Groove o' the day: Al Foster - Rated X

As promised-- or hinted at, rather-- here is Al Foster's hip and unusual groove from Miles Davis's Rated X, from the record Get Up With It:

As you can hear, the 1 and the 4 of the first measure are accented slightly; he may also do a slight open hihat at the beginning.

Listen to Rated X at its Daily Best Music In The World entry from a few days ago.

What records I'm listening to

I really want to cop a feature from Jon McCaslin and list what records I'm listening to, but I'm afraid it would get as repetitive as a broken example of the medium for which the feature is named... ahem, yes. My listening rotation moves very slowly, and I can listen to the same side over and over for two or three or more days. But maybe that's the so-called lesson?

So let's see how long I can keep this up before it just gets silly. This week it's:

Jan Garbarek / Bobo Stensen Quartet - Dansere ECM
Side A: Dansere - Svevende
Drums by Jon Christensen

Keith Jarrett / Jack Dejohnette - Ruta and Daitya ECM
Side A: Overture/Communion - Ruty and Daitya - All We Got
Side B: Sounds of Peru - Algeria - You Know, You Know - Pastel Morning
Drums by Jack Dejohnette

Miles Davis - Get Up With It Columbia
Side 2: Maiysha - Honky Tonk - Rated X
Drums by Al Foster

Miles Davis - The New Miles Davis Quintet Prestige
Side B: S'Posin' - The Theme - Stablemates
Drums by Philly Joe Jones

Miles Davis - All Star Quintet/Sextet Prestige
Side A: Dr. Jackle - Minor March
Side B: Bitty Ditty - Changes
Drums by Art Taylor

DBMITW: Rated X

From Miles Davis's Get Up With It:



That's the great Michael Henderson on bass. From Wikipedia:

Davis saw the young Henderson performing [with Stevie Wonder] at the Copacabana in New York City in early 1970 and reportedly said to Wonder simply "I'm takin' your bass player." 

And I sense another 70's Miles Groove o' the Day coming up...

A couple of other versions after the break:

Groove o' the day: Al Foster — Billy Preston

Must play more music where I can just leave the hihats open all day. This is Al Foster's groove on the tune Billy Preston, on the Miles Davis album Get Up With It; kind of a sleeper album. I think a lot of people bought it for the cover photo, and never listened to it a second time. But it's great. Do check out Rated X, our other GOTD from this record.

Foster plays no fills, and the variations, mostly with the bass drum, should be easy to hear.