Happy Birthday Duke

Slide Hampton Octet with Vinnie Ruggiero

I spent a couple of great days with Joe LaBarbera last week and over the weekend while he was in Alberta. I took a wonderful lesson with him and we spent our time together working on brush technique and, in particular, exploring his approach to playing ballads (more on this later!) Needless to say, he knows what he's talking about having played with the likes of Bill Evans, Tony Bennett and many, many more. His light touch, huge vocabulary and total command of the instrument is astounding. His big band drumming with Calgary's Prime Time big band on Saturday afternoon was also equally impressive and a real testament to Joe's overall musicality and complete artistry as a total drummer.

During our conversations Joe suggested that I check out this following footage of the Slide Hampton Octet from a concert date in France featuring Vinnie Ruggiero on drums. Vinnie spent a great deal of time in Rochester, New York and was good friends with Philly Joe Jones. As you'll see below, Ruggiero was one real swingin' drummer:





To learn more about the drummer Vinnie Ruggiero, check out this website maintained by his son, L.A. drummer Charles Ruggiero:

http://www.ruggierodrums.com/vinnie.html

In particular, scroll down this page and check out his hand-written transcriptions!

Greg Hutchinson Berklee Drum Clinic

I missed Greg Hutchinson's masterclass at Small's a few weeks ago (I don't live in New York City and I'm not sure it was streamed on their website either....) but fortunately for us, thanks to the nice folks over at the Berklee College of Music, we can still learn from Hutch's wisdom in this one:



Special thanks to my European correspondent David Grebil for passing along this great find!

And here's another one of Hutch putting these concepts into action:

Kendrick Scott: "Hey, It's Me You're Talking To!"

I posted a lead sheet of Victor Lewis's trademark tune "Hey, It's Me You're Talking To!" a couple of weeks ago. I like this tune and plan on playing it with my own band soon.

Interestingly enough, Kendrick Scott also likes this piece and thanks to the kind people over at Zildjian we get a performance and "breakdown" of Scott's own arrangement of this tune featuring his nice new Kerope cymbals:

Kenny Clarke "Lady Bird"

Happy Easter everybody! Don't eat too many chocolate bunny rabbits...

Thanks to Bret Primack aka "The Jazz Video Guy", here's some more great footage of Kenny Clarke, this time in a duet setting with an organist on Tadd Dameron's "Lady Bird":

Zakir Hussain Carnegie Hall Workshop

More sessions today featuring North Indian rhythmic concepts from Zakir Hussain and Carnegie Hall:

Steve Smith: Zakir Hussain Workshop

Over the past few years drummer Steve Smith has been immersing himself in the study of North and South Indian drumming and rhythm. He has also been collaborating with the master tabla player Zakir Hussain and his group "The Masters of Percussion". I've seen this group several times (not with Smith unfortunately) and it's really worth it, at the very least to have any preconceptions you may have about rhythm completely shattered!

Anyways, from a Carnegie Hall workshop that featured Zakir Hussain a few years ago (in fact, you'll even see cameo's of my friend trumpeter Patrick Boyle in the audience in these ones), here's Steve Smith demonstrating some important rhythmic concepts. As you can see Smith is a very articulate teacher:

Five Years!

It's hard to believe that today is Four on the Floor's FIVE year anniversary!

Thank you all for your support and kind words. In particular I'd like to thank Chad Anderson over at cymbalholic.com who first inspired me to do this kind of thing and keep this up.

Anyways, back to business...

Here's some Dafnis Prieto unleashing in Madison Square Park to get the weekend off to a good start:



I wonder if he stopped by the Shake Shack afterwards? I would have!

Thanks again and have a great weekend everybody!

The Drummer as Composer Part Four: Influential Recordings

(Lead Sheet above: "Hey It's Me You're Talking To" - by Victor Lewis)

For today's instalment of "The Drummer as Composer" I decided to conduct an informal poll from various musicians and friends I know and ask them to list their favourite recordings led by drummers. 

The focus was originally on drummers who were also composers/arrangers but since so many drummers have such an impact on the music at large by the way they (the good ones anyways!), really anything goes.

As an aspiring drummer/composer/arranger myself, I'm always looking for inspiration and new ideas. You'll see some really albums listed below to check out...

Thank you to all the people who kindly took time to answer my poll.


- Jesse Cahill (Vancouver Jazz Drummer) www.jessecahill.com

Tony Reedus - “The Far Side”
Reedus was so great, underrated by guys of our generation (and younger) that’s for sure.  When I first started listening to him back in the late 1980’s early 1990’s I remember being into the power and energy he created.  As I’ve matured  as a musician (whatever that means) I’ve come to appreciate the greasiness of his beat!   Mulgrew Miller is on this one too, makes me a bit sad to listen to it now..
Victor Lewis “Know it Today Know it Tomorrow"

What can I tell you?  This is such a classic recording.  Victor has such a great approach to the drums.  To my ears he has a perfect balance between the past and the present.  Seamus of course is instantly recognizable and always cookin! Oh and then there’s Dr Eddie, Christian McBride, and Ed Simon.  I guess they’re pretty good too!

Art Blakey Quintet - “A Night at Birdland Volumes 1 & 2”
This is it. If I had to pick a recording that defined the spirit of great music for me this would be at the top of my list.

Mel Lewis/Thad Jones - “Monday Night”
The first time I heard a recording of this band I almost lost my mind!  I only got my hands on this one recently but it has quickly become my favourite. 

Max Roach - “Max Roach +4”
Whenever I’m trying to get across the importance of the clarity of one’s idea in improvisation I find myself referencing Max Roach.  His intro to Minor Trouble on this record is as clear as it gets!


- Eric Platz (Professo Jazz Drums, Brandon University)

Paul Motian - "Lost In A Dream" (2010) w/ Chris Potter and Jason Moran
Recorded at the Vanguard, I think live recordings capture PM's sound and energy so well. The recording quality and sound is amazing, as are the tunes. I particularly like this combination of musicians. Jason Moran and Chris Potter are both favorites of mine, and the music that results in the live setting is great. I routinely listen through to this record start to finish.

Jeff "Tain" Watts - "Citizen Tain" (1999)
Hearing Tain play with Wynton, Branford, Kenny Kirkland (one of my faves) and Eric Revis and Reggie Veal on bass is always awesome for me. I love that swing feel and energy. The tunes are this record are very cool. Wynton's solo on the first track (The Impaler) is incredible.

Roy Haynes - "We Three" (1958)
Roy's first recording as a leader, I believe. Roy is probably my favorite drummer of all time. I love the drum and cymbal sounds on this record (especially the crash), and the swing with Phineas Newborn and Paul Chambers is incredible. Roy's solos, 4s and 8s on this record blow my mind. I don't understand how someone can think that way,

Bill Stewart - "Snide Remarks" (1995)
Another one of my favorite drummers. Funny, quirky tunes ("7.5") and great drum sounds. Another reason I like this record so much is because of pianist Bill Carrothers (who is really under-recorded). I always have a soft spot for Lovano as well. 

Bob Moses - "Nishoma" (2001)

Bob was my teacher for many years, and I love that guy. I was spending a fair amount of time with him when he was making this record, and putting everything together. We would often play tunes on this record duo (Bob on piano, me on drums). I think Bob has one of the more unique and beautiful sounds and groove feel. He's a special person, and I think this recording captures a lot of his loving spirit. 


- Gordon Fick (Radio Host of "Lift the Bandstand", CJSW)

Max Roach Trio - "With The Legendary Hasaan"
Chico Hamilton - "Live At Strollers"
Shelly Manne - "At The Blackhawk"
Peter Erskine - "Transition"
Bobby Previte - "Empty Suits"
Tony Williams - "Emergency'
Tony Oxley - "The Baptized Traveller"
Masahiko Togashi - "Bura Bura"
Fritz Hauser - "Zwei"


- Mike Downes (Juno Award-Winning Bassist, Humber College)

Brian Blade Fellowship - "Perceptual" and "Season of Changes"
Musical playing, great band, excellent writing.

Art Blakey - "Caravan"
His band in great form plus killer arrangements.

Peter Erskine w/John Taylor and Palle Danielson - "Time Being" 
Love this trio and the open feel. 


- Rob Vanstone (Sports Editor, Regina Leader Post)

Shelly Manne - The four "Blackhawk" sessions could devour five spots in the list: 2, 1, 4, 3 in that order. 

As for the fifth, go with Ed Thigpen's "Mr. Taste"!


- Nick Fraser (Toronto Jazz Drummer)

Paul Motian - "Trioism" 
Simply my favourite Paul Motian Trio record. Great compositions played by the band at the height of their work together. I could honestly list 5 Paul Motian records as my top 5, though. :-)

Art Blakey - "The Big Beat"
This was the first Art Blakey album I ever bought and it is extremely swinging. Lots of great medium tempos. It's my favourite recording of my favourite edition of the Messenger band (w/ Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Timmons and Jymie Merritt)

Tony Oxley - "Quartet"
Amazing electro-acoustic free improvisation from a supremely creative musical architect. With Derek Bailey, Matt Wand, and Pat Thomas.

Jo Jones Trio (on Everest)
Jo Jones has it all. On this record, the drums are absolutely CRANKED in the mix and you can hear all of the detail of Papa Jo's brush playing. He plays pretty well with sticks, too. And his hands.

Gerry Hemingway Quintet - "Special Detail"
This is a great document of a slightly different version of Gerry's regular 80s-90s quintet. It was the first one of his records that I heard, which is possibly why it's still my favourite. (with Don Byron, Ed Schuller, Wolter Wierbos and Ernst Riesiger)

Honourable Mentions:

Michel Ratte - "Passages et Derives" (Can-con!)
Jean Martin Trio - "Get Together Weather" (more Can-con!)
Tony Williams - "Spring"
Tony Williams Lifetime - "Emergency"
Philly Joe Jones - "Showcase"
Gerry Hemingway - "Acoustic Solo Works"
Paul Motian - "On Broadway Vol. 2"
Billy Hart - "Enchance"
Tom Rainey Trio - "Pool School". I haven't heard the new quintet one called "Obligato" yet, but I heard the band live and it was AMAZING.
Peter Erskine - "You Never Know"
Mel Lewis - my real favourite Mel is "Joe Williams meets the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra", but I don't know if that fits your criteria of "drummer-led", so there's also "The Lost Art", an 80s sextet session under Mel's name.
Max Roach - similarly, my favourite Max is the Clifford Brown stuff. "At Basin Street", probably? Hard to pick just one... Also, "Freedom Now Suite" and "Deeds, not Words".
Elvin Jones - Puttin' it Together. Also, I have a sentimental attachment to "In Europe", as it's the version of the Jazz Machine band that I saw when I met Elvin in 1991. 


- Peter Hum (Jazz Critic, Ottawa Citizen) www.jazzblog.ca

Art Blakey - "Free For All"
For the crazy intensity of the title track and whole album, and the joie de vivre of Pensativa

Brian Blade Fellowship - "Perceptual"

For the great tunes, band feeling and vibe. This music really connects.

Billy Hart - "Oshumare"

Great tunes and arrangements, a distinctive vision. I love Billy Hart’s Latin/straight-eighths playing, and his overall mix of taste and audacity.

Elvin Jones -  "Earth Jones"
Maybe not the best Elvin CD, but … Kenny Kirkland! Lieb! Terumasa Hino! But that slow Elvin on the title track is nasty/great.

Jack DeJohnette - "Special Edition"
Again, great tunes, band feeling and vibe.


- Morgan Childs (Toronto Jazz Drummer)

Jeff "Tain" Watts - "Citizen Tain"
Max Roach/Clifford Brown - "Study in Brown"
Clifford Brown and Max Roach - "At Basin Street"
Art Blakey - "Roots and Herbs"
Art Blakey - "Caravan"
The Band - "The Band"


- Craig Brenan (Professor Jazz Trombone, Grant MacEwan University)

Marvin "Smitty" Smith  - "Keeper of the Drums"
The first album is so awesome - great writing, fantastic drumming, ok the solos could be better but this is the beginning of M-Base and all the players on it have gone on to monster careers with their own sounds and concepts.

Tony Williams - "The Story of Neptune"
Great band and great charts, sensitive yet powerful - Blackbird still a favourite

Art Blakey - "Caravan" - 
Not a lot of drum solos, or any writing, but the drumming is incessant, non stop, unrelenting and swinging. A big album for me

Louis Bellson - "Thunderbird"
I bought this for Carl Fontana who blows on every track but it wouldn't feel as good with out Bellson cranking it up every tune. Each tune gets faster and great blowing.

Mel Lewis Thad Jones - "Live at the Village Vanguard featuring the music of Bob Brookmeyer"
I guess these are more like trombone CDs but this live album captures the sound of the Vanguard, the band and a great big band drummer. Great tunes, Bob Brookmeyers return to NYC.


- Paul Read (Canadian Pianist, Saxophonist, Composer/Arranger and Jazz Education Icon)

Elvin Jones Quartet - "Live at the Lighthouse" 
I know he didn’t write for the album, but this is a desert island recording for me.

Mel Lewis and the Jazz Orchestra - "The Music of Bob Brookmeyer"  
This is too good to ignore.

Matt Wilson - "An Attitude for Gratitude"
Total groove and musical wholesomeness.

Mel Lewis Sextet - "The Lost Art" 
Great writing and playing. Mel didn’t write but he did everything else.

Terri Lyne Carrington - "Money Jungle" 
Beautiful playing, production and compositions.

John Hollenbeck - “Eternal Interlude”
It’s weird, but I dig it!


- Tom Van Seters (Professor, Grant MacEwan University)

Peter Erskine - "You Never Know"


- Ted Warren (Toronto Jazz Drummer)

Tony Williams - "Spring"
Jack DeJohnette - "New Directions In Europe" 
Elvin Jones - "Earth Jones" 
Paul Motian - "Time and Time Again"
Art  Blakey - "The Big Beat"

Another Brush Off...

Another "Brush Off" today featuring John Riley, Greg Hutchinson, Russ Miller and Jim Rupp from Columbus Percussion's 2014 Drum Daze:



There is a lot of great information here, in particular all the different sounds, textures and ideas one can get from using the brushes. These kinds of things are always great to check out in terms of the wide range of techniques and options available to us. Playing the brushes is such a personal thing and varies from individual to individual.

I also really appreciate the sense of camaraderie displayed. They are all clearly having fun playing together. This sort of reminds me of the "Gretsch Drum Night at Birdland" recordings that pitted Art Blakey, Elvin, Philly Joe Jones and Charlie Persip against each other. Sort of a bit of friendly competition, I suppose, but the level of mutual admiration and respect is always there! After all, as Steve Gadd says: "At the end of the day, we're all in this together!"

Bobby Hutcherson Interview

When the masters speak, we listen!

The Monday Morning Paradiddle

Hello everyone. March is nearly over and Spring should be just around the corner but we've had a brutal Winter up here in Canada and I think that this snow and cold weather will still be here for some time to come. Personally, I'm done with it. Let's get on with Spring already...


- Well, to at least think about some warmer weather (!) here's a nice piece from NPR recounting a drummer's study trip to Cuba:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2014/03/05/285931990/possessed-by-joy-an-american-drummer-in-cuba

- Here's some more great rudimental drumming clips of snare drumming great Rob Carson to check out:

http://www.rudimentaldrumming.com/media/video/robcarson

This website is an overall great resource for all things related to the art of rudimental drumming and there's lots to learn and practice here!

- Last year, the Government of Alberta announced a series of budget cuts to education and, subsequently, Calgary's Mount Royal University cut it's ENTIRE fine arts program as a result (!) including it's long-time Jazz studies program. Retired Jazz bass instructor John Hyde recently wrote these wise words with regards to this tragic and stupid turn of events:

http://www.jazzyyc.com/an-elegy-for-mrus-jazz-diploma-program/

- Congratulations to recent Juno award winners Mike Downes, Christine Jensen, Mike Rud and Sienna Dahlen. These are all very hard-working and talented Canadian Jazz musicians. It's nice to see them all recognized for their work and, hey, they're all McGill graduates too!

Dig this: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/mcgill-alumni-sweep-juno-jazz-awards-1.2591903

- Joe Farnsworth is one hard swinging drummer and we can all take a lesson from his dedicated style. Here he is on the Benny Golson classic "Stablemates" from a jam session in Russia:




- As a drummer, bass players are our greatest allies and one should never pass up the opportunity to listen to a great bassist. Here is Dave Holland playing the Blues:




- Furthermore, supreme artistry on any instrument should always be admired and respected, no matter the context. Here's Tom Harrell playing over Blues in all keys with Jamey Aebersold on piano:



Wow....


- A bit brief but here's Benny Green's trio from a recent hit in Japan with Rodney Green on drums:




- I posted this one a long time ago but I've been coming back to this one lately just because it's so damn cool.  Here's a cymbal-less Steve Gadd on drums with percussionist Pedrito Martinez:




- What am I listening to these days?

Jerry Gonzalez & The Fort Apache Band - "Rumba Buhaina" - Steve Berrios (drums & percussion)

Harold Land & Bobby Hutcherson - "Blow Up" - Joe Chambers (drums), Bobby Hutcherson (vibraphone)

Wayne Shorter - "The Soothsayer"- Tony Williams (drums)

Dexter Gordon/Slide Hampton - "A Day in Copenhagen"- Art Taylor (drums)

- It was with great sadness that I learned that the great Al Harewood recently passed away.

I was first introduced to Al's swinging and musical drumming during the mid 1990s thanks to my drum teacher at McGill University, Chris McCann (if you haven't heard Stanley Turrentine's "Up at Minton's" RUN, don't walk to the nearest iTunes store lol and pick this one up!) I had the pleasure of interviewing Al over the phone over the course of three days for a project I was writing for Kevin Dean's performance practice course. I've got hours of our conversations together on cassette somewhere. He was very gracious with his time, sharing his life experience with me and he was flattered that I was even interested in what he did. Someday I'll dig up those cassette tapes and transcribe them.

Last I had heard, Al had been spending most of his retirement in Barbados and according to vocalist Cici Duke was a highly respected elder musician in the island community. I wasn't even sure if Al was even with us for the longest time so I was thrilled to hear that and then see that Mr. Al Harewood (or "Mr. Tip" as he was known in jazz drumming circles) had recently celebrated his 90th birthday in the company of the world's greatest jazz drummers at a party held at Don Sickler's loft (thanks to Billy Drummond for providing photos and an update a while ago.)

Ethan Iverson over his blog Do The Math wrote a very piece on Harewood over here:

http://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/2014/03/rip-al-harewood.html

Al Harewood was an incredible drummer who played with conviction, sensitivity and taste. He wasn't a flashy drummer or soloist by any means but he really did what needed to be done to make the music happen. As he reminded me during our interviews together: "Put the swing on top and you'll never go wrong!"

He will be missed.


- I feel like listening to this right now...

Oscar Peterson with Dexter Gordon

Here's a good one to mull over for the weekend ahead...some seriously swinging music from Oscar Peterson's trio (with Bobby Durham on drums and Sam Jones on bass!) featuring Dexter Gordon on tenor saxophone on "You Stepped Out of A Dream":

Mike Clark

I've really been digging Mike Clark's insightful (and often humorous!) posts on Facebook lately.

This led me to find some amazing clips of Clark playing and talking about some of his influences and interactions with many of jazz drumming's greats (see my previous post featuring Clark speaking about Tony Williams) as well as demonstrating his incredible technique, musicality and unique style to playing the drums.

Here's an excerpt of Mike from his new instructional series via mymusicmasterclass.com:





As Mike explains, he truly was a jazz drumming product of the 1960s in terms of his style and influences and a bebopper in addition to his immense contributions to funk drumming. Here he is talking about the influence of Elvin Jones:





And here Clark speaks to the great Papa Jo Jones:



Finally, from a masterclass at Drummers Collective in New York City, here's Mike Clark demonstrating some solo ideas over a 32-bar, AABA form:

Klook with J.J. Johnson

More Kenny Clarke today thanks to Edmonton's Brad Shigeta. Here's Klook with J.J. Johnson in some rare trombone trio action:



It's obviously too short (!) but I could listen to these three play all day long...

Mark Walker Plays Brazil

This is some absolutely phenomenal Brazilian drum set playing, courtesy of Mark Walker, taken from a recent workshop in Ecuador:



Also make sure to check out his series of Brazilian drum set lessons here:

http://www.vicfirth.com/education/drumset/walker.php

Linear Stick Control Variations Revisited

Here's a redux version of my previous lesson from a few weeks ago using Stick Control to come up with some interesting linear patterns using both your hands and feet....but this time with proper notation and some further explanations! Thanks for bearing with me here.

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

Stick Control Linear Variations


Here's a series of little variations on a Stick Control exercise I took from Steve Smith's excellent DVD "The Art of Playing Brushes" (with Adam Nussbaum). I believe that Steve originally got this one from his time studying with Alan Dawson in Boston. I've found this to be a great way to engage all my limbs at the same time and develop an overall sense of coordinated balance on the drum set.

Take the first few pages of Stick Control. Using a steady rhythm of eighth-notes as your rhythmic template, use these following variations as your guide to create some interesting linear ideas:

1) Exercise #1

Follow each Right and Left hand on the snare drum with the bass drum.

For example, a paradiddle sticking RLRR LRLL would look like this:

2) Example #2

Do the same as above but substitute the hi-hat (open or closed) instead of the bass drum.

A paradiddle sticking would then look like this:










3) Example #3

Following the same logic as above:

- When you play R with your Right Hand, follow it with the bass drum.

- When you play L with your Left Hand, follow it with the hi-hat (open or closed, your choice)

So a paradiddle sticking RLRR LRLL would look like this:












4) Exercise #4 (variation)

- When you play R with your Right Hand, follow it with the hi-hat (open or closed, your choice)

- When you play L with your Left Hand, follow it with the bass drum

So the following RLRR LRLL combination would look like this:













You'll find that you come up with some pretty interesting and challenging four-limb linear patterns as the sticking variations develop. Some of them are even reminiscent of some things you might hear Tony Williams play.

You might also want to try putting your hands on different parts of the drum set as well. This is what Exercise #3 would look like with the Right hand on the ride cymbal:

Snare Drum Farnsworth

A serious lesson from Joe Farnsworth on how to make your snare drum really sing:




Who needs a tom tom or floor tom anyways...

Joe Harris with Sonny Rollins "Paul's Pal"

I'm going to be off the grid for awhile and hitting the beach here shortly, so check this one out until I return...

Here's some rare footage of the great Joe Harris with Sonny Rollins and Henry Grimes on bass to check out:



I've only really known Harris from his work with Dizzy Gillespie's big band but, as you can see here, he was equally comfortable in small groups as well and fits perfectly with Rollins' chord-less, trio configuration. Check out those creative, swinging fours between Harris and Rollins.

Kenny Clarke "Nervus"

Thanks to Colin Bailey for passing this one along via the Facebook:



Klook!