More Bad News

Comping lesson time— here's more of that Roy Haynes track Bad News Blues, this time looking at what Roy is playing during the four choruses of the piano solo. The album is Cracklin', and the pianist here is Ronnie Matthews.

The transcription begins at 1:50 in the recording, or after 33:20 in the video below:

I always put too much information in these transcriptions, so don't get too hung up with the minutia— just get the general idea of what he's playing and make it sound good to you. Don't overplay the 2 and 4 on the snare drum. There's probably more going on with the bass drum than I was able to pick up from the recording. At the very end is a hip lick based on a half note triplet, which you could just memorize and play verbatim at the end of a chorus, exactly as is done here...

By the way, the drum solo from this tune will be available soon in another new e-book of transcriptions— 5 Roy Haynes Solos. Should be ready later in the week...

Get the pdf