Transcription: Ben Dixon 8-bar break

A little 8 bar break played by Ben Dixon— this is really just an excuse to listen to his playing on this track overall. The tune is Lullaby of the Leaves, from Grant Green's album Grant's First Stand. Dixon's playing on it is what groove in jazz is all about— he just bangs it out with a really strong quarter note pulse, with a few embellishments, and conducts the section changes. He plays a few big fills during the solos, that are sort of like featured comments— they're loud, and they're not just there to be supportive of the groove.

On the head out he plays a solo break on the bridge, which is what I've transcribed here. It's very straightforward and well structured, and a good example of soloing to move the arrangement along. He plays the tune for the first four bars, then two bars of an actual solo statement, then two bars to set up the last A.

Bars 5-6 are a little rough; he's just going for it and doesn't have it all perfectly worked out. It doesn't matter. That's how people play when they're just playing all the time and don't necessarily practice a lot.

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Groove o' the day: Grant Green — Cantaloupe Woman

Here are two different Blue Note/soul/boogaloo-type grooves on the tune Cantaloupe Woman, from albums by Grant Green.

First, from the great session drummer Ben Dixon (who also wrote the tune), as played on the 1965 Blue Note album His Majesty King Funk:

Then on the 1971 album Visions, played by Idris Muhammad (or possibly Harold Caldwell— I think it's IM, though):

In both examples the bass drum notes in parentheses are optional— those notes are played maybe 50% of the time. The snare drum hits are played at roughly an even volume, with the buzzed note in the second example maybe a little lighter. None of them are loud.

Audio after the break: