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A drumming blog written by Todd Bishop.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Transcription: Four - the classic intro
Here in chronological order are three very similar intros to the tune Four, recorded by Miles Davis. The one by Philly Joe is the classic beginning of this tune— I don't know if he was copping Blakey's earlier thing, or if it was rehearsed as part of the arrangement. Certainly by Tony's time it was, at least informally- though on his more famous version from Four & More he abandons the Philly Joe/Blakey thing altogether. In the intervening years there are some versions by Jimmy Cobb which follow it loosely. There's also a recording with Kenny Clarke where he just plays 8 bars of drums up front.
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5 comments:
wphill says:
Do the even eighths in PJJ's
intro from "Workin'" begin on
1+ or 2 as transcribed?
Nice catch- yes, it clearly sounds like they come in on the & of 1, which would put the cymbal hit on the & of 4, with an 8th rest on the following downbeat, just like in the tune. I don't know what I was hearing there- I must've been in quite a hurry.
wphill said:
Thanks much for your
clarifications.
Any mind tricks on playing the "and 4 and" phrase? My mind wants it to be "3 and 4".
Maybe learn the figure on a slower tune-- it occurs repeating like that on Stolen Moments by Oliver Nelson. And play it a lot, maybe with a metronome. You should start hearing it.
If things get really dire, play the figure very slow while counting the whole swing 8th note grid out loud:
1 &2 &3 &4 & 1
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