Two words

Chuck Thompson

George Brown

Hello,
Here's a quick transcription and audio example of the 3/4 pattern that the great unsung hero George Brown plays with Wes Montgomery on " Blues Riff" from the album Portrait of Wes.The Viennese waltz thing on the hi-hat on the and of one and beat 3 is what makes it a bit tricky. Despite this, it's a great way to work on this hi-hat pattern as, unlike Elvin Jones' use of this beat, the rest of the kit plays a four bar repeated part, at least for the head, although the rest of the drum performance is reasonably static, although you'll have to figure that out for yourself.

My apologies for the notation and the "natural font". I was having trouble with the new version (for me) of Sibelius. I'm hoping you'll find this has a certain "primitive charm"! No? Me neither!

I think it's important to reflect on two things in this example. One is how much static, repeated material the drums play in this performance. When I was younger I really thought "Jazz" drumming meant every bar had to be something different but as I matured I realized the power of hypnotic continuous grooves. Mr. Brown isn't playing what he's playing because he didn't have ideas, he's playing to lay a solid ground floor for the improvisations.  Point two is that there are many.many great drummers that added to the music, some of whom are not well known. That doesn't mean what they did wasn't great. I feel bt discovering these many great player's contributions to the drumming collective, we gain a deeper understanding of our instrument. Don't just focus on the 6 people playing drum festivals, folks! Thanks!

Dave Liebman and Lookout Farm

Howdy,
Here's some great footage of the Lookout Farm (with the great Jeff Williams on drums) in "75.

You know, it always sort sticks in my craw that the 70s is often represented as the time that Jazz forgot or something like that. In the states, there were great musicians coming out of the loft movement, and I think this band is  a wonderful example of that. There were also great things coming out of Europe on the ECM level as well. All this music has stood the test of time , I think.
Yes, no one's wearing a suit! Who cares? That doesn't have anything to do with the music!

Peter Donald!

Hey all,
Been busy teaching at a camp (and am about to head to another). I hope to post some new brush patterns soon but in the meantime. let's all dig Peter Donald playing with John Abercrombie's great quartet with Richie Beirach and George Mraz.

What is Jazz? This is a pretty good definition, I think!

Nick Stabulas

Hey,

I wanted to post a couple of videos of a drummer I recently became aware of, Nick Stabulas.

Here he is with Lennie Tristano on a tune based on "Out of Nowhere".

And here's the same group ( with Warne Marsh, Lee Konitz, and Sonny Dallas) playing "Background Music" (All of Me changes). Check out the phrasing on Tristano's solo, WOW!

Great playing. Inventive , swinging. It's interesting. As much as I love Tristano's music, I find Stabulas seems to be allowed to play more aggressively than his drummers usually do.

Nick Stabulas was playing into the '70s when he passed away in an automobile accident. Definitely our loss he was taken away before his time.

Thanks for stopping in......