Groove o' the day: Neftali Santiago - Positive Thing

Groove o' the day by Neftali Santiago of the band Mandrill, one of the people you should be listening to to get a real 70s funk thing happening with your drumming— along with Jerome Brailey, Tiki Fulwood, Ndugu Leon Chancler, James Gadson, and others. It's real different— especially soundwise— from what people like to play today.

This is what Santiago plays on Positive Thing from the album Mandrilland. It's a composed groove eight bars long— four measures played twice, with different endings.

The groove begins at 0:12. All of the snare drum notes are accented. Note the ghosted hihat in the third measure to help get the timing of the bass drum accent on the e of 3. Usually the second measure is played the same as the fourth measure— he plays it the way it's written here the first time only.