And...we're back.
Well, it's been a busy couple of Summer months, on the road, travelling across Canada.
I'm back home now after a bit of a break from blogging and looking forward to getting back into the swing of things (so to speak) with lots of exciting gigs and projects on the horizon and my regular teaching schedule starting up again soon at the Mount Royal Conservatory in Calgary, AB.
I'd just like to take a moment for a quick shout-out to all the people and musicians who made this an inspiring and motivating couple of months, musically and otherwise:
Allison Miller, Makaya McCraven, Patrick Boyle, Dave Laing, Camil Belisle, Sean Craig, Chris Tauchner, Aaron Shorr, Jeff Gammon, Dayna Szyndrowski, Kirk MacDonald, Nick Costa, Ben Reimer, Shawn Mativetsky, Cristos Smirnios, Wakefield Brewster and Chris Dadge.
Anyways, it's been a really nice time to recharge my creative batteries and I'm looking forward to the months ahead.
Onwards and Upwards.
The Monday Morning Paradiddle - September 2025
1. Vinnie Sperrazza offers these fantastic pieces on Al Foster from his always excellent Substack series Chronicles:
2. Dave Douglas interviews Andrew Cyrille on the podcast A Noise From The Deep:
3. Pablo Held interviews/investigates Kush Abadey:
4. Dr. Jazz Samo Šalamon interviews a trio of great drummers including:
Johnathan Blake
Jeff Ballard
Dylan Van Der Schyff
5. Neon Jazz interviews Joe Farnsworth on the heels of his critically acclaimed latest release "The Big Room":
...and also by Jay Sweet for The Jazz Real Book:
6. Carl Allen and his trio from a recent performance at the San Jose Jazz Festival:
7. Reggie Quinerly in a drum and amplified saxophone jazz battle:
8. Marcus Gilmore!
9. The Drum Candy Podcast offers 10 Reasons to Love Bill Stewart:
10. Zildjian artists Adam Nussbaum, Paul Wells, Colleen Clark and Kai Craig play the new Kerope ride cymbals from the Avedis Zildjian Company:
11. Quincy Davis is a busy guy but he still finds time to produce and share his always wonderful YouTube jazz drumming instructional videos, packed full of very useful information:
12. Fantastic footage of the great Joe Lovano on the drums!
13. Thanks to Mark Eisenman who shared this video via Facebook of the late Mulgrew Miller on piano with Buster Williams on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums:
14. What am I listening to these days?
Milford Graves "Optical Inversions" - Milford Graves (drums)
Scott Colley "This Place" - Bill Stewart (drums)
Joe Henderson "An Evening at the Village Vanguard" - Al Foster (drums)
Philly Joe Jones "Philly Joe's Beat" - Philly Joe Jones (drums)
Alan Jones Sextet "Climbing (rough)" - Alan Jones (drums)
Kevin Diehl "Onilu" - Kevin Diehl/Chad Taylor/Joe Chambers (drums & percussion)
Barry Elmes "Redshift" - Barry Elmes (drums)
Kendrick Scott "Reverence" - Kendrick Scott (drums)
Elvin Jones Trio "Puttin' it Together" - Elvin Jones (drums)
Joe Morello "It's About Time" - Joe Morello (drums), Gary Burton (vibraphone)
Tommy Flanagan "Lonely Town" - Elvin Jones (drums)
Roy Hargrove "Of Kindred Souls" - Gregory Hutchinson (drums)
15. And today's Final Word(s) goes to pianist/composer/arranger Jim McNeely (via Darcy James Argue) with some wonderful advice to all the composers out there (young and old!):
15. And today's Final Word(s) goes to pianist/composer/arranger Jim McNeely (via Darcy James Argue) with some wonderful advice to all the composers out there (young and old!):
• Write down every idea that comes to you. Don’t judge it as good or bad. It simply is. Then play with it for a while. The magic is in the development. Don’t worry about where it should be in a piece. Let it sit for a while. It will still be there when you come back to it.
• A composer’s job is to speculate; ask “what if?” rather than “is it okay if I…?” or “Am I allowed to…?”
• No deadline? Write something just for the pleasure of doing it. It may lead to something, maybe not (see COVID-19, 2020-2022).
• Be in a place where you can hear your music played. Often. By the best players you can find. One of the most important things a young writer has to learn is the difference between the way a piece sounds on their computer and the way it sounds sight-read by real people, looking at dots on a page for the first time. You might be surprised!
• When you hear your piece read, listen with brutal honesty. Does it really sound the way you want it to sound? Yes or no. Don’t let your ego get in the way.
• You can be inspired by anything: another composer; Balinese music; a painting; a person’s laugh; the sound of construction; the size of the universe; the sound of leaves rustling on a tree; a three-note cell; a melodic figure that comes to you in the shower. Be open to it all. Acceptance is the key.
• With all the talk about creativity, it’s also crucial to master the basic techniques of rhythm, harmony, voice-leading, and orchestration. These are the tools that enable you to express that creativity so that it is playable by good musicians.
• Make sure your notation is as legible as possible. It makes it easier to read/play and reflects your respect for your music.
• Study scores written by musicians more experienced than you. Rather than guessing what they wrote, you can actually see how they wrote it. You’ll be surprised at what you find, especially how simple some of it is.
• When you hear a band live, listen with your eyes. You hear a combination you like. “How do they get that?” Well, look at the band! See who’s playing! “Trumpet in Harmon, Trumpet in cup, Flute 8va, Trombone 8vb. Aha!”
• Listen to and study big band (and not so big band) writers going back to Jelly Roll Morton. Don Redman. Fletcher Henderson. Benny Carter. Ellington & Strayhorn of course. So many masters to learn from.
• Starting at point A and arriving at point B is efficient but boring. Create events along the way. You might think of musical ideas as characters in a play: how do they interact? Does a third player unexpectedly enter? We start at point A, but stuff happens to thicken the plot before we finally arrive at point B.
• As Bob Brookmeyer said, “The way to write music is to write music.”
- Jim McNeely (via Darcy James Argue)
