Our Man Higgins!

A short Billy Higgins appreciation post today featuring our man Higgins with the George Coleman Octet.

I took a moment to edit and splice together Billy's drum features throughout the concert: 

 

Here's the entire concert: 

 

Great playing from everyone here (George Coleman in particular) and I really enjoyed watching Higgins playing behind Harold Mabern's piano solos.

And here's another new one to me, a concert from the Juan-des-Pins Jazz Festival circa. 1986 featuring Billy Higgins with Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden:

 

I am also looking forward to checking out this new documentary from Jazz is Here featuring Willie Jones III: 

 

I've shared these ones before but here's some great commentary and insight on Billy Higgin's legacy from Victor Lewis, Billy Drummond, Carl Allen and Kenny Washington:

 

And finally, there's many great interviews with Master Higgins to be found on the YouTube and I think it's worth taking some time to hear the wisdom he had to share:

 

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

Joe LaBarbera!

Thanks to the Memphis Drum Shop for sharing these wonderful lessons with Joe LaBarbera:

 

And here's another older one featuring Joe from Aquarian Drum Heads and the Pro Drum Shop in Hollywood:

 

These three are new to me including two informative masterclasses and an interview with LaBarbera on Dave Douglas' podcast A Noise from the Deep from Greenleaf music: 

 

And finally a brief audio clip of Joe soloing at the Jazz Workshop in Boston, MA circa. 1977:

I've known Joe since 1997 when I met him at the Banff Centre for the Arts. Joe is an incredible drummer, an exceptional teacher and a wonderful human being.

LaBarbera will touring Canada this Spring with the Atlantic Jazz Collective and I look forward to catching up with him and listening to his exceptional musicality from behind the drums when he's in Calgary.

As always, when the Masters speak, we listen!

Terry Clarke: Mastering the Art of Music

A fantastic and in-depth interview today with Canadian jazz drumming legend Terry Clarke from The Vocal Lab with Sara Ramsay:

I was fortunate to take lessons with Mr. Clarke during my brief time at the University of Toronto, around 2007-2008. Our lessons together were mostly spent perfecting my ride cymbal beat at a wide range of tempos, including extensive work with Allan Cox's excellent play-a-long resource Meet the Bass Player. 

We also did a lot of listening together and he generously shared his extensive insight into the drumming of Elvin Jones, Tony Williams and Roy Haynes. He also shared a great deal of his unique approach to playing Brazilian rhythms on the drum set.

However, one thing that I really appreciated and made a huge difference during my brief time working him was that I made a point of going to hear Terry play at every opportunity I could! I was lucky to hear him play regularly with a wide range of groups including small groups, quintets, quartets, piano trios, big bands, groups playing original music, odd meters, bands playing standards, backing up vocalists, etc. His ability to shift gears and play at such a high level with a wide variety of musicians and in different situations really left an impression on me. 

I also made a point of asking him about these different musical situations in our lessons (of course his work with Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass, Jim Hall and John Handy came up in our conversations frequently). I really learned a lot from all this and still think about these lessons today.

Anyways...to make a long story short:

*Students: go hear your teachers play frequently and them ask them questions about the music!*

         

Tony Williams Revisited

Spring Break has come to an end up here and last weekend I went down a bit of a Tony Williams rabbit hole, mostly thanks to listening to Jacob Wutzke's wonderful new album You Better Bet (in which he features some very creative interpretations of Tony's original music) and also thanks to Vinnie Sperrazza's Substack article which features some very insightful commentary on William's recorded output on Blue Note records during the 80s and 90s. 

I've shared many of these before, but we're lucky to have them and it's always worth revisiting (and an opportunity to learn something new!)

Lewis Nash "The Drums as a Music Maker"

I'm currently on the road this week, visiting Canada's beautiful West Coast, so just a brief post today. Here's a drum clinic from the great Lewis Nash, recorded last month at the University of New Mexico.

As always, when the Masters speak, we listen!