Adam Nussbaum & WeThree

August (and summer!) is winding down quickly here. For some of us it's almost time to go back to school and whatnot...but let's instead distract ourselves with one of my favourite chord-less saxophone trios, We Three featuring Dave Liebman on tenor saxophone, Steve Swallow on electric bass and the ever loose and swinging Adam Nussbaum on drums, performing Thelonious Monk's "Played Twice"":



I really admire the way Adam is always going back and clearly referencing the melody while he solos, all while dancing around the groove with Swallow. While he's also capable of playing ALOT of drums, he's also not afraid to leave a bit of space, letting the music breath and really have a chance to develop. These guys are ALL ears ALL the time! A great example to follow.

John Patitucci with Brian Blade

From John Patitucci's ArtistWorks Sessions, here's a pretty happening trio featuring John with Jon Cowherd on piano and Brian Blade on drums:





Check out more of this session and John's lessons at: www.artistworks.com

Daniel Glass: History of the Drumset

Looking for some great summertime viewing? Thanks to the kind people over at Vic Firth here's Daniel Glass and his informative 17 part series (!) on the history and evolution of the drumset to check out:



Also, check out this cool poster showing a timeline of the evolution of the drumset instrument:

The Monday Morning Paradiddle

Well, summer is about half way over now and things keep on moving along. I'm happy to report that I've made some significant progress on my doctoral dissertation and I hope to have that completed by summer's end. I love playing the drums but I had no idea that at one point in my life I would spend so much time reading and writing about them! Anyways, the end is nearly in sight and I've learned a great deal while researching and writing this project.

Even though we're well into summer hours over here at FOTF, here's a few things making the rounds around the office to share with you today:

- Former Modern Drummer magazine managing editor Scott K. Fish is now blogging over at Beyond The Cymbals:
http://scottkfish.wordpress.com

Pay attention to his writing. Scott has interviewed A LOT of great drummers over the years!


- Vinnie Sperrazza is also now blogging over at his website Drummer et Cetera. Check out this article on why he uses traditional grip:

http://www.vinniesperrazza.org/blog/2014/4/22/on-traditional-grip

The debate of whether or not to use traditional grip or traditional vs. matched grip can be a very tense and opinionated subject indeed. I fully relate to, agree with and endorse all the statements in Sperrazza's article.


- Todd Bishop over at his fine blog Cruiseship Drummer has a nice interview with the recently deceased Frankie Dunlop worth checking out here: (originally from the pages of Modern Drummer)

http://www.cruiseshipdrummer.com/2011/04/frankie-dunlop-on-monk.html

And of course, here's some great footage of Dunlop with Thelonious Monk:



During my graduate studies at McGill University my drum teacher, Andre White, had me listen to and transcribe Dunlop's soloing and comping extensively. He was a very unique drummer that fit Monk's concept perfectly and it's worth spending some time studying his style.


- From Manitoba Music's "Loft Sessions" here's Winnipeg's up-and-coming Curtis Nowosad with his band:

http://www.manitobamusic.com/videos/watch,media/1570/loft-sessions-dialectics

Curtis is currently completing his graduate work at the Manhattan School of Music. Be sure to keep an eye and ear out for him in the year's to come.


- Nicholas Payton is also blogging and voicing his opinions over his website. Check out this amazing post "Masters of Funky New Orleans Drumming Vol.1" in which he has compiled some seriously important and funky music to learn from:

http://nicholaspayton.wordpress.com/2014/07/08/masters-of-funky-new-orleans-drumming-vol-1/


- Thanks to Saskatoon Jazz educator Nick Fanner who passed along this article by reedman Scott Robinson, an articulate statement on how the state our society is becoming stale and predictable:

http://dansr.com/vandoren/articles/484/sameness-is-the-enemy-by-scott-robinson/


- Thanks to David Stanoch via the Facebook, here's some great Jeff Hamilton lessons to check out:

http://www.drummerszone.com/videos/channel/dz-6595-4718/jeff-hammertone-hamilton-jeff-hamilton%27s-sandlane-sessions


- Jeff Ballard recently toured Canada and the world with his trio featuring Lionel Louke and Miguel Zenon. I heard them at the Edmonton Jazz Festival and they sounded phenomenal. Here's Jeff in a brief Q&A interview from the Vancouver Jazz Festival:




- I can definitely relate to this one, seeing as I have been spending a lot of time at a desk recently, trying to write and get some work done...




- What am I listening to these days?


Bela Bartok "Concerto for Orchestra"

Craig Brenan "Automatic Robots" - Ted Poor (drums)

Joni Mitchell "Both Sides Now" - Peter Erskine (drums)

Clifford Brown "Clifford Brown and Strings" - Max Roach (drums)

Duke Ellington "Ellington Uptown" - Louie Bellson (drums)

Johnathan Blake "Gone, But Not Forgotten" - Johnathan Blake (drums)

Phil Dwyer "Saxophone Summit" - Terry Clarke (drums)

Nat King Cole Trio "Live at the Circle Room"

Paul Read Quintet with Scott Robinson "The Heart of Summer" - Barry Elmes (drums)


- And today's Last Word goes to George Sluppick, via his blog, on the recent passing of drumming great Idris Muhammad:

http://sluppick.com/2014/07/30/a-word-on-a-hero-now-departed/

And another nice piece on Idris Muhammad via nola.com:

http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2014/07/idris_muhammad_legendary_new_o.html

I only heard Idris live once, at New York's Birdland around the fall of the year 2000, in a band featuring Tom Harrell, Donald Harrison, Gary Bartz, Junior Mance and Dennis Irwin. They were playing a tribute to Charlie Parker and I was astounded at Muhammad's effortless swing and deep, loose groove. When you listened to him play you could literally hear the entire tradition of New Orleans drumming take shape with so many diverse influences, all swinging like mad. And course, wearing his trademark dark sunglasses and beret, cocked to the side, there was no doubt at all as to who the coolest man in the room was that night!




And here's another one from Joe Lovano, a man who knows and appreciates a good drummer when he sees one!

Up Close with Bill Stewart

Today's "Up Close with..." features some great drumming with modern Master Bill Stewart:



Thank you to Nicholas Payton via his fine blog http://nicholaspayton.wordpress.com for sharing this one!

Up Close with Matt Wilson

Here's some great, up close action footage of my friend and mentor, Matt Wilson performing with the late, great Charlie Haden and his Liberation Music Orchestra:



It's always a lesson to watch a Master in action but, in particular, check out how much fun Mr. Wilson is having playing the drums with Charlie.

You can also find some great tributes to Haden as well over at Ethan Iverson's find blog, Do The Math:

http://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/liberation-chorus.html

Here are Matt's touching words of praise and tribute to his friend, Charlie Haden:

"When my wife Felicia and I found out we were having triplets my dear friend and mentor Dewey Redman urged me to call Charlie for support. I recall saying, " Hello Charlie, this is Matt Wilson. and I need to talk to you, but not about music. My wife and I are having triplets." He said, "Wow, man, that is great, man. I am on another call I'll be right back."And he was. We talked for over an hour. It was a beautiful conversation and his words of support were encouraging. Charlie has a son, Josh, and triplet daughters Petra, Tanya and Rachel. I have a daughter, Audrey, and triplet sons Max, Henry and Ethan. 8 kids, 4 ages.We called ourselves the Fathers of Triplets Rhythm Team.

The first time I played with Charlie was in the fall of 2003. We played a concert in San Francisco with Dewey and Joshua Redman. I recall, from the very first beat, how buoyant and comfortable the time felt. Charlie's walking feel seem to purr. It was strong but patient and the shape of his sound embraced the cymbal melody like a big warm hug. It was heaven to play sounds with him. I was thrilled when he phoned and asked me to play in the Liberation Music Orchestra not long after that gig. We rehearsed and started the tour at the Montreal Jazz Festival in the summer of 2004. Also in Montreal, I was honored to play with Charlie and Dewey Redman in a trio concert. I had been playing with Dewey since 1994 and to be included in this setting was a career highlight. They even had me do the set list. I can recall saying out loud to myself in between tunes, "I am really here. This is not a dream. This is UNBELIEVABLE!" There is a bootleg of it out there somewhere that I would love to have. 

The Liberation Music Orchestra experience was special. The arrangements by Carla Bley were extraordinary and the members of the band not only blended musically but personally. We were a real family and the memories of music and fellowship will always be dear to me. I remember playing a rock club with the band in Los Angeles. During a solo I had in the middle of a "America the Beautiful" I strapped on the snare drum and marched the audience out onto the sidewalk in front of the club and then back inside. As I returned I thought to myself, "This could very well be my last night with the band." I sat back down and turned back to look at Charlie with a bit of apprehension. He was smiling and gave me an approving thumbs up along with, "Wooo, Matt Wilson. Yeah man!" 

My daughter Audrey really loved Charlie. They really connected after she first met him. Charlie and his wife Ruth, who were always very kind to Felicia, me and the children, invited me to bring the kids to see a screening of the documentary about Charlie, Ramblin' Boy, at the Walter Reade Theater. This was not long after Felicia was diagnosed with leukemia so I brought Audrey and Ethan to the the theater as a distraction. The film was fantastic and we enjoyed it immensely. While watching, Audrey, who was 12 at the time, counted how many times in the film Charlie said, "Man." After the film and discussion we went up to say hello to Charlie and Ruth and thank them for the invitation. Charlie saw Audrey and greeted her with, " Hi Audrey, nice to see you man." Audrey replied, "Hi Charlie, it is nice to see you."She then quickly whispered in my ear, "Number 39."Priceless. 

I loved talking on the phone with Charlie and tried to do so on regular basis. I remember him playing mixes of the LMO recording, Not In Our Name, over the phone. Charlie always had a good joke to two to share along with political discussions. 

The last time I spoke with him was on June 16 the day after my wife Felicia lost her battle with leukemia. It was brief. His voice was weak but his words were strong. 

Charlie Haden - "I love you man! " I am eternally grateful for the amazing fun we had on the bandstand, the road and on the telephone. Your deep spirit, love and compassion will forever be a part of my musical presence."

- Matt Wilson, from "Do The Math"  
http://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/liberation-chorus.html

Digging Max

When people ask me who my favourite drummer is (I have many!) the name Max Roach is usually the first to come out of my mouth.

I came across a few items lately that reminded me as to why this man has had such a powerful impact on my own music:

- Here is Amiri Baraka's powerful eulogy from Max Roach's funeral in 2007:

http://www.democracynow.org/2007/8/27/max_is_the_highest_the_outtest

And here's the wonderful piece of prose entitled "Digging Max" by Amiri Baraka:

Max is the highest 
The outest, the 
Largest, the greatest, 
The fastest, the hippest, 
The all the way past which 
There cannot be

When we say MAX, that’s what 
We mean, hip always 
Clean. That’s our word 
For Artist, Djali, Nzuri Ngoma, 
Senor Congero, Leader, Mwalimu, 
Scientist of Sound, Sonic Designer, 
Trappist Definer, Composer, Revolutionary 
Democrat, Bird’s Black Injun Engine, Brownie’s Other Half, Abbey’s Djeli-ya-Graph

Who bakes the Western industrial singing machine 
Into temperatures of syncopated beyondness 
Out Sharp Mean

Papa Jo’s Successor 
Philly Joe’s Confessor 
AT’s mentor, Roy Haynes’ Inventor 
Steve McCall’s Trainer

Ask Buhainia, Jimmy Cobb, Elvin or Klook 
Or even Sunny Murray, when he ain’t in a hurry. 
Milford is down and Roy Brooks 
Is one of his cooks. Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette, 
Andrew Cyrille can tell you or youngish Pheeroan, 
Beaver and Blackwell and my man, Dennis Charles. 
They’ll run it down, ask them the next time they in town.

Ask any or all of the rhythm’n. Shadow cd tell you, so cd 
Shelly Manne, Chico Hamilton. Rashied knows, Billy Hart. Eddie Crawford 
From Newark has split, but he and Eddie Gladden could speak on it. 
Mtume, if he will. Big Black can speak. Let Tito Puente run it down, 
He and Max been tight since they were babies in this town.

Frankie Dunlop cd tell you and he speak a long time. 
Pretty Purdy is hip. Max hit with Duke at Eighteen. 
He played with Benny Carter when he first made the scene. 
Dig the heavy learning that went with that. Newk knows, 
And McCoy. CT would agree. Hey, ask me or Archie or Michael Carvin 
Percy Heath, Jackie Mc are all hip to the Max Attack.

Barry Harris can tell you. You in touch with Monk or Bird? 
Ask Bud if you see him, You know he know, even after the cops 
Beat him Un Poco Loco. I mean you can ask Pharoah or David 
Or Dizzy, when he come out of hiding, it’s a trick Diz just outta sight. 
I heard Con Alma and Diz and Max in Paris, just the other night.

But ask anybody conscious, who Max Roach be. Miles certainly knew 
And Coltrane too. All the cats who know the science of Drum, know where our 
Last dispensation come from. That’s why we call him, MAX, the ultimate, 
The Furthest Star. The eternal internal, the visible invisible, the message 
From afar.

All Hail, MAX, from On to Dignataria to Serious and even beyond! 
He is the mighty SCARAB, immortal as our music, world without end. 
Great artist Universal Teacher, and for any Digger 
One of our deepest friends! Hey, MAX! MAX! MAX!

-Amiri Baraka (Written in 1999, read at Max Roach’s funeral, Aug. 24, 2007) 

A Lesson with Elvin - Parts One & Two (Redux)

Here's the two articles I contributed to Canadian Musician Magazine earlier this year (this time in better resolution!) These articles are both based on some concepts I learned from a drum clinic that Elvin Jones gave in Montreal in 1999.

Enjoy!

Oscar Peterson & Louie Bellson "Cute"

Thanks to our Italian correspondent Fabio Baglioni, here's a great one of the ever musical Louis Bellson featured with the Oscar Peterson trio on Neal Hefti's "Cute" taken at a brisk tempo:



I think Bellson's explanation of his use of the Roto-toms was pretty cool! Nobody else can pull that off...

The Monday Morning Paradiddle

Hello everybody and I hope everything is super groovy in your part of the world these days. Things are busy over here in my neck of the woods with Canada's Jazz festival season kicking into high gear. But as usual here's a smattering of different things to check out:


- In honour of Father's Day, here's a nice piece from NPR's A Blog Supreme on some famous drummers and their drumming fathers:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2014/06/14/321791688/rhythm-runs-in-the-family-drummers-on-their-dads


- New Orleans drummer Geoff Clapp recently contributed a GREAT article on the nuances of playing the ride cymbal over at Drum Magazine:

http://www.drummagazine.com/features/post/drummers-conundrum-great-cymbal-sound/


- I really dug this article by Branford Marsalis over at Downbeat magazine recently:

http://www.marsalismusic.com/news/melodic-study-deep-listening-and-importance-context-downbeat-master-class-branford-marsalis


- George Colligan contributed a great blog post about Time and on playing with a metronome over at his blog Jazz Truth:

http://jazztruth.blogspot.ca/2014/05/in-search-of-rhythmic-humanity.html


- I heard through the grapevine that Vancouver tenor saxophonist Steve Kaldestad requires his ear training class at Capilano University to transcribe Jorge Rossy's drumming on "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" from Brad Mehldau's "Art of the Trio Vol.1". As you can see below, there is a lot of great information to learn from this one:

http://thatdrumblog.blogspot.ca/2014/06/transcription-jorge-rossy-i-didnt-know.html


- Here's some great insight on Ahmad Jamal and the drumming of Vernell Fournier from Kenny Washington:

http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.ca/2010/08/ahmad-jamal-on-mosaic-records.html?m=1

And then of course that led me to dig up this one courtesy of Ted Panken:

http://tedpanken.wordpress.com/2011/07/03/vernell-fournier-on-ahmad-jamal-wkcr-1990/


- My friend Phil Dwyer is now consulting on this CBC on-line Jazz stream. Check out some serious Canadian Jazz talent!

http://music.cbc.ca/#/genres/Jazz/blogs/2014/6/Listen-to-Phil-Dwyers-Jazz-Canada-stream

- A very insightful interview with the multi-talented drummer/vibraphonist Jason Marsalis:

http://artsmania.ca/2014/04/30/interview-with-jason-marsalis/


- And speaking of New Orleans drummers, here's two of the greats featuring Shannon Powell and Herlin Riley:

http://jazzinspired.com/2011/12/09/shannon-powellherlin-riley/

And then Shannon Powell with Johnny Vidacovich:




- Some nice solo drumming (as always) and interview from Billy Martin:

http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/hour-billy-martin/





- I'm really hoping that Brian Blade records with his recent trio project featuring Danilo Perez and John Patitucci (they are touring as "The Children of The Light" this summer). In the meantime check out this  very musical drum solo:




- Special thanks to Sir Dale James for sharing this one of percussionist and rhythm guru Efrain Toro with Peter Erskine and Alex Acuna:




- What am I listening to these days?

Coleman Hawkins, Buddy Tate, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis & Arnett Cobb "Very Saxy" - Arthur Edgehill (drums)

Amiri Baraka "New Music, New Poetry" - Steve McCall (drums)

Gerry Hemingway "Kernelings" - Gerry Hemingway (drums and percussion)

Buster Williams "Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1999" - Carl Allen (drums)

Miles Davis & Sonny Stitt "Live in Stockholm 1960" - Jimmy Cobb (drums)

Teddy Edwards Sextet "Jazz Scene USA" - Doug Sides (drums)


- Dig this crazy footage of Buddy Rich playing "Mercy Mercy Mercy" circa. 1975:



I love the gogo dancers and what's up with that left hand of his???
Man....I really don't think he was human!


- Speaking of Buddy Rich....this is just hilarious (But I dig it. It still sounds like Buddy Rich!):





- And the last word today goes to this gentleman:



Thank you for all your great music Mr. Silver...

Denny' s Combos

I've been messing around with this snare drum exercise lately and thought I would share it with you all today.

This exercise, known as "Denny's Combos", was written by Tom Float and taught to me by Jody Mario and Chris Worthington (who both played snare with the Blue Devils) during my drumline days back in the early 1990s. I guess Tom really dug his bacon and eggs...

It's a great exercise because it emphasizes transitions between a progression of several different rudiments, something every rudimental drummer should be able to do effortlessly.

I also really dig this one because it has a subtle Wilcoxin vibe to it (probably because of the hand-to-hand flams, I suppose).

Here are the four variations:

(Please forgive the change in size of these examples. I just recently switched over to a newer version of Sibelius and haven't quite mastered creating .jpeg files from it quite yet!)

I was going to record an audio track of me playing this but found this one of the Impulse drum line playing through it instead (and I think they do a pretty good job!):



Remember:

- Take it slow at first

- Play it with a metronome and strive for rhythmic accuracy

- Try leading with both the Right and Left hands

- Play it with brushes!

- Attempt replacing the double stroke rolls with 32nd note single strokes rolls!

- Add some kind of bass drum/hi-hat pattern underneath

Peter Erskine on Brushes

Peter Erskine is a great brush player and a great teacher so lucky for us the folks over at Drumeo were nice enough to host and post this lengthy brush lesson with the Maestro himself (although he does start the program with sticks!) There is lots to learn here:



And to put some things into context, here's Peter from a recent appearance right here in Canada from Victoria Drum Fest 2014:



(If you'll notice Peter is also playing one of the new Zildjian Kerope ride cymbals.)

I've also really been digging and practicing along with Erskine's play-a-long Apps currently available on the iTunes App store, all downloaded to my iPhone. The Erskine Jazz Essentials Vol. 1 & 2, Afro-Cuban Essentials, Joy Luck Play-a-Long and The Code of Funk are all very useful resources to practice with. Check them out here:

http://www.petererskine.com/ios-apps.html

Moving (around the drums)

Rochester, NY drummer Aaron Staebell was kind enough to contribute this very useful and practical exercise that he learned from Rich Thompson, his teacher at the Eastman School of Music.

Here's what Aaron had to say about his contribution:

"This is a short video demonstrating a movement exercise that we were all doing at Eastman back in the early 2000s. Our teacher was Rich Thompson, a really tremendous drum set pedagogue. He did some time with the Basie band in the 80s. The point behind this exercise was to play as smoothly and comfortably as possible. It was always paired with the term "Conservation of Motion". Hopefully your blog readers dig it!"

It's pretty self-explanatory from this short demonstration that Aaron put together:

Basically, your Right hand moves around the drums either clockwise or counter-clockwise, then your Left hand follows one eighth-note and one drum behind the Right hand.

I actually messed around with this very idea when I was still in high school (!) many years ago but had forgotten about it. Grant Laxdal and I came up with some other variations in the same style as well where the hands travel in opposite directions and start on different drums. Throw in some 3/4 or 4/4 foot pattern ostinatos and perhaps even incorporate the cymbals, then you'll have a wealth of variations to deal with that will get you around the drums in creative and, possibly, uncomfortable ways. We could probably write all these variations down but we are better off to use our imagination and work it out. Thank you Aaron and get to work everybody!

Aaron is also an active educator in the Rochester area. Here is a recent masterclass of his on the subject of setting up one's drums properly:



Do you have anything you'd like to contribute to Four on the Floor?
Drop me a line at: fouronthefloorblog@gmail.com

Jeff Hamilton Meets Stanton Moore

Who doesn't love a good drum battle?

Here's Jeff Hamilton and Stanton Moore going tete-a-tete:

El Peje

I was pleasantly surprised to see this one pop up the other day, featuring Cuban drummer Juan Carlos "El Peje" Rojas (with Chucho Valdez) thanks to the nice people over at Vic Firth:



I spent some time in Cuba during the fall of 2006 and it was a life-changing experience for me. This was in large part due to the time I spent studying and learning from "El Peje" (aka "The Fish"). I didn't speak any Spanish and he didn't speak any English however our mutual love for the drums and rhythm allowed us to communicate.

We spent a great deal of time working on contemporary/modern approaches to Afro-Cuban drum set playing and, in fact, almost eight years later I'm STILL trying to figure some of these things out!

He was really big into learning various cascara variations with the right hand and then playing counter-rhythms and syncopated figures against those with the left hand, between the snare and toms.

I hastily wrote down as many of these variations as I could at the time and will hopefully post these once I find them....

T.S.Monk @ Newport

This footage has a special place for me:



This piece featuring drummer T.S. Monk's sextet is from a 1992 A&E Channel televised special that featured performances from the Newport Jazz Festival. Most notably were footage of Monk's hard swinging outfit and Max Roach's quartet (including Roach performing a piece for solo hi-hat!) as well as Shirley Horn and Maceo Parker.

Being a young person, having only been exposed to Jazz music shortly before this, watching this program was a huge revelation for me (in fact, I videotaped this and watched it over and over again for years...) Growing up in Regina, Saskatchewan wasn't exactly a hot bed of Jazz music during the early 1990s so myself and my peers who were also hungry for anything Jazz-related were always eager to get our hands on anything we could. This one certainly made a huge impression on me. It's really amazing how formative experiences like this shape our direction, even years later. Watching that video of T.S. Monk instantly brings me back to another lifetime....

The Monday Morning Paradiddle

Welcome to the May edition of the Monday Morning Paradiddle. Here's my most recent compilation of random Jazz drumming related things that entertain me. Hope you dig it.

Blogging will slow down considerably over the next few months while I attempt to complete my Doctoral dissertation. But don't worry, there will be plenty more to come so check back often.

In the meantime, check out these stories making waves around the Four on the Floor offices these days:


- Check out this incredible collection of private recordings, radio broadcasts and other memorabilia relating to Paul Motian over at Uncle Paul's Jazz Closet:

http://jazzcloset.blogspot.ca


- Irish bassist Ronan Guilfoyle continues with Part Two of his interview with the great Keith Copeland over at his blog Mostly Music:

http://ronanguil.blogspot.ca/2014/05/conversations-with-mr-kc-keith-copeland.html

- Brian Blade and the Fellowship have a new album out. Look for them on the cover of this month's issue of Downbeat magazine as well. Here is Blade is interviewed by NPR on the heels of his new release:

http://www.npr.org/2014/04/27/307340727/brian-blade-finds-a-landmark-in-his-shreveport-roots


- This has been floating around the interweb for a while now but here's an audio recording of Philly Joe Jones giving a drum clinic at Rutgers circa. 1979:

https://soundcloud.com/tedsirota/sets/philly-joe-jones-drum-clinic-rutgers-university-1979?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=facebook


- Duke Ellington was really into baseball but from the looks of it his "swing" was much better than his swing...still though, this is a great story:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/rare-footage-duke-ellington-highlights-when-jazz-baseball-were-perfect-harmony-180950303/?utm_source=facebook.com&no-ist


- Here's studio great Harvey Mason commenting on his favourite drummers of Prestige:




- Thanks to Dylan Weist who hipped to this comprehensive series of bebop guru Barry Harris on youtube. I look forward to applying these concepts to the vibraphone eventually. Here he is talking about the importance of rhythm in Jazz music:



Check them all out, there is some serious wisdom and information there.


- Here's Joe Farnsworth in a brief solo taken at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (with bassist John Webber standing by...):




- Phil Dwyer is one of my all-time favourite musicians (and also happens to appear on my last album "Sunalta"!) Here he is with his son Ben on bass and Vancouver Island drummer Hans Verhoeven (another fellow McGill graduate) in some fine form, jazz trio action:




- Greg Hutchinson never fails to impress. I've really been digging that clinic he presented at Berklee that I posted recently. Here he is in action from another recent drum clinic:




- Speaking of drum clinics, here's Jeff Hamilton demonstrating a few important concepts:




- Johnathan Blake's on the road with Ravi Coltrane these days and boy does he sound really great. Dig this!




- When the Master's speak, we listen! Now listen to Ron Carter:




- What am I listening to these days?

Teddy Edwards "Together Again" - Ed Thigpen (drums)

Sheldon Zandboer and Trio Velocity "Like Water in Air" - Robin Tufts (drums)

 J.J. Johnson "Dial JJ5"- Elvin Jones (drums)

Mel Lewis "Mel Lewis Sextet" - Mel Lewis (drums)

Stan Levey/Red Mitchell "West Coast Rhythm" - Stan Levey (drums)

Alan Jones & Francois Theberge "Another View" - Alan Jones (drums)

Ralph Lalama "Bop Juice" - Clifford Barbaro (drums)


- A few words of wisdom from drummer Dave Grohl:




- And to finish today's column, today's "final word" today goes to these two distinguished gentlemen....

Any questions?

Have a great week everybody!

Steve Lacy's Words of Wisdom

Steve Lacy is an artist that has always fascinated and inspired me. Here's a great list to learn from and muse over for the weekend!

"Gems of wisdom from Steve Lacy" (source unknown via the Facebook!)

- Teaching is an act of generosity; it is awareness that one has something to give, and adesire to give it.

- Music knows no limits. Don’t set up exclusionary boundaries.

- Practice slowly. Practicing slowly holds it own technical challenges-and makes even more difficult demands on the spirit. It calls for patience when the world demands results, and quiet single- minded focus in the face of huge repertoire demands. It is the ‘Zen’ way.

- Strive for straightforward purity and logical simplicity.

- Find rhythm in more subtle forms than a metronome. Always strive for forwardmotion and impetus. 

- Rhythm is all and everywhere.

- Strive to develop an individual sound and playing style. Have your own voice. 

- Be disciplined. Study and practice hard.

-Concentrate on pitch, rhythm, dynamics and tonal sonority.

- Expand your music making vocabularies by searching through some unusual lexicons.

- Think of it as "Sound Research": Collecting sounds and growing melodies in a garden.

- View the Saxophone as an "Interval Machine". Practice a variety of intervals in a variety of rhythmical combinations. 

- Never become fixed on patterned sequences that can become stale and block creativity.

- "Shake up the bag" inside of your head. Move out of the familiar and typical in order to be able to create something new.

- The interval machine can become Zen-like and expand perception. Take the interval of a minor second and play it up and down over and over again. After about 40 minutes you will no longer be bored and will start to hallucinate. The half step interval will become enormous. Your ear has changed. Small has now become large. Now, when you leave this space and go back to the rest of the horn, everything has changed and your perceptions have altered. Illumination and Metamorphosis.

- Take a limited subject and spend an unlimited amount of time on it until it opens up.

- Learn to let things cook!

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!