Grooves o' the day: two by Frank Butler

This week I'm hard at work on the new Book of Intros (a collection of transcribed jazz drum intros), and it's forming up nicely. If I don't get bogged down in the text part, it should be ready to go early next month. I know a lot of the transcriptions we do here are rather ridiculously hard, but this book should be quite playable— it should be largely gettable by anyone from advanced middle-school to college level, on up. It also includes very little that has been posted on the blog, and never will be, so you will have to buy thing if you want to get in on the fun. Stay tuned...

Meanwhile, here are a couple of unusual quasi-samba grooves (emphasis on the quasi!) from Frank Butler, a West Coast drummer active in the 50s and 60s. I haven't gotten too deep into his playing, but there are a few Portland musicians who played with him later in his career, and are big fans of his. First, from the tune Numbers Game, by Hampton Hawes, from Hawes's album For Real!:

And then Harold Land's One Down, from his album The Fox:

Written out, they're a little hard on the eyes, with all the drum activity, but they fall on the drums very naturally once you get the sticking. It should be easy to cop Butler's nice, light, relaxed touch.

There's audio after the break:



Hampton Hawes — Numbers game:


Harold Land — One Down