The Monday Morning Paradiddle - December 2022

Well, here we are! Yet another year of music, drumming and blogging has gone by and now here before you is the December 2022 edition of the Monday Morning Paradiddle, my almost monthly jazz drumming variety column. Hope you dig it.

I'll be taking a break over the holidays and will be back at some point in the New Year. In the meantime, enjoy a nice holiday break and check out all the cool stuff below. There's always something new to watch, listen and learn from.

However, CJSW's Tim Mah will also be back next week for one more guest blogpost of the year, with his compilation of Recommended Canadian Jazz Albums of 2022. His annual selections are always eagerly anticipated and highlight a lot of the great jazz music that came out of Canada in the past year so make sure to check that out.

Hey, I've only got a small handful of the classic black Four on the Floor t-shirts left in stock!

These fine quality shirts are available in small, medium, large and x-large sizes and are lightweight premium fitted 100% cotton tees.

The shirts are $30 each (+shipping)

If you are interested in purchasing one, please drop me a line asap at fouronthefloorblog@gmail.com or reach me through Facebook/Twitterland/Instagram and I'll set you up asap.

These are only available in very limited quantities and last time these went pretty quickly so don't delay and order one today while supplies last, just in time for the holidays!

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And now, and without further ado, here's today's offerings:

1. Check out this piece from Jazz Wax on the historic new Elvin Jones release on Blue Note Records: Revival - Live at Pookie's Pub

2. Thanks to Chad Anderson for sending along this recorded interview with the great Alvin Fielder

3. Tyshawn Sorey featured by in this Tidal interview Personal Standards

4. Check out and subscribe to Vinnie Sperrazza's excellent new Substack series Chronicles with extended pieces on Paul Motian, Tony Williams, Pete LaRoca, Freddie Waits and more

5. Francisco Mela does all the talking in these podcast episodes of All the Talking Part One Part Two

6. Antonio Sanchez featured in Jazz Times magazine Not Such a Bad Hombre After All

...and in this interview with Leo Sidran from his The Third Story podcast:

 

7. Fantastic brushwork from Jeff Hamilton!

8. And even more great brushwork from Portland's Mel Brown!!!

 

9. George Fludas interviewed in the podcast series Off The Bandstand with Christian Wiggs:

10. Ed Soph interviewed by Aldo Mazza for his ongoing series Shaping Your Journey:

11. Billy Drummond interviewed by Eric Hayslett:

12. John Riley featured on Drummer Nation!:

13. Quincy Davis continues with his fantastic and always informative YouTube series Q-Tips:

 

14. Jerome Jennings offers his masterclass Drum Evolution: From Jazz to Hip Hop:

 

15. 10 Reasons to Love Brian Blade from Thomas Wendt and the Drum Candy Podcast:

 

(What only 10 reasons? Lol)

16. And this interview with Duduka Da Fonseca:

 

17. These two recordings of Big Sid Catlett have been making the rounds lately including this solo with Louis Armstrong...

...and this one with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker:

18. A wonderful drums and piano duo session from Allison Miller and Carmen Staaf!

19. Ulysses Owens Jr. offers these thoughts on snare drum tuning brought to us from the nice people at Evans Drumheads:

20. And dig this trio of Ulysses Owens Jr., pianist Peter Martin and bassist Bob DeBoo on a burning rendition of Cherokee:

21. Joe Lovano and his Classic Quartet featuring Lewis Nash, on Lovano's composition Big Ben from a recent performance at SFJAZZ:

 

22. What am I listening to these days?

Archie Alleyne & Frank Wright Quartet "Up There" - Archie Alleyne (drums), Frank Wright (vibraphone)

Elvin Jones "Revival: Live at Pookie's Pub" - Elvin Jones (drums)

Miles Davis "A Tribute to Jack Johnson" - Billy Cobham (drums)

Dave Holland "Triplicate" - Jack DeJohnette (drums)

Ben Webster & Harry Edison "Ben & Sweets" - Clarence Johnson (drums)

Oscar Peterson Trio "We Take Requests" - Ed Thigpen (drums)

Jeff Hamilton Trio "Dynavibes" - Jeff Hamilton (drums), Frits Landesbergen (vibraphone)

Jim Hall & Ron Carter "Alone Together"

23. And today's Final Word goes to Antonio Sanchez via Instagram:

"Playing in a band is one of the best exercises in democracy. It encourages individualism/self-expression but you're all working towards a bigger goal. The exercise also fails if you're not constantly looking out for one another. Everybody should try it at some point in life."

- Antonio Sanchez

Thanks again for all your support, keep swinging' and see you in 2023!

Eddie Gladden at the Drums

A couple fantastic clips of the great Eddie Gladden today, with Horace Silver in Umbria circa. 1976 and with Dexter Gordon at the North Sea Jazz Festival circa. 1979.

Gladden isn't a drummer that's often mentioned (I learned about him via Ralph Peterson Jr. who sang his praises) but one can sure appreciate the level of intensity he played with from the excerpts compiled below (more complete footage of both these two concerts can be found on the YouTube!)

Check them out:

Hey I've only got a handful of the classic black Four on the Floor t-shirts left in stock!

These fine shirts are available in small, medium, large and x-large sizes and are lightweight premium fitted 100% cotton tees.

The shirts are $30 each (+shipping)

If you are interested in purchasing one, please drop me a line asap at fouronthefloorblog@gmail.com or reach me through Facebook/Twitterland/Instagram and I'll set you up asap.

These are only available in limited quantities and last time these went pretty quickly so don't delay and order today while supplies last in time for the holidays!

Bobby Hutcherson Harold Land Quintet Denmark 1971

Some more amazing footage of the Bobby Hutcherson Harold Land Quintet from Denmark circa. 1971 with the great (and, in my humble opinion, underrated) Joe Chambers on drums:

This was a GREAT band that, for some reason, doesn't get talked about often. Dig that cymbal beat!

Jazz Drumming Workshop - December 17th

My monthly jazz drumming workshop series continues on Saturday, December 17th.

These regular workshops and group sessions are occurring monthly and address such topics as time keeping, ride cymbal techniques, comping, independence & coordination, snare drum rudiments, brush playing, soloing, jazz drumming history and more!

Jazz Drumming Workshop with Jon McCaslin

Saturday, December 17th 1-3pm

Theatre 1308

1308 Edmonton Trail NE

$40 per session


Space is limited!


Please pre-register here:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/jazz-drumming-workshop-tickets-477005425067

For more information please e.mail fouronthefloorblog@gmail.com

Billy Higgins - Firm Roots

Big thanks to Bret Primack aka The Jazz Video Guy for sharing this inspiring footage of the great Billy Higgins with Cedar Walton's quartet (along with David Williams on bass and Bobby Hutcherson on vibraphone), featured here on Walton's classic composition Firm Roots, filmed at the Umbria Jazz Festival circa. 1997:

Jo Jones!

Papa Jo Jones: The Man Who Played Like the Wind

A pair of pieces featuring the great Jo Jones today.

First up, a brilliantly epic version of Caravan featuring Jo Jones with Mary Lou Williams circa. 1978. 

I attended a wonderful listening session with Toronto clarinetist Virginia MacDonald last week at the JazzYYC Tune In - Tune Up conference in Calgary, AB. Virginia played a lot of great music for us by many overlooked female jazz artists and Mary Lou Williams featured prominently in her presentation. And of course this eventually led me down a bit of a rabbit hole and I eventually discovered the clip you see below:

Toronto jazz drummer Morgan Childs also shared this Jazz at the Philharmonic concert filmed in the Netherlands circa. 1957 featuring the Oscar Peterson trio, Ella Fitzgerald, Roy Eldridge, Stuff Smith and others....with Jo Jones behind the drums, who is swinging the band and audience into a frenzy, all with a big smile on his face!

Take a listen to this entire concert and watch the Master in action:

And a few more things worthy of checking out:

- An older 2020 piece from Vinnie Sperrazza's fine and always insightful blog entitled Listen to Jo Jones

- And Jazz Profiles offers this extensive feature on Jo Jones' musical career

So yes, now go listen to Jo Jones!

The Four on the Floor T-shirts Have Returned!

"The guys get shirts and that's just the way it is..." 

- Paul Anka

The classic black Four on the Floor t-shirts are now back in stock and once again available!

These shirts are available in small, medium, large and x-large sizes and are lightweight premium fitted 100% cotton tees.

The shirts are $30 each (+shipping)

If you are interested in purchasing one, please drop me a line asap at fouronthefloorblog@gmail.com or reach me through Facebook/Twitterland/Instagram and I'll set you up asap.

These are only available in limited quantities and last time these went pretty quickly so don't delay and order today while supplies last!

Adam Nussbaum, John Riley and Francisco Mela all have their Four on the Floor t-shirts and so can you!

Brian Blade '94

I am working towards a very cool collaborative drumming and contemporary dance project these days. So choreographer Catherine Hayward and I were checking out some music featuring Brian Blade with Daniel Lanois for some inspiration last week and of course this lead me down a bit of a Brian Blade rabbit hole. And here it is.

Thanks to Drummerworld's Bernhard Castiglioni who shared these videos of Brian Blade with Joshua Redman circa. 1994:

Interview with Billy Drummond

Check out my recent interview with the great Billy Drummond, who recently released his latest album Valse Sinistre featuring his band Freedom of Ideas on the Cellar Live record label.

www.cellarlive.com

I've been a huge fan of Billy Drummond's drumming and music for over 25 years now (thank you Joel Haynes!) so naturally I was very honoured and excited to have the opportunity to speak with one of my drum heroes.

Check it out:

Acclaimed by Downbeat as “one of the hippest bandleaders now at work,” Billy Drummond’s thrilling, powerful and highly musical playing has also made him one of the most called-for sidemen of his generation. 

Mentored in the bands of jazz legends Horace Silver, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, J J Johnson and Sonny Rollins, Drummond is now widely acknowledged as one of today’s most versatile drummers, making sideman appearances with a veritable who’s who of jazz greats on over 350 albums. 

He has made four albums as a leader—including Dubai, a New York Times Number 1 Jazz Album of the Year—and five as a co-leader, including We’ll Be Together Again in Three’s Company, a trio with Javon Jackson and legendary bassist Ron Carter, which made several Top Ten lists of the Year. Modern Drummer magazine recently honored Dubai as one of the 50 Crucial Jazz Drumming Recordings of the Past 100 Years—”distilling to only 50, a century’s worth of drumming on jazz recordings, which by any reasonable guess would comprise tens if not hundreds of thousands of titles.”

Born in Newport News, Virginia, where he grew up listening to his father’s extensive jazz record collection, Drummond was leading his own bands from the age of eight, and teaching adults from the age of just 14, before going on to study classical percussion at the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music. In the late 1980s, he was encouraged by Al Foster to move to New York, where he was almost immediately recruited to the young band Out of the Blue (OTB), recording Spiral Staircase for Blue Note Records. When OTB disbanded, Billy joined Horace Silver’s Sextet, simultaneously starting life-long associations with Buster Williams and Bobby Hutcherson, and subsequently joining J J Johnson’s band, followed by a three-year stint touring with Sonny Rollins.

Since then, Drummond has performed and recorded with many of the world’s jazz greats, including Horace Silver, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Buster Williams, Steve Kuhn, JJ Johnson, Sonny Rollins, Charles Tolliver, Nat Adderley, Charles McPherson, Eddie Henderson, James Moody, Sheila Jordan, Andrew Hill, Ron Carter, Carla Bley, Eddie Gomez, Larry Willis, Hank Jones, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Konitz, Stanley Cowell, Archie Shepp, Joe Lovano, Javon Jackson, Chris Potter, Eric Reed, Ralph Moore, Vincent Herring, Franco Ambrosetti (Italy), Karin Krog (Norway), Sadao Wantanabe (Japan), Toots Thielemans (Belgium), Barney Wilen (France), Laurent DeWilde (France), Jan Lundgren (Sweden), and Michel LeGrand (France).

“I consider myself very fortunate to have come up playing with some of the innovators of jazz who, in many instances, helped shape the way this music is and will always be played,” says Drummond. “Priceless experience for a young person learning how to be a musician. They taught me how to be a professional – to know the material, to be on time and, most of all, to play from your heart.”

In addition, Drummond is a highly respected educator who has taught some of the current generation’s best young drummers while juggling a busy touring schedule with his duties as Professor of Jazz Drums at the Juilliard School of Music and NYU. He also gives private lessons and master classes—via Zoom and in-person—all over the world.

www.billydrummondrums.com

Jazz Drumming Workshop - November 20

My monthly jazz drumming workshop series continues on Sunday, November 20th.

These regular workshops and group sessions will address such topics as time keeping, ride cymbal techniques, comping, independence & coordination, snare drum rudiments, brush playing, soloing, jazz drumming history and more!

Sunday, November 20th 130-330pm

Saturday, December 17th 1-3pm

Theatre 1308

1308 Edmonton Trail NE

$40 per session


Space is limited!


Please pre-register here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jazz-drumming-workshop-tickets-442990635917

For more information please e.mail fouronthefloorblog@gmail.com

The Monday Morning Paradiddle - October 2022

 

And...we're back and welcome to a special October 2022 Halloween edition of the Monday Morning Paradiddle. 

And what better way to celebrate the scarier side of jazz drumming than with some classic Philly Joe Jones:

Don't forget to "bite your momma goodnight!" and then check out today's features:

1) Ted Warren offers this important piece on Drumming and Mental Health

2) Todd Bishop, author of the blog Cruise Ship Drummer, offers this spot-on assessment of chops, technique and musical freedom, creativity and context in his excellent column Brute Force Freedom

3) Stanton Moore interviewed by the Music Makers Podcast

4) Check out these solos from Rich Thompson's Modern Jazz Solos for Drum Set Series from the Avedis Zildjian Company

5) Thanks to George Sluppick who hipped me to this amazing new drumming sample loop app called Wheelhouse Beats https://www.wheelhousebeats.app/ that features such drummers as Bobby Previte, Carter McLean, George Sluppick, Corey Fonville, Derrek Phillips, Jeremy "Bean" Clemons, Brevan Hampden, Chris Gelb and more.

Ben Singer, the creator of this highly recommended app, was kind enough to take some time to tell us all about his cool and innovative new app:

I met Charlie Hunter when he moved to Greensboro, NC a couple years ago. I had been a fan for a long time, so this came as a fun surprise. I was wrapping up my programming job at PreSonus and looking for more apps to do as a indie developer.

The idea really came from him: a metronome app that uses loops from great drummers. I thought it was a great idea, and he hooked me up with some of his favourite players. Most of them have home studios, so I started by having them send me sessions where they would play the same beat at about five different tempos.

If this was a desktop app, I might have licensed some code to do time-stretching, but for mobile devices I needed something that was very efficient with CPU. I wrote a small playback engine that does this in one step. While it's playing the loop, it skips little pieces of the sound. Each drum or cymbal hit gets a little closer, making the beat sound faster. I speed up the loop until I can switch to the next recorded loop, the same way a keyboard patch would be sampled in multiple velocity layers.

After I split the sessions up into measures, I pick the best loops and sequence them into phrases. For most beats, there are versions with one, two, four, and eight measures. Some of the patterns, like Bomb Swing and Brush Groove, only have long phrases, so it's more like a jazz player.

We haven't tried to define a particular audience. It can be a guitar player shedding a tune, a drummer learning to play and feel these grooves, a songwriter using it for inspiration, or anything else. My strategy is just to make each beat sound as musical as I can.

The current drummers are going to be recording some more grooves and we will be adding new drummers too. I have sessions from the next two already, and I am very excited to get those in the app.

To learn more about this cool drumming app check out this link: https://www.wheelhousebeats.app/

6) A GREAT lesson with bassist Orlando Le Fleming on playing on, ahead and behind the beat:

 

7) Allison Miller featured with Artemis on her piece Galapagos:

 

8) Joe Farnsworth sets the pace!

 

9) Billy Drummond with saxophonist Charles McPherson, playing a beautifully musical drum solo on Cherokee:

 

10) Toronto's Kirk MacDonald with drummer Terry Clarke at the Black Bear Pub (nice t-shirt Terry!):

 

11) I was watching a new Oscar Peterson documentary on my flight home from Toronto a few weeks ago and was reminded of what a great and unique drummer Martin Drew was.

Dig this:

 

 

12) Quincy Davis continues with these excellent recent offerings via his excellent Q-Tips YouTube series:

 

13) Christopher Smith offers these great lessons on some important fundamental jazz drumming techniques via The Jazz Drum Hang. Chris is a great teacher!

Check these out:

 

14) Pittsburgh's Thomas Wendt offers this important lesson dealing with The Shuffle!

 

15) Gregory Hutchinson shares some wisdom with Open Studio in this episode of Hustlin' with Hutch:

 

16) Samo Salamon interviews Chicago's Chad Taylor:

 

17) The Drum History Podcast features the excellent new book Drumsville! The Evolution of the New Orleans Beat:

 

And here are some behind-the-scenes footage of the exhibit itself:

 

18) Dan Weiss' demonstrates his incredible rhythmic abilities:

 

19) Jeff Ballard featured in the series Stephan's Basement:

20) Billy Hart in action with Art Farmer circa. 1982:

 

21) Jazz Talk interviews Joe Chambers:

  

 22) A nice tribute to El Rey Tito Puente from Google:

 

This 2008 piece from NPR's Jazz Profiles series Tito Puente: 'El Rey' is worth taking a listen to as well.

23) Mel Lewis with his orchestra featuring Joe Lovano, performing The Eye of the Hurricane:

 

24) What am I Listening to These Days? 

PJ Perry "No Hugs" - Dave Laing (drums)

Sam Taylor "Let Go" - Willie Jones III (drums)

Watts, Turner, Le Fleming "Misterioso" - Jeff "Tain" Watts (drums)

Teodross Avery "Post Modern Trap Music" - Marvin "Bugalu" Smith (drums)

Sam Kirmayer "In This Moment" - Andre White (drums)

John Lee "The Artist" - Carl Allen (drums)

25) And today's Final Word goes to pianist Ahmad Jamal (via Reggie Quinerly):

“I would like to be a scholar in whatever I do. A scholar is never finished, he is always seeking and I am always seeking.”

-Ahmad Jamal

-----------------------

*Oh yes, and before we head out trick or treating....The classic black Four on the Floor t-shirt is now back in stock and available in limited quantities*

These shirts are available in small, medium, large and x-large sizes and are premium lightweight fitted 100% cotton tees.

The shirts are $30 each (+shipping)

If you are interested in purchasing one, please drop me a line asap at fouronthefloorblog@gmail.com or reach me through Facebook/Instagram/Twitterland and I'll set you up asap.

Last time these went pretty quickly so order now while supplies last.

Don't delay and get yours today.

Thanks for your support!

"The guys get shirts and that's just the way it is..."

- Paul Anka

Tony Williams!

A quadruple dose of great Tony Williams footage today!

First off, Thomas Wendt and the Drum Candy Podcast (brought to us by Drum Factory Direct) offer 10 Reasons to Love...Jazz and Fusion Legend Tony Williams.

Check it out:

 

And here's footage from two rare Tony Williams masterclasses from the 90s including this one from Scotland circa. 1994 (playing his late era Tony DW drums):

 

...and this one from North Carolina circa. 1991 (playing his iconic yellow Gretsch drums with the black dots!):

And finally, hot off the presses, is the prolific Quincy Davis with his Q-Tips lesson featuring some Tony Williams vocabulary around the drums:

Kyle Poole & Joe Farnsworth Drum Off

Some great drumming today from Kyle Poole and Joe Farnsworth, featured in tandem on Cedar Walton's Firm Roots, from arguably one of the best regular livestream series to come out of the past two years, Emmet's Place as curated by pianist Emmet Cohen.

Check it out:

Happy Higgins Day!

(photo by Michael Dvorak)

Well yesterday was Edward Blackwell's birthday and today is Art Blakey and Billy Higgins' birthdays!

So I thought it would be quite fitting to post this unreleased duet between Billy Higgins and Charles Lloyd recorded circa. 1993:

Thank you to Tim Mah for passing this one along!

Toronto! & Steve Gadd Plays Crazy Army

And...we're back.

Sorry for the radio silence as I've been on the road lately, working in Toronto with Canada's premier jazz dance company Decidedly Jazz Danceworks.

I've been working with this dance company regularly since 2011 and every production I've had the privilege of being a part of, under the direction of artistic director/visionary Kimberley Cooper and musical director/bassist Rubim DeToledo, is a creative adventure that consistently challenges my abilities and raises my musical bar. The results of these shows and the process of creating these productions are never anything short of an inspiring creative journey that combines jazz music and contemporary jazz dance at the highest level. I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to work with this dedicated group of talented artists.

It was quite a busy week, filming and performing at the Fall For Dance North festival at Toronto Metropolitan University and I'm really proud of what we accomplished. However, I did still manage to get out as well and hear some live music and I heard many great drummers that week including:

• Tenor saxophonists Kirk MacDonald & Pat LaBarbera's annual birthday tribute to John Coltrane at the Rex Hotel featuring Terry Clarke on drums. 

Terry was my teacher during my brief stint in Toronto (2007-2009) and it's always a pleasure to hear him driving a band (I'd also venture to comment that he was really in his element that night playing this particular music and of course Kirk and Pat were on fire as always!)

• Montreal's Doxas Brothers Quartet at the Jazz Bistro with the always inventive Jim Doxas on drums. 

Jim and I were both students at McGill together during the late 90s and he was really great, playing with a dynamic and adventurous style even way back then!

• The super swinging Barry Elmes Quintet, also appearing at the Jazz Bistro. 

Barry was one of the very first Canadian jazz drummers I ever heard (initially on CBC Radio back in the day) and his unique style and creatively clever compositions have been an inspiration and influence of mine for the past 30 years.

• Finally, I capped off my visit to T.O. with a long subway ride on the Bloor line to check out a set at the Etobicoke Jazz Festival featuring Alex Dean's four saxophone Tenor Madness band backed up by the Donnybrook Trio, with my bud Jeff McLeod on organ and the always hard swinging Morgan Childs on drums. 

Morgan moved to Toronto from Vancouver at pretty much the same time I left Toronto for Calgary a little over a decade ago but it's always a pleasure to hear his super swinging cymbal beat, supple comping and to watch him drive a band.

Anyways, my time in Toronto was really great and now it's back to our regularly scheduled programming. 

Here's a short recent clip of the great Steve Gadd playing the classic rudimental snare drum piece Crazy Army:

If you've followed Steve's career you'll recognize that this particular piece has been a part of Steve's repertoire for a long time. 

Here's a few observations:

• Dig the graceful way in which he plays this. Even by just playing rudiments on some sort of hollowed out piece of furniture acting as a drum pad (?) you still get a sense of the flow and relaxed feel that he is famous for. Listen to the sound he gets and watch the form and movement of his hands. Appreciate the graceful sense of flow he achieves. This, in my humble opinion, is what we, as jazz drummers, should be striving towards when playing, working on rudiments and applying them to the drum set. 

Poetry in motion.

• Some minor gear observations from the photo above, at the top of this blog post (presumably taken sometime in the 70s or early 80s...and assuming that he is playing his own drums?) 

Is that ride cymbal an old cracked K with a significant chunk missing from it? Was that his go-to cymbal at some point? This reminds me of Mel Lewis' infamous old K that also had a chunk missing.

Also notice the two-cymbal stack to his far right. This sort of thing seems to be a real trend nowadays but Gadd was obviously exploring this a long time ago! 

And finally, I heard somewhere that Steve used a Ludwig Superphonic snare drum extensively back in the day and he appears to be playing one in this photo as well.

• Finally, if you dig this brief clip of Gadd playing Crazy Army like I did, then I would highly recommend checking out his recent book Gaddiments as well available at Hudson Music.

Jazz Drumming Workshops with Jon McCaslin

 

I'm starting up a monthly in-person drum workshop series on the topic of all things related to jazz drumming. These group sessions will only accommodate a limited number of students.

These monthly workshops and group sessions will address such topics as time keeping, ride cymbal techniques, comping, independence & coordination, snare drum rudiments, brush playing, soloing, jazz drumming history and more!

Saturday afternoons 1 -3 pm

October 15 - November 20 - December 17

Theatre 1308

1308 Edmonton Trail NE

$40 per session 

Space is limited!

The first session will be held on Saturday, October 15th 1-3pm. 

Please pre-register here:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/jazz-drumming-workshop-tickets-421534490007

For more information please e.mail fouronthefloorblog@gmail.com

The Monday Morning Paradiddle - September 2022

I'm about to take a short break from blogging these days and heading out on the road shortly with Calgary's Decidedly Jazz Danceworks' production of Family of Jazz.

If you are in the Calgary area please check us out this week September 22nd and 23rd www.decidedlyjazz.com or if you are in Toronto we'll be performing as part of the Fall For Dance North festival on September 30th and October 1st-2nd www.ffdn.com

See you soon Toronto!

In the meantime here's plenty of interesting things to check out:

1) Tyshawn Sorey Loves to Confound from Bandcamp

2) Dafnis Prieto on the creative process and his new album Cantar from Jazz.FM 91

3) Ronan Guilfoyle interviews Jamey Haddad for his podcast The Art & Science of Time:

4) Thomas Wendt continues with his Jazz Drumming Essentials for The Drum Candy Podcast:

...an interview with the Jazz Maniac Kenny Washington:

...and this interview with the great Andy Watson:

Keep up the great work Thomas!

5) Aldo Mazza interviews Terri Lyne Carrington and John Riley:

 

6) Han Bennink plays a solo improvisation at the Bishopsgate Institute in London:

7) UNT professor Quincy Davis continues with his always incredible and informative Q-Tips series on YouTube including a guest appearance by the one and only Geoff Clapp!

8) Drum Channel's Lombardi Live! interviews the great Harold Jones:

 

9) Dr. Jazz Talks Samo Salamon interviews Bill Goodwin:

 

10) Pianist Emmet Cohen features Lenny White on "Joshua":

 

...and Joe Saylor on "After You've Gone":

11) Classic Jeff "Tain" Watts with Kenny Kirkland:

 

12) Some ferocious drumming from Cindy Blackman recorded at the 2020 Drumeo Festival:

13) Time to Connect podcast features Kendrick Scott and Johnathan Blake:

14) Pause and Effect: a duet between drummer Drori Mondlak and vibraphonist David Friedman:

15) Congratulations to Billy Drummond and his band Freedom of Ideas on their latest release Valse Sinistre with features from:

NPR

JazzTimes

The Working Drummer Podcast

Marlbank

Look for an exclusive Four on the Floor interview with Billy Drummond coming in October!

16) Dig this footage of the legendary tap dancer Jimmy Slyde and Rakalam Bob Moses in this Percussion Discussion: 

  

17) Dig this one of Max Roach playing with the brushes:

 

18) Thank you to Brandon Toews and Drumeo for the shout out in this feature on Elvin Jones:

19) What am I listening to these days?

Neil Swainson "Fire in the West" - Lewis Nash (drums)

Allison Miller & Carmen Staff "Nearness" - Allison Miller (drums)

Alan Jones "You Took Me Home" - Alan Jones (drums)

Kenny Clare & Ronnie Stephenson "Drum Spectacular" - Kenny Clare and Ronnie Stephenson (drums)

Billy Drummond & Freedom of Ideas "Valse Sinistre" - Billy Drummond (drums)

20) And today's Final Word goes to bassist MonoNeon who shared his inspiring art manifesto:

....and to John Riley who offered this motivating statement:

"It's easy to be mediocre at the drums!"

- John Obi-Wan Gandalf Riley (Yoda)

(via Ferenc Nemeth)

Syncopated Stick Control

I was on the road for most of the month of August driving across northern Saskatchewan but made a point of spending daily time on my drum pad and, among other things, trying to think up some new ways to practice and reinvent some older materials (while also focusing on the Marvin Smitty Smith rudiment ritual).

This particular exercise and concept was inspired by Todd Bishop's great exercises that he consistently shares over at his wonderful blog Cruiseship Drummer and some clever Stick Control exercises that John Riley showed me last year when I was studying with him.

Syncopated Stick Control

George Lawrence Stone's seminal text Stick Control is an important study for any serious student of the drums. However, while it's great for many things (ie. developing fluency with different stickings, etc.) it doesn't go very deep in terms of actual syncopated rhythmic variations. So here's a very quick and easy way to add a little syncopated spice into your pot of stick control chili.

Here are a few variations to mess around with :

*Start with Pages 5-7 of Stick Control*

1) Whenever a double Right is written (ie. RR) omit the first R and replace it with a rest

For example a single paradiddle would transform like this:

RLRR LRLL RLRR LRLL would play like this: RL-R LRLL RL-R LRLL

* - = indicates a rest! *

Similarly, a triple paradiddle would play like this:

RLRL RLRR LRLR LRLL = RLRL RL-R LRLR LRLL

2) Now do the same as above but apply this to the Left hand instead

3) Apply this "omission" rule to both the Right and Left hands:

ie. RLRR LRLL RLRR LRLL = RL-R LR-L RL-R LR-L

4) Now what happens if you have three or more hands in succession? 

If you have three or more hands in a row, leave out the 3rd 8th note (using the same combinations as described above)

For example, here'a few variations:

RRRR LLLL RRRR LLLL = RR-R LLLL RR-R LLLL

RRRR LLLL RRRR LLLL = RRRR LL-L RRRR LL-L

or

RRRR LLLL RRRR LLLL = RR-R LL-L RR-R LL-L

5) Another quick variation that presents some interesting combinations is to leave out the 1st and/or 5th eighth notes of each line. Invariably some interesting and, more importantly, practical patterns that you can use will emerge.

I've also taken a few lessons with George Marsh (author of Inner Drumming) lately and he pointed out something quite profound that I think applies to the concepts I've described above.

As you explore each syncopated line (essentially by taking away notes and adding rests) listen to the unique rhythms that emerge from both the right and left hands individually. To make the individual rhythms even more obvious, place your right hand on the cymbal with the left hand on the snare drum and observe the individual rhythms that emerge. George Marsh describes this as rhythmic awareness.

More on this later as things are about to get really busy again. Once I have an opportunity to elaborate more I'll share some four-way coordinated independence applications, using these Syncopated Stick Control variations that I came up with.

Louis Hayes - One of a Kind

Some burning footage of the great jazz drummer and 2023 NEA Jazz Master Louis Hayes, in action here with Freddie Hubbard, Don Braden and Benny Green circa. 1991:

The Emancipation of Elvin Jones - Downbeat 1966

One of the beauties of social media is the rare pieces of jazz history that occasionally pop up. Here's a scan of a 1966 Downbeat article and interview written by Mike Hennessy on Elvin Jones (incidentally, Hennessy was also the author of the book Klook: The Story of Kenny Clarke). 

Dig this:

Kenny Clarke & Dante Agostini

And...we're back!

I hope you all had a nice summer wherever you are. Regular blogging has now resumed here at Four on the Floor now that September is upon us and we are back to school and back into a routine.

I've been sitting on this one for awhile now and excited to share this video through the official Four on the Floor YouTube channel.

Here's some incredible and rare footage of Kenny Clarke and his colleague Dante Agostini in a sort of after-hours drum battle, filmed at the Montreux Jazz Festival circa. 1969: