Ben Riley with Thelonious Monk

A beautiful solo here today, from drummer Ben Riley here with Thelonious Monk circa. 1965 from a concert recorded in London by the BBC:



Ben Riley will always have a special place in my heart. During my very first trip to New York City in the fall of 1999 (a trek by train from Montreal to see Elvin Jones play a week at the Blue Note) my good friend, tenor saxophonist Kelly Jefferson, showed me around the Big Apple and took me to the Village Vanguard. The band playing that night was the group Sphere featuring Kenny Barron, Gary Bartz, Buster Williams and.....Ben Riley on drums. The group played all Monk compositions and I'll never forget the great music that evening. I remember how Riley started the set with a drum solo and that he was, at first, playing so quietly that I could see his hands moving before I could hear any drums being hit.
Thanks for the introduction Ferg !

Even More Drum & Bass...

Another excellent drum & bass pairing today, this time featuring Greg Hutchinson on the drums and Omer Avital on bass:





Nice to see Omer play again. I have many fond memories of catching him playing at Small's during my time in New York City years ago - usually a very, very, very late night set after I finished catching a show at the Village Vanguard down the street.

Rhythm Section 101

The act of playing in a rhythm section and accompanying a soloist as a cohesive unit is an art in itself. These cats really set the bar for how it's done. Miles knew that and that's why he hired them !

From a concert recorded in 1960 in Germany, check out the impeccable rhythm team of:

Jimmy Cobb - Drums

Paul Chambers - Bass

Wynton Kelly - Piano

(...and some tenor player)







And on this clip Oscar Peterson sits it on piano and Stan Getz joins Coltrane on Thelonious Monk's "Hackensack":

Rhythm as Melody

A few clips here of drummer Jeff Hamilton demonstrating his melodic approach to playing the drums:





Drummer Alvin Atkinson talked about playing like this at length a few weeks ago at a workshop I attended in Calgary. Alvin stressed the importance of young drummers learning the melodies of the tunes they are playing and doing EVERYTHING necessary to replicate that on the drum set.

Alvin really impressed everyone with his ability to change the pitch of his drums by pressing his elbow into the head, thus changing the tension of the drum head. By no means is this the only way to play melodically on the drums, but this technique really works when done well and with finesse.

Art Blakey was renowned for this drum "trick" and Max Roach would frequently have a pitch-bending, tympani-floor tom (activated with a pedal) included in his set-up during the 70s that would also replicate the same effect.

I'll now add that to my long list of things to practice !

Jake Hanna 1931 - 2010

One of the unsung heroes of Jazz drumming passed away recently, the tasteful and ever swinging Jake Hanna.

Hanna's resume reads like a who's who of great Jazz artists and I first heard Hanna's great drumming on the Oscar Peterson album "Oscar Peterson In Russia" (Leader Post sports/jazz columnist Rob Vanstone knows ALL about this album!)



Along with Oscar Peterson and Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen on bass this is one of my favorite Oscar Peterson records and all of the musicians are in fine form on this one.

During my studies with Toronto Jazz drummer Terry Clarke, I once asked him to describe and talk about his approach to big band drumming (Clarke was THE main drummer with Rob McConnell's Boss Brass and the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra for many years). I surprised to hear from Terry that his main influence, in terms of big band drumming, came from studying and listening to Jake Hanna with the Woody Herman big band. We would spend quite a bit of time listening to albums of the Woody Herman band, with Terry pointing out the many interesting things that Hanna did to drive the band and swing the music as hard as he did. I thought that was interesting stylistic connection there between Jake Hanna and Terry Clarke.

Here's some clips of Jake Hanna driving the Woody Herman Big Band circa. 1964:

Old & New Dreams

Some very rare footage today of one of my favorite groups of all-time, Old & New Dreams, featuring the great drummer Edward Blackwell on the tune "Happy House":



I'll always have a special place for Ed Blackwell as he was one of the first jazz drummers that I checked out during my teens. I remember checking out an LP copy of Don Cherry's album "El Corazon" from the Regina Public Library during the early 1990s. The album features Cherry and Blackwell playing duets and I was impressed with how Blackwell combined the bebop drumming of Max Roach with the parade beats of New Orleans and the exotic rhythms of West Africa. There are some great solos on this album with Ed Blackwell playing a log drum !

During my later studies at McGill University, my drum teacher Chris McCann (who had been a student of Blackwell's) would teach me quite a bit about Ed Blackwell's unique approach to the drums. I also gained a deeper appreciation for the band Old & New Dreams and this provided me a great introduction to the music of Ornette Coleman.

Don Thompson on Vibraphone (among many other instruments)

Canadian jazz icon Don Thompson is an absolute force, being a master on no less than three instruments: Piano, Bass and Vibraphone (he's actually a very good drummer and a heck of a composer/composer/arranger too!)

I was fortunate to do some playing with Don while I lived in Toronto as he lived in my neighborhood. Don and I played in the Tom Van Seters Quartet and I was always blown away by his energetic and momentous rhythmic feel he generated on the vibes. From what I understand, back in his early Vancouver days, Don was highly influenced by West Coast vibraphonist Terry Gibbs. I think Don Thompson is an absolute genius on any instrument he chooses to play, but for some reason his vibraphone playing really moves me the most.

Featured in another great episode of Daniel Berman's Solos: The Jazz Sessions, here Thompson shows what he does best:







And here is a clip of Don Thompson guesting on vibraphone with the Joe Sullivan Big Band in Montreal:



Dig the great swinging, drumming from Montreal's Dave Laing on drums and Andre White on piano.

I recall Don getting quite excited when I told him I was learning to play the vibraphone.

"Playing the vibes is easy if you play already play the piano." Don explained to me, "You know, Phil Dwyer sounds like Bobby Hutcherson when he plays around on the vibes."

"Well Don, I don't really play the piano" I replied
(well I do play "arrangers" piano anyways)

"Oh, well then maybe playing the vibraphone won't be so easy..."

Haha....well, I'm still trying Don !

Dennis Mackrel Swings

Some great swinging trio drumming here from the very versatile jazz drummer Dennis Mackrel:

Max Roach Documentary

From Brazilian television, a great documentary about Max Roach featuring some rare footage:







Also, here's a nice article from jazz.com where drummer Nasheet Waits talks about his favorite, essential Max Roach recordings:

http://www.jazz.com/dozens/the-dozens-nasheet-waits-selects-classic-max-roach-tracks

Incidentally, I think Nasheet was once a drum tech for M'Boom, Max's percussion ensemble that his father, Freddie Waits, used to play in. Nice work if you can get it !

Matt Wilson & Lee Konitz

Some great footage here of Matt Wilson performing with Lee Konitz. It's always inspiring to hear musicians play together that have that special bond.

Nasheet Waits & Eric McPherson

Okay, if it's not enough to have ONE bad ass drummer in a band, this group has TWO !!! Check out Nasheet Waits and Eric MacPherson go at it with saxophonist Abraham Burton. Often when two drummers hit the stage, egos collide and the "Weapons of Mass Percussion" ensue. But these guys really pull it off nicely. Inspiring stuff. Any drummers out there want to play some duets with me ?













Thanks to fellow Banff TD jazzer & alto saxophonist Curtis MacDonald who turned me to these cats.

When Mulgrew Speaks...

...YOU LISTEN !!!









Hearing Mulgrew speak like this really motivates me to practice.....and go out and buy an orange jacket.

Courtesy of Bret Primack, The "Jazz Video Guy".

A Tale of Two Weeks In Banff

And....we're back !

Well, it's been a long time off here at Four on The Floor as I've been quite busy attending the inaugural TD Jazz & Creative Residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Banff, Alberta for the past few weeks.

I was fortunate to be chosen along with 12 other emerging jazz artists to attend a two-week residency at the Banff Centre (sponsored by TD bank) spending time writing new music, collaborating with the other resident artists and learning from a world-class faculty of artists that included:

Dafnis Prieto (drums)

Peter Apfelbaum (saxophone)

Uri Caine (piano)

Phil Dwyer (saxophone)

For those of you not aware of the amazing opportunities afforded to artists and musicians at the Banff Centre (and jazz artists specifically), you can check that out here:

www.banffcentre.ca

I'm enjoying a couple days off at home in Calgary before I head back to the Banff Centre until the end of the month where I plan to get alot of work done on the vibraphone and on my dissertation. It's been an intense two weeks !

The level of musicianship amongst the participants was extremely high. The musicians came from all over Canada, the U.S. and Europe and here's a list of the outstanding artists who participated:

Patrick Boyle - trumpet

Greg Sinibaldi - saxophone

Jon McCaslin (me) - drums

David Ryshpan - piano and melodica

Curtis MacDonald - saxophone

Chris Jennings - bass

The Amanda Tosoff Quartet (from Vancouver/Toronto):

Amanda Tosoff - piano

Evan Artzen - saxophone

Sean Cronin - bass

Morgan Childs - drums

The Park X Trio (From Montreal):

Mark Nelson - drums

Gabriel Vinuela-Pelletier - piano

Alexandre Lefaivre - bass

The workshop basically consisted of two pre-existing ensembles (these were REAL bands - groups that have played together tons, recorded and gone on the road. They even had their tunes memorized. WOW - not something you see all that often. Very impressive...

Also, a few other high profile jazz artists were also lurking around working towards their own residencies and contributed to the immense amount of creativity that was abundant around the Music & Sound building for the past few weeks. Those artists included:

Christine Jensen (saxophone)

Joel Miller (saxophone)

Ellen Rowe (piano)

David Occhipinti (guitar)

Christine and Joel both presented recitals of their music and impressed all with their ingenuity.

A few of my own personal highlights of the past two weeks' activities included:

- Performing with Peter Apfelbaum's "Banff Hieroglyphics" ensemble. This was a large ensemble that basically included everybody in the workshop ! (very much "Hugh Fraser'ish", I thought!) We played several tunes down in The Club, to conclude the Sunday evening jazz concert where all the groups played for a very enthusiastic (and patient) audience. We performed David Ryshpan's arrangement of Ornette Coleman's "School Work", two of Apfelbaum's pieces (wow - where is this guy coming from ? When you hear his music, it's like he's got the whole wide world going on in there!) and I was honored to have my arrangement of Don Cherry's classic anthem "Mopti" performed to finish off the evening. Thanks to Peter I now how many different ways to think about playing in seven.

- Dafnis Prieto shared his unique approach to fusing traditional folkloric Afro-Cuban rhythms with modern Jazz improvisation. I truly think that in the future Dafnis will be recognized as one of the BIG innovators of this music and someone who took the drums to another level. His coordination and independence skills are ridiculous !!!

- Indian sitar player Kartik Seshadri gave a series of masterclasses on North Indian music. He is a great teacher and very effectively explained (to a group of classical and Jazz musicians) many basic rhythmic, melodic and harmonic principles central to North Indian music. I also hung out with Kartik and Dafnis while they jammed on a few improtu ragas. After that, I could have sworn that nearby Mount Rundle shifted a few centimeters !!! Those were some heavy grooves...

- Peter Apfelbaum shared some insightful stories about his experiences working with Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor and Karl Berger. He is one genuine spirit and I sure hope more people are exposed to Peter's music (and Peter the person) in the future.

- It was very inspiring to hear my fellow drummer's Morgan Childs and Mark Nelson play on a daily basis. These guys are playing great and check them out in Toronto and Montreal whenever you get the chance.

- My main workshop/rehearsal/performing group was with trumpeter Patrick Boyle and Seattle saxophonist Greg Sinibaldi. Patrick was constantly on his phone during his stay here (haha) so we named our trio "The Jazz Text Messengers". Very clever I must say....This group was really a highlight for me as we explored a format and approach to improvising that I had long been interested in but not dedicated serious time to. This was a chance to do a lot of "Free playing" (I actually prefer Jim Lewis's term "Open playing" myself). Patrick is forever searching for new formats and arrangements to improvise within and Greg contributed some wild textures with his EWI and effects pedals. For one late night session I assembled every gong I could find in the percussion studio (there were many!) and incorporated them into our improvisations. Our final performance at the Beatniq Jazz Club in Calgary was easily the highlight of my two weeks playing with these cats.

- Uri Caine inspired me with his deep knowledge of ALL music ! His experience with 20th Century composers such as Bartok, Webern, Berg and Shoenberg was humbling - and then of course he could turn around, swing like mad on the piano and talk about his days hanging with Philly Joe Jones and Mickey Roker. His discography is quite remarkable and the guy has released a new album almost every year since 1993 !!! He was also very generous with his time, music and information. In fact, I'd say all the faculty members saw things that way. This really made me realize the spirit and idea of mentorship and how they learned to play music and how this music is passed on to future generations and all those who want to learn about it. Schools are important.....but that is just one part of the puzzle and only one stop in a musician's journey. We really have to hang with people who have already been there and done it before.

- Phil Dwyer and I got along great from the first note we played together and managed to play quite a bit during his time here. The guy plays every note with drive and energy. He's a real drummer's tenor player !

All in all, this was a great time and I consider myself lucky to have been included in this workshop. If I can think of other things that changed my life here over the past two weeks, I'll add them in as I think of them !

Smilin' Billy Higgins - The Movie

I look forward to seeing this documentary in it's entirety !

Just A Few Random Videos Today...

Here are a few great clips today that have been making the rounds out here at the Banff Centre this week. Full recap of the week's happenings coming soon (will take me some time to gather my thoughts!) In the meantime, enjoy these gems that we've been enjoying as of late:

J@LC BDA & Onwards to Banff

I've been fortunate to have been engaged in a smattering of inspiring jazz experiences lately. Last week I participated in a Jazz at Lincoln Center Band Directors Academy workshop hosted in Calgary. It was a great experience and I was blown away by the enthusiasm and knowledge exhibited by the faculty of great jazz educators & performers that included: Rodney Whitaker (bass), Alvin Atkinson (drums), Dr. Ron Carter (alto saxophone), Wycliffe Gordon (trombone), Reggie Thomas (piano) and Scott Brown (trombone). These guys can not only really play great but they are able to articulate, to other band directors, the nuances of how to play jazz music and specifically how to swing and how get a high school jazz band to sound like it's playing jazz ! A huge emphasis was placed on the aural tradition of jazz music, the blues and the physical/vocal aspects of learning and expressing jazz music. Lots of great information was shared and it was an inspiring week that culminated with an energetic performance at the Beatniq jazz club located in downtown Calgary.

What struck me most about these wonderful teachers was their genuine humility and the overall inclusionary approach to teaching various concepts and involving an eager group of band directors whom, for the most part, had little or no experience teaching or playing jazz music. This is a great initiative and a great experience for those educators who have little experience in teaching Jazz but genuinely want to make a difference. I also found it a great experience as a player/teacher, such as myself, and I hope this initiative continues in the years to come.

I have a wonderful video clip of drummer Alvin Atkinson performing with bassist Rodney Whitaker from a rhythm section master class, performing the Duke Ellington/Juan Tizol composition "Caravan" that I will upload shortly.

Now in the meantime....

I now find myself at the Banff Centre for the Arts for two weeks, participating in the TD Jazz & Creative Residency with a cast of unbelievable jazz artists. This program is in its first year and we are already off to a great start. The focus of the residency is on the creation of new works and there is quite a bit of creative energy floating around these parts.

So far I've spent the past couple of days getting adjusted to the artist-friendly atmosphere and quite looking forward to all this amazing place has to offer. So for, faculty artists Dafnis Prieto (drums) and Peter Apfelbaum (saxophone) have provided quite a lot of inspiration and information to keep me going for quite awhile !

I'll blog as frequently as I can over the coming weeks about my time at the Banff Centre.

Forever onwards...

Brian Blade And His Canopus Drums

A brief clip here this morning as I'm off very soon here to the Calgary airport to drop off/pick up jazz musicians. Then I'm off to the Banff Centre for the Arts for a month (!) I start off this week as a participant in the first ever TD Jazz Music & Creative Residency for two weeks and then will complete another two weeks in February to study the vibraphone and work on my dissertation. I am really looking forward to studying with the all-star faculty they lined up for us consisting of Dafnis Prieto (drums), Uri Caine (piano), Phil Dwyer (saxophone) and Peter Apfelbaum (saxophone). There is also a small but VERY talented group of jazz musicians participating in this workshop as well from all over the country and I'm very much looking to playing and hanging with a group of such high level musicians in the coming weeks. In particular I'm looking forward to hearing drummers Mark Nelson and Morgan Childs who are making quite a splash in there respective scenes in Montreal and Toronto.

I'll do my best to report my "dispatches from the front" as I can in the coming weeks although my blogging might slow down a bit due to my busy schedule. But I will do what I can !

Anyways, on to the drums. Courtesy of the kind folks at Canopus drums (a GREAT Japanese drum company who have obviously figured "it" out!) - here's a clip of Master drummer Brian Blade showing off his new tubs:



Nice drums !

(well of course, I guess Brian could play a soggy cardboard box and still get those to sing !!! : )

I also just finished an intensive four day Jazz @ Lincoln Centre Band Directors Academy workshop and I'll gather my thoughts and report on that later as well. It was a marvelous experience and I really learned alot from a HEAVY faculty of experienced and diligent jazz educators. Hello !

Anyways, more to come later....

Tony Williams Plays Double Strokes

Not much time to report very much at all today as I'm in the middle of participating in a Jazz @ Lincoln Center Band Director's Academy in Calgary this week. It's a great experience and would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in developing their skills as a jazz educator.

This week we are fortunate to work with an esteemed faculty of clinicians including:

Dr. Ron Carter - saxophone

Wycliffe Gordon - trombone

Rodney Whitaker - bass

Reggie Thomas - piano

Alvin Atkinson - drums

Scott Brown - trombone

More on this great experience later....

In the meantime, here's a short clip of Tony Williams performing one of his legendary, signature solo drum introductions that recently popped up on the web:



Incidentally, this is EXACTLY the way Williams started his solo when I saw him in a masterclass in 1993. Those are some bad ass double strokes !!!

Cellar Live

I've been really digging several recordings from this fantastic Vancouver-based jazz record label lately. Most notably:

"Blow Up" - Steve Kaldestad Quinet

"Time" - Morgan Childs Quintet

"Transitions" - Joel Haynes Trio w/Seamus Blake

"Foundations" - Jodi Proznick Quartet

"Cellar Groove" - Tilden Webb Trio w/David Fathead Newman

Do-it-all jazz musician/club owner/record producer Cory Weeds has done a great job of putting together a class act label to showcase both Canadian and American artists.

You can learn more about this great record label here:

http://www.cellarlive.com/

Here are a few clips that Cory has posted on youtube.com featuring some of the dynamic ensembles that have played and recorded at the Cellar lately. Cory, please post more !

Here's Steve Kaldestad on tenor saxophone with Montrealers Kevin Dean on trumpet and Andre White on piano, performing music from Kaldestad's outstanding new release "Blow Up":



The Cory Weeds Quintet with Jim Rotundi on trumpet:



*I saw this particular group in Calgary during their cross-Canada tour last fall. One of the best gigs I saw in 2009.

And here's Steve Davis on Trombone and Mike DiRubbio on alto saxophone with my former Montreal mates Tilden Webb, Jodi Proznick and Jesse Cahill:



New York jazz musicians Grant Stewart on tenor saxophone (originally from Toronto) with pianist Tardo Hammer:



And finally, I came across a shot of one of my old friends, Jesse Cahill (featured playing GREAT drums in all the above footage) showing off his sweet new set of Canopus drums during a smoking set at the Cellar:



Jesse and I attended McGill University at the same time during the mid-1990s, split the drum chair in one of the jazz orchestras for two years and often shared a practice space together. He was a great drummer then and is sure playing great drums these days !

Drum & Bass 2.0

More drum & bass "conversations" today, this time featuring a dialogue between bassist Christian McBride and drummer Carl Allen from a gig with the band "Inside Straight":



Also, from the same gig, some great vibraphoning from the upcoming master vibraphonist Warren Wolf:



You can hear more of these great musicians on McBrides most recent release entitled "Kind of Brown" with his current band "Inside Straight":



Highly recommended.

More Ed Thigpen

Here's some more rare footage of drummer Ed Thigpen, courtesy of the kind folks over at Drummerworld (www.drummerworld.com) presenting a masterclass at New York's Drummer's Collectve circa. 1982.

He will be missed.







Some interesting connections I made while watching these clips:

If you listen carefully in the second clip, you'll hear Thigpen singing along to his brushwork. I recognize that tune as being the spiritual "David Danced Before the Lord" - the same piece arranged by Duke Ellington that featured drummer Louie Bellson and tap dancer Dr. Bunny Briggs in one of his Liturgical Concerts.

Here's the link to my previous post where I discussed that:

http://jonmccaslinjazzdrummer.blogspot.com/2009/11/milt-jackson-wkenny-clarke-and-more-tap.html

Hearing this also reminded me of an Ed Thigpen brush clinic I attended in Montreal around 1996. When demonstrating his graceful brush patterns he uses for ballad tempos, Thigpen sang the lyrics and melody to the jazz standard "What's New".
Again, as I posted last week, I think there is a connection between knowing the lyrics of a song and the rhythms we play.

Obviously Ed Thigpen had this figured out a long time ago !

Philly Joe Jones & Thelonious Monk

Some rare concert footage today of one of my favorite hard bop jazz drummers, "Philly Joe Jones", shown here with pianist Thelonious Monk and saxophonist Charlie Rouse from a 1969 date in France.

There is not a lot of footage out there of "Philly" playing the drums, so I relish any opportunity to catch the master in action. I'm also always impressed with the elegant motion he plays with and the huge sound he gets out of the drums. Jones was also a devout student of the Charlie Wilcoxin snare method "Rudimental Swing Solos for the Modern Drummer" and a lot of that snare drum vocabulary shows up in his playing.









Here's the drum solo portion of that last tune, "Nutty", isolated:
(for all the drum geeks out there !)



Swingin' stuff !

Ritimista Percussion Play-along (Review)

Several CD's arrived in my mailbox last week so lots of fresh listening to do these days. One album that I've been looking forward to receiving and working with is entitled "Ritimista: World Percussion Play-along Series, Vol. 1".

Produced by percussionist Mark Powers, this CD provides 11 different percussion grooves, each at two tempos (slow & fast) to practice with. The grooves include common Afro-Cuban patterns such as the 6/8 Tumbao, Rumba Guaguanco, Cascara, 3-2 Son Clave and 3-2 Rumba Clave as well as several popular West African patterns.

The recording quality is excellent and the grooves are solid, making it an excellent resource to practice with any Afro-Cuban or West African rhythms, either on drum set or hand percussion.

I've been working out of Billy Martin's remarkable book entitled "Riddim" and I look forward to using this new CD to practice Martin's coordination patterns along with. I find it can be a bit more interesting to play these rhythms within a specific stylistic context so Ritimista definitely will help.

One can find out more about this great resource and order it here:

http://www.powerspercussion.com/products.htm

Speaking of play-along CD's to practice along with, I would also highly recommend this fantastic CD:



When I studied with Terry Clarke two years ago, during my first lesson he handed me a copy of this CD (which he had gotten from Jim Blackley) and my assignment for the year was clear - play along with this entire CD perfectly from start to finish. Well this proved to be quite a task considering that the 18 tracks ranged in tempos from 40 to 340 beats per minute !!!

Produced by British drummer Allan Cox, this CD features a bassist and guitarist playing blues and rhythm changes at tempos ranging from very slow to very fast with everything in between - and the execution, precision and recording quality is dead one making this another great resource to play along with.

You can order this gem directly from Allan's website here:

http://www.allancox.co.uk/allancox/%22Meet_The_Bass_Player%22.html

(although I have seen it on display at Soul Drums in Toronto)

Okay, time to go practice....

Charles Mingus & Dannie Richmond

Just a quick post today.

I'm spending the weekend getting my life in order before attending a Jazz @ Lincoln Center Jazz Educator's Workshop next week and then off to the Banff Centre for the Arts for four weeks up until the end of February. More on these exciting upcoming experiences later.
Busy times !

Anyhow, here's one of the great bass & drum pairings in jazz music, Charles Mingus and Dannie Richmond, trading back and forth - and then Mingus himself briefly explaining to an interviewer what he's thinking about when doing so (!)



Yes - music is conversation !

Drummers Who Scare Me - Part One

And by that, I mean "scare me" in a good way !!! Every once in a while I hear a drummer who plays so well that I'm completely baffled by their unique rhythmic sophistication & language that they've created on the drums. It's so overwhelming yet so inspiring and motivating at the same time.

A few contemporary drummers (for me) that fall into that category would include:

Dan Weiss, John Hollenbeck, Dafnis Prieto (whom I'm studying with later this month at the Banff Centre), Kendrick Scott, Gene Lake, Eric Harland, Tyshawn Sorey and, the subject of today's post, Mark Guiliani (and of course there are many others too !)

I first heard drummer Mark Guiliani with bassist Avishai Cohen's trio at the Rochester International Jazz Festival in 2003. I was playing there all week with Montreal jazz musicians Jennifer Bell, Dave Mossing and Dave Watts so I got to check a lot of heavy jazz musicians during my time in the city. Most of these musicians travelled up from New York City to perform in Rochester that week. The evening jam sessions, hosted every night in the hotel bar, were also a highlight.

Anyways, this guy is just playing great and he's really young so I'm sure we'll be hearing more of him in the future. Check him out here with bassist Avishai Cohen:



Here with pianist Jason Lindner and the "other" Avishai Cohen (trumpet):



And a few other brilliant shots of Mark in action:





Ridiculous !

Speaking of young, contemporary jazz drummers that scare me....last year, Ben Ratliff of the New York Times ran an article entitled "Five Drummers Whose Time Is Now" that featured several dynamic young jazz drummers currently making waves in New York City.

Find that interesting read here:

"Five Drummers Whose Time Is Now" - by Ben Ratliff - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/arts/music/12drummers.html

And here's a previous article that Ratliff wrote in 1999 on the same topic of up-and-coming drummers in New York City:

"Propelled By Different Drummers" - by Ben Ratliff - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/15/movies/critic-s-notebook-propelled-by-different-drummers.html

Prepare to be scared !

Jack DeJohnette Plays For The Birds

Someone, who had the best seat in the house at Birdland the other day (!), was kind enough to capture Jack DeJohnette in his element and post his creation on youtube. Lucky for us !



I've been on a huge DeJohnette kick lately after having seen him at the 2009 PASIC convention in Indianapolis. I have also been checking out this great album, a 70s ECM release entitled "Pictures". This is essentially an album of Jack playing solo drum compositions (with help from John Abercrombie & a track featuring Jack on solo piano):



This one is a must have for any Jack fans out there !

Ed Thigpen 1930 - 2010

It's with great sadness that I have just heard and now report that the great master drummer Ed Thigpen passed away today in Copenhagen at the age of 79 after a lengthy illness.

Thigpen, who was aptly nicknamed "Mr. Taste", is probably best remembered as the drummer with the Oscar Peterson Trio (along with Ray Brown on bass), as a sideman to so many jazz greats and as a leader of his own various ensembles. (Check out his album as a leader "Out of The Storm")

My first introduction to "Mr. Taste" came when I was a teenager having heard the Oscar Peterson albums "Night Train" and "The Canadiana Suite". His swinging groove and tasteful dynamics made a great impression on me as he was one of the first serious jazz drummers I ever heard and checked out.

My father also purchased a copy of Canadian jazz pianist Oliver Jones' 1991 album "A Class Act" following his performance at the Regina Jazz Society with bassist Dave Young. This disc got a lot of airplay in our household for weeks afterwards. One track that stood out for me was "Stan Pat", a calypso written for Montreal pianist Stan Patrick and featured an extended drum solo for Thigpen using a plethora of Caribbean rhythms. My father is still asking me when I'm going to play that tune !

Thigpen's brushwork also impressed me and I promptly purchased his book entitled "The Sound of Brushes". This became an important part in learning my brush technique and installed a sense of appreciation and awe for the art of brushes that continues to this day (see some of my previous posts for proof of that !)



Shortly afterwards purchasing this great book, I met Ed Thigpen in person at the Remo drum booth in the convention hall at the 1995 IAJE convention in Anaheim, California. I remember thanking him for writing such a great book and he was nice enough to give me a short brush "lesson" after I told him I couldn't figure one of his uptempo brush patterns.

Well, he made it look easy and I'm still trying to figure that one out !

Here's a shot of Thigpen featured with Billy Taylor from 1958 on a superb drum feature entitled "Titoro". Dig not only his intense rhythmic approach but the variety of creative sounds he gets out of such a small collection of drums and cymbals:



Inspiring stuff ! I also appreciate the profound influence of Papa Jo Jones in that clip - one of Thigpen's early influences.

And here's Ed Thigpen in his element, swinging with Oscar Peterson & Ray Brown - the classic trio - from a live concert in Italy (and later with special guests Herb Ellis and Roy Eldrige sitting in):











And finally, a swinging performance of Oscar Peterson's "Reunion Blues" from a television date in London circa. 1964:



I think this is a fitting tune to finish this post as I'm sure Ed is now in heaven, reunited with his old friends Oscar and Ray, no doubt sharing some laughs and great music while sitting in the big jam session in the sky...

Thank you Ed !

The Drums, The Voice & Lady Day

I've been fortunate to have worked with many great jazz vocalists over the years including such artists as Pat Steele, Carol Welsman, Karen Plato, Dionne Taylor, Carmen Lundy, Sienna Dahlen, John LaBelle, Kristin Korb, Louise Rose, Trish Colter and an amazing extended engagement with Montreal's Johanne Desforges. All great musicians !

As a drummer, playing with a vocalist requires a special mindset and sensitivity. These are all important skills to master as a drummer and I always look forward to the opportunity to work with a good singer. This week, while working with some vocal jazz students at a local high school as an accompanist, I was reminded of this and put some thought into the importance of learning the lyrics to the tunes I'm playing. While playing with these talented young students, I purposely quietly sang/mumbled the lyrics to myself while accompanying the students as a personal exercise (I had the lead sheets with the lyrics written on them right in front of me on a music stand!) I sure noticed a new and fresh dimension to these standards that I've played so many times.

Understanding the lyrical aspect of these Jazz standards we play so much is one often overlooked, and not just by drummers - but my most jazz instrumentalists, I think. I believe that as drummers (and overall as jazz musicians), we have to have as many tools as possible at our disposal regarding the piece of music we are playing if we really want to play it properly and explore it throughly. I think that by learning the lyrics to a melody, it would undoubtedly have a positive effect on one's melodic phrasing.

Apparently drummer Art Taylor was renowned for knowing all the lyrics to all of the standards he was playing, as did his frequent employer, tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon. So perhaps there is something to be said for knowing the words to the songs we are playing ? It's an interesting argument worth exploring.

Anyways, some of my favorite jazz singers include Ella Fitzgerald, Sara Vaughn, Nancy Wilson, Joe Williams, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Abbey Lincoln and, of course, Billie Holiday.

Here is a favorite clip of mine of Billie Holiday with an all-star band from the 1957 CBS television special "The Sound of Jazz" on the composition "Fine and Mellow":



Apparently the musical dialogue between Holiday and Lester Young here was a special moment as they had not been on speaking terms for some time and were avoiding each other that day. This particular piece represents the last time these two artists would perform together.

As producer Nat Hentoff remembers:

"Lester got up, and he played the purest blues I have ever heard, and [he and Holiday] were looking at each other, their eyes were sort of interlocked, and she was sort of nodding and half–smiling. It was as if they were both remembering what had been—whatever that was. And in the control room we were all crying. When the show was over, they went their separate ways. "

Sadly, both Billie Holiday and Lester Young both passed away within two years of this epic recording.

Oscar Swings...

Some brilliant footage today forwarded to me by Regina jazz bassist & visionary Carlo Petrovitch.

Here's the Oscar Peterson Trio with drummer Ed Thigpen (showing NO mercy on the drums!) and Ray Brown bass, all featured on Ray Bryant's latin jazz classic "Cubano Chant":



Carlo explicitly told me to mention the ENORMOUS bass that Ray Brown is playing in that clip !

While browsing other Oscar Peterson clips on youtube.com I came across another Peterson favorite of mine, originally introduced to me by another Regina jazz musician, Jim Gallagher.

Here's another incarnation of the Oscar Peterson Trio performing "Blues Etude":



There's more than a few lessons in there !

The Oscar Peterson Trio (with Ed Thigpen on drums) was one of my first formative influences while I was checking out jazz music during my teens. In my high school library, the music section (one small shelf!) contained only three jazz records, but all of which still influence me to this day:

Oscar Peterson - "Night Train" w/Ed Thigpen on drums

Buddy Rich - "West Side Story"

Dave Brubeck - "Time Out" w/Joe Morello on drums

Those were the right three albums !

Brian Blade - Jazz Crimes

Today, a burning solo transcription of drummer Brian Blade from the Joshua Redman album "Elastic".

Here it is as transcribed by Mike Papagni:



Here is the same studio version of the solo as performed by "GM":



And here's a live version featuring Brian Blade with Joshua Redman and Sam Yahel:



Playing like that is a crime indeed !

Frankie Dunlop

I decided today to highlight another favorite drummer of mine, but one who gets little attention in jazz circles - that being the great Frankie Dunlop who held the drum chair with Thelonious Monk's quartet during the 1960s (Ben Riley was another significant drummer who played with Monk around this time). Frankie Dunlop is, somewhat, so obscure that I couldn't even find a photo of him to post on my blog ! (so I settled for the cover of one of my favorite Monk albums he plays on). I was first introduced to Dunlop's brilliant and unique drumming style by now Paris-based jazz drummer Karl Januska. Karl and I went to McGill together during the mid-1990s and I've been a big fan of Dunlop's bouncy, medium tempos ever since. When I studied with drummer/pianist Andre White while pursuing my Master's Degree at McGill, studying Dunlop's approach to soloing and comping were both serious assignments he gave to me - and I sure learned a lot from those !

Frankie Dunlop is a great drummer that we should pay attention to and study. His approach to rhythm was a great compliment to Thelonious Monk's and, while steeped in the bop tradition of drumming, he definitely had his own thing going on. Pay attention to his solos and notice how he will intentionally turn the beat around and play the hi-hat on beats 1 & 3 - and it swings like mad !

*Also interesting to note: I once read in a Jazz Times magazine interview with drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts where he stated that Dunlop was a big influence on him as well. Maybe not such an obvious influence since the influence of Elvin and Tony play such a predominant role in Watt's drumming style. But it's in there !

Anyways, here's a few rare clips of Frankie Dunlop featured with Thelonious Monk:







And here's a clip of Ireland's premier jazz drummer, Conor Guilfoyle, demonstrating his transcription of Frankie Dunlop's solo on the Monk composition "I Mean You":



Conor has a wealth of great drum lessons on youtube.com and check out his website for other great lessons and more transcriptions and such:

www.conorguilfoyle.com

The Greatest Drum Battle of ALL Time

Today, from some concert footage originally aired in the UK comes a drum battle of epic proportions.

Here Elvin Jones, Max Roach and Art Blakey take the stage in one of the heaviest displays of cooperative jazz drumming I've ever seen:







I don't know about you, but if I was ever playing the drums and had Elvin Jones looking over my shoulder, I might be just a tad intimidated ! Just sayin'...

Matt Wilson - Solos: The Jazz Sessions

More great footage today of the master rhythmatist & sound sculptor Matt Wilson in action. This time in a variety of improvised solo spots filmed by director Daniel K Berman for a television series entitled Solos: The Jazz Sessions, produced for the Bravo! channel on Canadian television.

There are several GREAT episodes in the series, all featuring many of the world's leading jazz artists, all performing in an improvised SOLO setting. This was a great idea ! Make a master jazz musician comfortable in a nice setting, let him/her do there thing and film it. Brilliant.

You can also find out more about this great series and even order DVDs from the website here:

www.solosjazz.com

Check out all the heavyweights that contributed to this series !

The Matt Wilson episode is great but I also recently acquired the Matt Wilson/Lee Konitz duet DVD from the same series as well and that is really something else. Matt and Lee have a musical relationship going back several years and it shows. I've also enjoyed their duologue on this particular album:



Incidentally, all the features for the Solo sessions were filmed at the Berkeley Church & Performance space in Toronto, where I played my first gig in Toronto after moving there in 2007. Of course, the music we were playing for the wedding reception taking place in the Berkeley wasn't nearly as hip as these sessions !