I've recently been getting back into the habit - and encouraging my students to get in the habit - of playing along with drummer-less recordings. Playing with records is one of the best ways we can learn the idiosyncracies of music that can't be notated or, in some cases, even explained. And while transcribing, and playing along with, other drummers is a fantastic tool, it can be extremely beneficial to play along with records that have no drummer at all. When there is no one there to which you are trying to conform you're free to try new ideas and work on developing your own sound. Sure, if you don't want to hear a drummer you could always just use a metronome, Band in a Box, or a Jamey Aebersold track, but why, when you can mimic the experience of playing with the greats? Someone who can really teach you the aforementioned idiosyncrasies.
There are, of course, a number of drummer-less groups with varying instrumentation that we can check out, but if this is a new concept to you, I'd start at the beginning with the first great drummer-less trio: that of Nat King Cole. Nat, along with bassist, Johnny Miller and guitarist, Oscar Moore, don't need no steenking drummer. These are some of the swingingest recordings of all time.
I realize posting has been a bit sparse lately, but I've been working on my new record with guitarist Dan Willson, and organist Pat Bianchi. I'm writing this from Paramus, New Jersey, as we speak, where tomorrow we'll be heading in to Tedesco Studios to lay down tracks for the record.
Hopefully, when everything slows down a bit next week, I can get a few of these projects out of my drafts folder for you. In the meantime, here's a little goodie a just discovered! A young Charles Lloyd quartet, with Jack DeJohnette in Prague, 1967.
Somehow this blog has gone it's first full year without doing an Elvin Jones piece. What's that all about? Let's remedy this situation right now.
Here's a "Latin" groove from the Larry Young album, Unity. Now, those of you who are regulars to the blog know that generally I don't care for the term "Latin", especially when referring to a very culturally specific type of music. But Elvin gets a pass here. A. Because he's Elvin, and B. because the groove he's playing isn't really idiomatic to one specific style. We can certainly hear the influence of certain Afro-Cuban styles. Elvin hints at cascara and Mozambique patterns but this truly is what I would consider "Latin Jazz". There is a unique swing to it that will take some time playing with the recording to develop.
The groove begins at around 0:28 after the march intro.
While you're getting this under your hands, there's another great track that you can practice with. I recently came across a Grant Green album that I wasn't previously familiar with. Again, Elvin is on drums, and Larry Young is on organ, and this album also features Bobby Hutcherson on vibes. The album is Grant Green's Street of Dreams, and the tune is the beautiful Charles Trenet classic "I Wish You Love". The groove isn't 100% the same, but it's close enough to work on the "Zoltan" groove, and is helpful as it's slower, and doesn't go back and forth between the Latin groove and swing section like "Zoltan" does, so you have almost 9 minutes of constant groove to work with.
The whole album is absolutely killer. I generally advocate buying CDs, but if you're in a crunch for space, or trying to save a few bucks you can get it on iTunes for only $5 and it comes with an extended digital booklet with a lot of nice stuff in it.
TDB is officially one year old today! Many thanks to all of you who are reading, commenting, requesting PDFs, etc. We're not going anywhere any time soon, so keep coming to visit and keep interacting with us. We love hearing from you! Please help support the blog by subscribing and sharing your favorite posts on social media, with your students, and fellow drummers. Thanks for your help! -Adam
I love Turner Classic Movies. It's often on during my couch practice. I also really like Judy Garland. Seemed like a fitting WW to start off the new year.
Happy New Year, faithful TDB readers! Here's a simple little exercise to help you shake the dust off and ease back into your regular practice routine now that the holidays are over. In addition to my regular, focused practice, I often spend some time in the evening doing some fundamental hand work on the pad while I'm watching a little TV before bed. I generally don't read any etudes or exercises, or even open a book during this "practice". Rather, I just keep my hands moving; repping rudiments, long rolls, etc. While I often use a metronome, there are two things that I do differently with it in this evening practice: 1. I turn the metronome volume down VERY low. This serves two purposes. Most importantly, I can hear the TV. Secondly, I find it helps me to internalize tempos and feel the time rather than follow it. 2. I almost never change the tempo. I simply turn it on and let it go so that I spend a lot of time with one tempo and really internalize it. Because of #2, I tend to do a lot of metric modulation. This allows me to work different tempos without changing the metronome, and also build confidence in implied times. Below is an exercise I like to play a lot during these couch practice sessions. It employs combinations of paradiddles, and their three inversions, applied to a very basic metric modulation. It's simply a bar of 16th notes followed by a bar of sextuplets, where said sextuplets are played in groupings of four notes. Give them a try while you watch all the remaining bowl games.
As this is TDB’s first Christmas, I thought it only right to present a festive post.
We all know and love this Yuletide classic.
But many aren’t familiar with the history behind it. The opening groove and horn line is a sample from a Clarence Carter record called “Back Door Santa”.
In typical Carter form the lyrics are a little on the raunchy side and don’t really have much to do with Christmas, but the important thing here is the drummer, who happens to be none other than the great Roger Hawkins.
Hawkins is one of the original members of The Swampers - better known simply as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section - one of the most successful and recognizable rhythm sections of all time. He has appeared on many hundreds of recordings including Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” and “Chain of Fools”, The Staple Singers “I’ll Take You There”, Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman”, and Bob Segar’s “Old Time Rock & Roll”.
Here’s the intro and a practice loop to “Back Door Santa”, as well as the breakdown for your holiday practice session. Merry Christmas!
A couple years back I had the great pleasure of seeing this trio up close and personal at Ronnie Scott's in London. Prior to the show I hadn't actually spent much time listening to Martino's work. I was mostly familiar with his illness and remarkable recovery story. Martino suffered a brain aneurysm in 1980, and after two brain surgeries was left with almost no recollection of his family, friends, or who he was, let alone how to play the guitar. He rebuilt his career from the ground up, and learned how to play again by listening to his own records. I had some friends coming to visit me in London, and they wanted to see a show at Ronnie's, so I figured, cool, why not check out Pat Martino? That night ended up being one of those nights where you don't even notice the crowd around you, the waitress walking by, or the fact that your drink has gotten completed watered down. I simply sat mesmerized and enjoyed the hell out of this SWINGIN' trio. With Martino were Pat Bianchi on the B3 and Carmen Intorre on the drums. Pat Bianchi came dangerously close to stealing the whole show. His left hand alone was better than many bass players, all while playing intense solo lines with his right. I'm surprised we don't see more of this guy, to be honest. On the drums, Carmen Intorre wasn't particularly unique or inventive, but he swung his ass off. Carmen has obviously done his homework. Besides have a killer feel that locked in beautifully with Bianchi's bass lines, his solo vocabulary was classic. Nothing all that flashy, but never for a second could the time not be felt, which is more than we can say for a lot of players today.
So, enjoy. I'm sure there'll be some transcriptions coming from this in the future as well.
