About vibe

Vibe: a scientifically accurate illustration

I've been thinking about something the saxophonist Donald Harrison said in a clinic some months ago:

“Music is about vibe. Music is all about vibe.”

It was a useful comment for him to make in the context of critiquing a group of student musicians who had just given a very tepid performance of an often-played Jobim tune. Music may not actually be all about vibe, but for me the message was you have to think about vibe. Thinking about vibe means thinking like a producer, which means thinking about the total product, and how your music sounds to a general listener.

Being too much about vibe is also a current thing. I get most of my new music from Portland's excellent jazz station KMHD, and I hear a lot of stuff that doesn't make it for me, because it seems to be about nothing but a sort of feeling of non-specific hipness, with no real depth. It sounds like it was mostly created in post on a laptop, and I come away thinking “what is this for?”

I don't need any piece of music to justify itself with a purpose, but I should not be listening and thinking “this music has no purpose.” I don't know what this Decoding Society record is “for”, but it never occurred to me to think about it. It's just inescapably great and that's it. What is Song X for? It's just pure sonic art, no further justification needed.

Some music does evoke more specific feelings. Azymuth feels like cruising on La Grande Cornice in your Mercedes convertible, wearing some very crisp whites and being beautiful. Bill Frisell feels like living in a silent art film. Ligeti feels like living in the mind of a genius Swiss serial killer.

And there are other competing issues, which you could say music is “all about”:

Groove, for example. Groove is not vibe, but often what people think is groove is really vibe. Groove is not about signifying something funky sounding. Defining it will have to be a subject for another post, but serious preoccupation with groove supersedes and forgives everything else good or bad about a piece of music.

Pop craft is its own thing, and is not vibe. Pop songs may have vibe, but specifically crafting something for effect on the radio, to hook listeners to want to listen repeatedly, is something else.

Genre is all-important for genre fans, who want one formula, repeated forever. Whatever originally attracted them to that music, they want that to continue, and something is good if it fulfills that expectation. For more discriminating listeners, genre pieces need to include some fresh element to make them sound like unique, memorable works.

Vocalists and featured instrumentalists have to think about how they render a melody; composers have to think about the pure application of melody and harmony. Those are not vibe, and you can succeed in those things without thinking about vibe. There's probably more, but I have things to do. It's something to think about.

DBMITW: Tony Williams Lifetime at Montreux

Happy new year:

Cascara coordination — 01

OK, I am seriously in need of a break from working on the book— finishing the damn thing is always the hardest. So here's a page of exercises for developing coordination with the cascara, a common Afro-Cuban/salsa feel, with clave in the left foot. The method of the Elvin Jones Afro waltz series is working well for me in my own practice, so we'll use it again here. The left hand parts are  written purely based on a logic of physical coordination, and are not “correct” to the style at all. Working on Dahlgren & Fine and Ralph Humphrey's materials I've found that drilling wrong things actually helps the right things sit better.

The patterns are based on basic coordination with the singles and doubles in the right hand part, and filling the gaps in the right hand part. It should be easier to get these when you understand what's going on, but the logic can be a little obscure just looking at the page, so I've given a summary of each exercise. The right hand is normally played on the shell or rim of the floor tom, and the left hand on the snare drum as a rim click, but you can also play the right on a cymbal or cowbell— or anything else that works for you— and we'll be doing the tom moves I've outlined previously with the left.

I've written the patterns using 2:3 son clave; you should also play them with the measures reversed to make 3:2 clave. You may find some of the patterns easier at first if you start them on beat 2, or on the & of 4 of the second bar. It's certainly worth doing these patterns with hands alone, too.

Get the pdf

Transcription: Milton Banana — Flor de Liz

As I mentioned before Milton Banana is one of the great Bossa Nova drummers, and since that tends to be an under-understood style (by the whole rhythm section, actually), I want to go a little bit deeper into what's happening with his playing. So here's a transcription the head of the tune Flor de Liz, from his 1984 album, Sambas de Bossa (originally titled Linha de Passe):

The first note of the piece— the pickup on 4 with the bass drum— is very commonly used for setting up the beginning of a tune or a new section after a stop. For the body of the tune he uses the partido alto pattern on the snare drum, with the quarter notes in the middle (often it's played with the measures reversed):

The accents that occur on the cymbal later in the tune are approximate; they are not exactly even in sound or in volume— you could play them on the cymbal near the bell, and different places on the bell itself. Also notice that the ensemble figures are very clean; he gives himself a little stop before them, and reenters with the groove on beat 2 after the hits on the & of 4 (as in measure 9). The fills at measures 26 and 49 are basically the same, except he pushes the first one a little faster, so it ends ahead of beat 3 slightly.

Get the pdf

Audio after the break:

What it is: swing rhythm

Extremely preoccupied with tour preparations, obviously, but fortunately I have a couple of things on deck:

Swing interpretation is something we use a lot here, and I've mostly assumed people know what it is— you probably wouldn't be reading all of this high-flying jazz drumming nonsense if you didn't. It's still a good idea to spell it all out, so people aren't working with partial information; so here are my ideas about it. I'm a player who happens to also be a teacher, and not a scholar, so other people may have different, better, or more complete ideas about it, despite the unequivocal-sounding title of the post.

Swing is a way of playing 8th notes. If you look at a fake book, a big band chart, or sheet music for standard tunes, for the most part they are written in regular old 4/4, using mostly 8th notes and longer rhythmic values:

Often explanation of how to play that with a swing feel is limited to this, or its verbal equivalent:

Swing = triplets. Got it. NEXT!

Except... no. Swing = triplets approximately the same way a “flesh”-colored Crayola = the color of human flesh:

That is, the circumstances under which flesh is flesh crayon colored are actually rather few, depending on the complexion of the individual, and the lighting in which he or she is viewed. Likewise with music, swing interpretation varies according to the player, the tempo and style of the piece, and what's going on musically at the moment.

Continued after the break:

DBMITW: Sonny Sharrock

Having a very busy weekend with students, gigs, and tour preparations, so here's one of my favorite records from the 90's, Sonny Sharrock's Ask the Ages— by far his best album that I've heard. With Pharoah Sanders, Charnett Moffett, and Elvin Jones:



Get Ask the Ages

A couple more after the break:

DBMITW: The Hawaii 5-0 fill, redux

What this Hawaii 5-0 nonsense is about, for people under the age of 40-something. 

Get Tale Spinnin' by Weather Report

Alan Dawson's “Ruff Bossa”

We're laying it on pretty thick with the Reed interpretations right now, but I just went over this with a student, so I need to put up one more. It's a swing interpretation with partially filled-in triplets, using the 8th note rest and syncopation sections of Reed (pp. 29-44 in the old edition). Alan Dawson called this the “Ruff Bossa” interpretation for reasons I can't fathom— there are no ruffs involved, and I can't discern the Bossa Nova connection.

So here's how to interpret each written beat of the exercises, based on how the notes sound; after p. 32  you'll be dealing with rhythms that are equivalent to the ones below, but are written differently.

Play written 8th notes as alternating swing 8ths:

Play written quarter notes (or the equivalent) as an 8th note triplet with a RLL sticking, accenting the right hand:

Play notes sounding on an & only as a triplet with a RRL sticking, accenting left:

On beats where there's no note sounding— like if there's a rest, or the end of a tied/dotted note, or some combination thereof— use whichever triplet sticking you like, but don't accent.

Examples after the break:

Rudimental Reed: ruffs

Today's Rudimental Reed entry is pretty straightforward— just make a ruff out of any note that doesn't have an (untied) 8th note before it.  That's an awkward way of phrasing it, but I think you'll find it's very intuitive once you play the examples. The rudiments covered, or generated, include ruffs, single drags, and double drags, similar to a lot of the things in the Wilcoxon etude Roughing the Single Drag, from Modern Rudimental Swing Solos— I would recommed playing through that as a companion piece to this item.

As always, we'll first see how it applies to the first line of Exercise 1, p. 37 in Syncopation:

I've given both alternating and natural stickings— play it both ways, leading with either hand. I haven't included the multiple-bounce strokes in the stickings, but they happen with the opposite hand. Swing the 8th notes.

Here's a denser example, which is the first line of Exercise 2:

If you have questions about how to play a ruff, there's a pretty good video after the break:

Groove o' the day: Art Blakey with Hank Mobley

This is from the 1955 album Hank Mobley Quartet (it doesn't appear to have been reissued recently, so you'll have to just buy the mp3). The tune is Avila and Tequila, and Art Blakey plays what I'll call a Blue Note cascara on the intro:

The right hand part in the last two measures is similar to a bell pattern I've seen associated with a Mozambique feel. In the 50's fashion, they play the Latin feel on the intro and A sections only, and swing the rest of the tune, including the solos. Notice that Blakey seems to have a hard time not swinging the rhythm.

Audio after the break:

Groove o' the day: Ed Blackwell — 6/8 variations

Here are some more variations on the Afro 6/8 feel, played by Ed Blackwell on the tune Mopti (an old favorite from Flatland days, which I'll be reintroducing to the set on the Europe trip next month), from the Old & New Dreams album Playing. Most of these occur close together during the long intro, but I thought I'd present them as individual grooves, instead of as a transcription:

Also apply the left hand parts— the snare and toms— to the generic Afro bell pattern, and BD/HH parts.

Audio after the break:

Transcription: Ian Paice — Lay Down, Stay Down

[UPDATE: pdf download link works now!]

I don't get how herds work: suddenly everyone, everywhere is talking about four stroke ruffs. They happen to be all over this piece, played in 16th note triplet form on the snare drum, and especially played down the drums, ending on the bass drum— a very popular lick around 1970. Ian Paice, the drummer here, didn't invent it, but he plays them so much I've started calling them Ian Paice Specials. What the hell, maybe it will stick. Why not?

This performance is an early favorite of mine, from about when I was in the 8th grade, ten-ish years after the record, Burn, by Deep Purple came out:

I've transcribed up to the opening vamp of the guitar solo; most of the heavy playing happens before that. The hihats are played half-open or open all the way through. There are a few spots where he moves to the ride cymbal, which you can pick out; it's not that important.

Get the pdf

Groove o' the day: Elvin Jones — Tumblin' Tumbleweed

Just back in town from a short quasi-vacation at the Oregon coast, and nothing on deck except, groan, another hip, generic "Latin jazz" groove, played by Elvin Jones on the tune Tumblin' Tumbleweed on J.J. Johnson's album J Is For Jazz:

Note that he plays the 4& on the snare drum rather than on a tom tom. The bass drum part is inaudible, but you could play it lightly on 1 of the first measure, or 1 and the & of 2 in the first measure, or on 1 and 3 every measure. This isn't available on YouTube, so you'll have to actually buy the track.

Groove o' the day: a Blue Note waltz

Let's do an easy one. Here's Billy Gene English sketching out a simple, Blue Note-y, quasi-Latin waltz on the tune Wavy Gravy, from Kenny Burrell's Midnight Blue:

Swing the 8th notes. You can think of this in 6/4, if you want. The bass drum on the track is basically inaudible, but it's fairly safe to assume it's there— after the opening vamp the bassist puts a big emphasis on 1, and I think English's bass drum is hiding behind it.

Audio after the break:

Groove o' the day: Idris Muhammad on Grant Green's Carryin' On

There's some nice late-60's funk drumming by Idris Muhammad (named Leo Morris at the time) on Grant Green's Carryin' On album. This is from the James Brown tune I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothin':

That same little linear pattern in the last half of the measure happens again, with some elaboration, on the Meters tune Ease Back, from the same record. This has a little more of a New Orleans feel:

During the intro play the first measure only, with a buzz roll on the & of 4. The snare hits are at a fairly uniform volume, with a slight emphasis on the 2 and 4 & in the first measure.

Audio after the break:

Groove o' the day: Death Wish -- Mike Clark

I told you I mean to do a lot of these this year-- hopefully enough to do a dedicated book of them early in 2013. Today we've got Mike Clark playing with Herbie Hancock on the soundtrack from the Charles Bronson movie Death Wish.  The 70's were a time of very distinctive funk grooves, and Clark-- a jazz guy who found himself caught up in Oakland's funk scene-- was one of the major players responsible for that.

That last bass drum on the 'a' of 4 is optional. You can hear that arranged stuff aside he sticks pretty close to this groove for the bulk of the track, before opening it up towards the end. This would actually be a good candidate for a complete transcription-- let me see what I can do about that...

See also our GOTD with Clark's famous groove from Herbie Hancock's Palm Grease, off of the album Thrust.

YouTube audio after the break, as usual:

Busy

Busy all day doing tour-related junk, and transcribing charts-- Blood by Paul Bley, Priestess by Billy Harper, following Gil Evans's arrangement, and a couple of Don Cherry tunes I used to play in the 90's. If they turn out OK we'll be playing those along with the Ornette Coleman stuff on my little Europe tour in November.

In fact, what the heck, here are our old recordings of Mopti and Guinea, by Don Cherry-- you can buy those if you want:





Man, my playing has really changed. And yet it hasn't. Oh, and in keeping with the 6/8 theme, you should cruise over to Four on the Floor and see where Jon McCaslin outlines his own favored version of the Afro 6/8 groove, using the more African-style (that's the way I think of it, anyway) bell pattern.

After the break is some bonus DBMITW:

GOTD: Ed Blackwell -- still more of Togo

Still more of Ed Blackwell's performance on the tune Togo, from the album Old And New Dreams. Michael Griener in Berlin has helpfully informed me in the comments that a transcription of this entire performance was published in the Percussive Arts Society magazine Percussive Notes a couple of years ago, so any of you perc majors who want more of this should know someone with that issue in their library.

Variations on this groove occur in Blackwell's playing a fair amount-- it sounds familiar if you listen to him much.  It comes in after 3:29:

And again, for clarity, without the feet:

See the last entry for links to purchase the album or track.

Groove o' the day: Ed Blackwell -- more Togo

Another Ed Blackwell groove today, from a little deeper in the same tune as the last GOTD, Togo, from the self-titled Old And New Dreams on ECM (there's also one on the Black Saint label, which is also highly worth owning). We're also getting a little deeper into Blackwell's thing, as this one is rather challenging. It occurs at 3:21:

I wouldn't worry too much about getting those open and closed hihat notes exactly right-- that's just what he played at that moment-- I'd shoot for open sounds on 1 and 3, and closed sounds on 2 and 4, and let God sort out the &'s. That feet part does muddy the waters substantially, so here it is with the hands only, with one possible sticking:

A little ungainly. If anyone comes up with a more elegant sticking, feel free to share it in the comments.

Again, this isn't available on the youtubes, so you'll just have to buy the record, or, pathetically, just the one track.

I think this is what is referred to as a "chestnut"

Here's a book that has been part of the terrain forever, but which is much more valuable than you might expect: Haskell Harr's Drum Method. It's a two-volume item, and I've only used Book 2, which I've found to be excellent for general conditioning.

First published in 1938, and mostly derived from military drum and fife repertoire, it represents the most retrograde style of rudimental drumming, with scarcely a trace of any kind of modernity-- certainly none of the swing influence found in books by Wilcoxon or even the much earlier Edward B. Straight. The pieces included have names like Mildred Waltz, Cuckoo Quick-Step, Ancient And Honorable Artillery, and Bunker Hill. Included, of course, is the turgid old Downfall Of Paris. They are mostly two-part little pieces, which I suspect are meant to be played AABA, or AABBA-- I'm no expert in traditional military music. The book is actually usable because unlike many other older sources, it mostly uses modern notation.

There's nothing exceptionally challenging in it, and there's little in the way of equality between the hands, with no special attention given to strengthening the left. The left has certain little special things it does regularly-- the flamacue; seven stroke rolls, etc-- but mostly it follows the right. The only time the left has the lead is on rudiments that alternate, following the right handed version of the rudiment.

Here's a representative example:

And a nice performance of one of the pieces:




Now, despite my background in drum corps, I don't consider myself to be any kind of rudimental drummer, or to have a big rudimental influence in my regular playing. But I've found that as a jazz drummer, a few days of playing through a good chunk of the book-- 30-60 minutes worth-- is really good for my hands. It seems to "foreground" a variety of things I'm able to play, but that don't always come out when improvising. I haven't experienced quite the same effect with any other single book. So rather than using it as a primary method, I use it more as a "finish" book. I play it straight, without any kind of jazz-like interpretation, mf, and in the originally intended tempo range-- roughly quarter note = 92-126 in 2/4, and dotted quarter = 69-100 in 6/8.

Purchase Book 2 of Haskell Harr's Drum Method through my Amazon store.