Category Archives: SKF Blog

Songs as Time Machines

SKF NOTE: Songs are time machines. In an instant (a heart beat?) a song can carry us back to faces and places, experiencing emotions, just as we did fifty years ago. I was reminded of music’s mysterious power this weekend … Continue reading →

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Manna from Heaven: A New Coltrane Quartet ‘Lost’ Album

SKF NOTE: Well, what do you know! The classic John Coltrane Quartet recorded an album in 1963, “two years before A Love Supreme, and then stashed it away,” writes the New York Times. The family of Coltrane’s first wife, Juanita … Continue reading →

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Start with Curiosity

SKF NOTE: The first time a kid with the desire to learn picks up a pair of drumsticks and starts playing the most basic rhythm, he or she has the opportunity to learn from all other drummers present and past. … Continue reading →

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Fife and Drums: 18th Century Communications Tools Rattling Windows

SKF NOTE: Newspaper reporter Rodrigo Arriaza makes an important point: drums are communications tools. Not always, but most often, in all music styles, the best drummers think of their instruments as communications tools. Think of a situation where most people … Continue reading →

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Horace Silver: Highest Marks for Billy Higgins

SKF NOTE: I’ve always thought pianist Horace Silver‘s left hand comping makes great fodder for drummers’ left hand comping. That idea first came to me listening to Blue Note’s classic albums, A Night at Birdland Vols. 1 and 2. Recording … Continue reading →

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