Cymbal sounds: Art Taylor - Sonny's Crib

This is a post I wrote about Art Taylor's cymbals, for the Cymbalistic site blog, plus a few added comments for this site:

Here is Art Taylor playing a very interesting ride cymbal that reminds me very much of some Cymbal & Gong cymbals I've played— in fact it's quite similar to the first C&G cymbal I bought. The tune (and album) is Sonny's Crib, by Sonny Clark.

It is a apparently a 20" K. Zildjian ride, with rivets, medium weight— I'm guessing around 1925-2000 grams. A traditional medium, not a modern medium. Overall pitch is high, with pronounced high and low harmonics. A moderately dark sound, and not particularly warm— while the horns are playing it seems that it could well be an A. Zildjian; the “raspy” sounding highs are, to my ear, as much a feature of the old As as “darkness” is of old Ks. I hear that quality on a lot of records, and a lot of C&G cymbals have it. The cymbal's low end has a slight exotic edge— you can hear that most clearly during the piano solo. Strangely, it almost sounds like a different cymbal with the piano than with the horns. I had to check a few times to confirm that it wasn't. Listening during the piano solo, it seems clear that it is a K.

The other cymbals present seem to be an 18" A, and 14" or 15" hihats. They're pleasing-sounding, and fairly straightforward— the 18 is clean, full, and fairly low pitched; it still is a high, energetic sound when crashed next to the 20". Taylor rides the 18 with a brush during the bass solo. The hihats seem to be light medium, with a nice foot sound that is not too chunky, not too soft. He crashes them two or three times during the track, but I couldn't get a particular handle on describing the sound there.




A few other observations: The vibe is relaxed and Taylor isn't working too hard. The time is somewhat flexible— it drifts quite a bit, in fact. The track ends much slower than it started. What is interesting about it is the overall quality of the groove; it's very different from our current metronome-fixated thing. The comping is different, too— today we like overtly hip, interactive comping, which is not what's happening here. What Taylor plays is straightforward, rhythmically similar to what a pianist might play, and focused on moving the groove along, and moving from phrase to phrase. Very little bass drum jumps out at me.

Art Taylor interview

Another media item: a 110 minute interview with the drummer Art Taylor. You're certainly aware of him; he's best known for playing on a lot of hard bop records in the late 50s. He also wrote a great book of interviews with jazz musicians, called Notes & Tones. He passed away in 1995.

They talk about his life and career, and then get into the drum stuff about 45 minutes in. One small thing that is very interesting to me is that when he first demonstrates the cymbal rhythm, he doesn't start it on beat 1. It's actually an African thing, and similar to my “skiplet” concept.

Transcription: intro by Art Taylor

This is Art Taylor's 8-measure intro from the tune Jackie-ing, from Thelonious Monk's 5x5. I'm working on a long, challenging Joey Baron transcription and needed a little palate-cleanser, that's all...

What he plays doesn't seem to be connected to the tune, particularly. Most of the action happens in the last half of the first phrase, and the middle of the second phrase, with a little set up into the the tune at the end. He bridges the phrases with running 8th notes on the cymbal, and accents on the & of 4 and on beat 2.

Get the pdf

YouTube audio after the break:

Thursday

"Grateful I don't have to go to work dealin' with people like you 9 to 5."  - Art Taylor

Just finished up and submitted a piece to Drum, and it's looking good for getting it published. It deals with playing meter-within-meter using Stick Control. I'll let you know when/if I get a publication date for that and my mad Vinnie Colaiuta/Zappa transcription. I heard from Seattle drummer, author, and educator Steve Korn, and am hoping to have one of his Baby Dodds transcriptions for you soon....

Straight, No Chaser - two interpretations

You know, I think I'm kind of a Monk guy? Here's something I did for a student some time ago- a comparison of Ben Riley's and Art Taylor's approach to playing on the head of Straight, No Chaser, including rhythm of the melody for easy reference. They're not actually drastically different- each is fairly loose, varying the cymbal a bit, Riley uses the bass drum a little more. Neither plays anything real big, or follows the melody over-closely. I'm most interested in how they use the bass drum, what they do in measure 6, and at the end of the form.

Download the pdf