Gannon, Brad Turner & Karl Kohut)
Jesse Ryan “Bridges"
Jessica Ackerley “Morning / mourning”
Jester Champwick (Curtis Nowosad & Joel Visentin) “Homework”
Kevin Dean “Going Down Slow”
L’abime (Hugo Blouin, Alex Dodier, Gabriel Genest, Jean-Philippe Godbout & Jonathan Turgeon) “L’abime”
Lara Solnicki “The One and the Other”
Lina Allemano Four “Vegetables” (feat. Brodie West, Andrew Downing & Nick Fraser)
Lorne Lofsky “This Song is New”
Mark Eisenman “Jazz Classics” (feat. Steve Wallace & John Sumner)
Mireille Boily “Refuges Mouvants”
Misc. (Jerome Beaulieu, Simon Page & William Cote) “Partager l’ambulance"
Sam Wilson “Into a Heart, Part Two”
Sarah Jerrom “Dream Logic” (feat. Harley Card, Rob McBride & Jeff Luciani)
See Through 4 (Pete Johnston, Lina Allemano, Michael Davidson & Jake Oelrichs) “Permanent Moving Parts”
This is a blog about jazz, jazz drumming and all things unrelated. Thanks for stopping by!
A Bit About Me...
Jonathan McCaslin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan. Jonathan began playing the drums at the age of nine. He progressed through the Regina Lions Junior Band and the music program at his high school, Campbell Collegiate, soon developing a passion for playing the drums and jazz. Ultimately, Jon's interest in music led him to enroll in the Jazz Studies program at McGill University, graduating with distinction in 1999.
While at McGill Jon had the opportunity to study with some of the finest jazz educators in the country including Gordon Foote, Kevin Dean, Jan Jarcyzk, Chris McCann, Andre White, Michel Lambert and Dave Laing. He also attended the prestigious summer jazz workshop presented by the Banff Centre for the Arts in 1997, where he performed with Canadian jazz greats Hugh Fraser, Don Thompson and Kenny Wheeler.
Jon has also been fortunate to have performed with many of Canada's jazz elite including Charlie Biddle, Brian Hurley, Louise Rose, Alaister Kay, Mart Kinny, Gary Guthman, Mike Rud, Hadley Caliman, Greg Clayton, Chase Sanborn, Andre White, Tilden Webb, John LaBelle, Kevin Dean, Dave Turner, Ralph Bowen, Don Thompson, Dionne Taylor, Jim Vivian, Kelly Jefferson, Ian McDougall, Brad Turner, Jim Brenan, The McGill Jazz Orchestra, Jeff Johnston, Lorraine Desmerais, Steve Amirault, Hugh Fraser, Chucho Valdes, Kieran Overs, The Altsys Jazz Orchestra, Pat LaBarbera, The Regina Symphony Orchestra and The Montreal Jazz Big Band.
In the spring of 2002 McCaslin completed his Master's in Jazz Studies at McGill University where he studied jazz drumming, improvisation and composition.
In January 2003 Jon released his debut CD, “McCallum’s Island”. Featuring his quintet, the CD contains an exciting collection of McCaslin’s original compositions, featuring himself and his band. The release of this CD was followed by a twenty-day tour of Western Canada, performing to enthusiastic, capacity audiences. During March of 2003 Jonathan was the recipient of a fellowship from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and attended the “Betty Carter Jazz Ahead” residency in Washington, D.C. Along with twenty other distinguished young jazz artists, McCaslin was featured with such jazz icons as Terence Blanchard, Carmen Lundy, Winard Harper, Curtis Fuller and John Clayton.
McCaslin’s quintet performed at the 2003 edition of the Montreal International Jazz Festival and was nominated for the General Motors Grand Prix du Festival (awarded to the most outstanding Canadian group). From 2004 until 2006, Jon toured North America, Asia and Europe with the high-energy, critically acclaimed music production troupe “Barrage”. Featuring a cast of seven world-class fiddlers and a four-piece band, this dynamic show featured high-energy music and fiddle traditions from around the world set to upbeat choreography and movement.
In 2015, Dr. McCaslin received his Doctorate through the University of Toronto and completed his dissertation on the conceptualization of contemporary melodic jazz drumming. He is currently based in Calgary, Alberta where he maintains a busy performing and teaching schedule across Canada.
