Ravi Shankar 1920-2012

New CSD! book: 100 Grooves

OK, here it is, just in time for Christmas— our new book, 100 Grooves - vol. 1, is now available for purchase.

It contains over 100 transcribed drum grooves by people like Elvin Jones, Ed Blackwell, Airto, Billy Cobham, Zigaboo Modeliste, James Gadson, Clyde Stubblefield, Art Blakey, Mike Clark, Billy Higgins, and, as they say, many, many more. Explanatory text is by yours truly, Todd Bishop.

Some of the entries have been featured on the blog as past “grooves o' the day”, but approximately 70% of them have never been published anywhere before. Contains a whole lot of funk, Latin jazz, fusion, soul, odd meters, and the Afro 6/8 grooves I'm so fond of.

I've found that the printer, Lulu, is surprisingly fast— my past orders have made it to Portland in seven business days or less using the cheapest shipping option— but order ASAP to receive your book(s) in time to make Christmas gifts out of them.

By the way, you can still get the 2011 transcriptions book at a 10% discount— the per-note value is still the best on the Internet.

Brian Blade transcription

Drummer/blogger Sam Nadel of London has given us a nice, heavy transcription of Brian Blade's solo on Jazz Crimes, along with a whole lot of other good stuff.

Give a listen to the audio after the break, then go download the complete transcription:

Dave Brubeck 1920-2012

On the occasion of pianist Dave Brubeck's passing at age 91, it might be nice to set aside the time to watch his appearance on Jazz Casual with Ralph J. Gleason:



Here's a notice from the Chicago Tribune (h/t to Balloon Juice).

And a photo series from Talking Points Memo.

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

Groove o' the day: “They called him Craw.”

This new grooves book is almost done, believe it or not— the 20% discount on the transcriptions book should be good for just a couple of more days. The last new thing I put in the new book is this 12/8 groove by Jimmy Crawford, played on the snare drum first with brushes, then with sticks:

The sticking is mine, and the groove may be a composite because there is at least one other uncredited drummer playing along with him, and it's difficult to say who's doing what. Here's the audio:



After the break: the meaning of that headline.

Good God almighty

Putting together a book is a lot of work, so here's a little palate-cleanser, for me as much as anything. Believe it or not, I've been hitting the thing for 5-10 hours a day all week. I think it'll be ready to order by Monday. In the mean time, the sale on the 2011 transcriptions book is still going...

Like I said, the book will contain about 70% new grooves. Here are a few things I'm including:



More after the break:

Blog sale: 20% off transcriptions book

Who knows for how long— days, not weeks.

12/10/12 update: The new book is now, at long last, available to order. You can still get the transcriptions book at a 10% discount.

I'm feverishly working on my new book of 100 transcribed grooves in various styles, and until I get it finished I'm offering a 20% discount on the 2011 Book of the Blog — Vol. 1: Transcriptions. The sale will end as soon as I have the new book ready to order, which should be in a matter of days.

The grooves book will consist of about 30% Grooves of the Day from the blog, and 70% new, un-posted stuff. 

Sooo: If you'd like to get ~135 pages of transcriptions of the drumming of Elvin Jones, Jack Dejohnette, Vinnie Colaiuta, Roy Haynes, James Gadson, Zigaboo Modeliste, Tony Williams, Paul Motian, and many more, for under 12 bucks, hit that link, or the one in the sidebar.

It makes a great gift, by the way.

Problem Child fills

I listened to Problem Child by AC/DC a lot when I was in the 8th grade, and just happened to put it on for the first time in a few years, and realized how much a part of my subconscious Phil Rudd's very effective fills at the ends of the choruses are. I thought my tendency to fill using 3/8 groupings was a result of my jazz education, but that path was cut long before I ever got around to that, apparently.

The first is at 0:55. The chorus of the tune is a repeated two-measure riff; leading into the next verse there is a harmonic change, and an extra measure:

He plays time behind the guitar lead when the same transition happens at 1:48, beginning the solo. Coming out of the solo at 2:17 they extend the break by two more measures:

Audio after the break: