Taking Coltrane’s Jazz Listening Test in 7/8

Posted on April 18, 2016 by Scott K Fish

elvin andrew hill judgement cdSKF NOTE: When I want to practice John Coltrane’s method of listening to jazz records; when I want to test my ear and my ability to keep time, I often turn to the song Siete Ocho from Andrew Hill’s Judgment! album on Blue Note. The tune is in 7/8 (thus the song title!). The band is Hill on piano, Richard Davis (bass), Bobby Hutcherson (vibes), and Elvin Jones (drums).

Focus on one band member ONLY — from the start of the song to the end — and see if you can do so without getting lost. That is, without dropping the time or losing your place in the song. I like to start with Richard Davis. It’s a fun exercise with any of the musicians.

SKF NOTE #2: I have always done this exercise listening ONLY. No playing along on an instrument.

Drop me a line and let me know how you make out with this.

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Freelance Writing: Today and Yesterday

Posted on April 17, 2016 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: One aspect of the pre-internet days I miss, and have not yet replaced, is paid freelance writing for music magazines and newspapers.

Freelance writing was a great way to sharpen researching/writing skills. A great way to record for posterity stories of musicians whose stories deserve preserving — all while earning a decent part-time income.

This morning I found in a box of music CD’s check stubs from some of my Modern Drummer interviews: Frankie Dunlop and John Von Ohlen.

Adjusting these amounts for 2015 inflation, the $735 and $400 I was paid in 1985 would today be $1632.07 and $888.20 respectively.

Money was never my prime motivator for writing, but, as always, it helped pay bills and it helped make more freelance writing possible. Not complaining. Just making an observation about opportunities today compared with opportunities yesterday.

md invoices dunlop von ohlen

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What To Do When ‘Jazz Groove #22’ Doesn’t Apply?

Posted on April 16, 2016 by Scott K Fish

kennedy_seanSKF NOTE: Drummer 44Ronin, on DrumForum.org, takes issue with me where, on my Drumming Beyond Playing ‘Awesome Grooves’ post, I write: Groove is a buzz word.

44Ronin relied: Groove is not a buzz word. Groove is the sum of all parts of effective musicianship.

That point is worth discussing, so I replied to 44Ronin, asking, What are “all parts of effective musicianship”? I would like to see the list. How, and from where, does a drummer acquire these parts?

Here is the rest of what I wrote in reply to 44Ronin, who also said groove happens to be a by-word for beat :

Groove may not always be used as a buzz word. But when every third online drum video, it seems, is promising to teach drummers “Jazz Groove #22” and “How to Play a Tony Williams Groove,” well, groove is a buzz word.

Groove, you say, is another word for beat? Fair enough. Two popular drum books when I was young were Jim Chapin’s Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer, and George L. Stone’s Stick Control. Both books are meant to help drummers with coordination on the drumset (Chapin) and controlling drumsticks (Stone). But there were drummers who viewed Chapin’s book as a catalog of jazz drum beats (grooves?), and Stone’s book as a treasure trove of drum licks (grooves?).

Today I see video posts of alleged awesome drummers, killer drummers, grooving along note-for-note with tracks of pre-recorded songs AND drummers. I prefer to see/hear these drummers without the fallback of pre-recorded songs — especially pre-recorded drummers. Yikes! Okay, so the drummer has chops, a smidgen of dynamics, and he/she can memorize and recreate. But can they create? What do they do when Jazz Groove #22 doesn’t apply?

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If Ever Again I Have Drum Students

Posted on April 15, 2016 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: If ever again I have drum students I know what I will do. At least in part.

Each lesson will end with me handing the student personally selected music. It might be one of Little Walter‘s Chess records, Count Basie Live at Birdland, Taj Mahal’s The Natch’l Blues or Max Roach’s Drums Unlimited.

Sometimes the personally selected music will have no drummers. Andres Segovia. Bill Evans.

Sometimes the personally selected music will include Latin percussion, like Patato, Conga Kings, and Jerry Gonzalez.

And sometimes the personally selected music will include electronics like Bill Laswell and Jeff Oster.

What all the personally selected music will have in common?

1. It is worth listening to.

2. I will give it to the student with no comment other than, “Here. Listen to this before your next lesson. We can talk about it then.”

scottkfish_drumsticks3. At the next lesson if the student wants to talk about what he or she has heard – we’ll do that. If they don’t want to talk about it – that’s fine.

Of course, I will like it if every student loves every piece of personally selected music I give them. But when a student says, “That was awful”? That’s okay. If they hate it today — who is to say they won’t love it up the road?

The most important part of the lesson is: the student will have heard lots of music he or she probably will never hear anywhere else.

If ever again I have drum students.

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Barry Keane: Playing What’s Right for the Songs

Posted on April 14, 2016 by Scott K Fish


1981_aug_sept_barry_keane_md_0001

SKF NOTE: I always enjoy speaking with Barry Keane. Barry and I first met in 1980 or 1981 when I interviewed him for the August-September 1981 Modern Drummer. We spoke about Barry’s experience as a studio drummer, with Anne Murray and others. And we spoke about Barry’s work as percussion orchestrator with Gordon Lightfoot — which I first witnessed in concert at Saratoga Performing Arts Center in New York.

Two days ago, April 12, I was glad to say yes to Barry’s invitation to An Evening with Gordon Lightfoot at Collins Center for the Arts in Orono, Maine. Mr. Lightfoot is one of the major singer-songwriters — certainly of my generation, and likely for all time. And the band I heard two days ago, except for guitarist Carter Lancaster, are the same musicians I heard in 1980-81.

Barry is playing the same drumset he had in ’80-’81. We have a long-running joke that the drumheads are the same too. But the point is: Barry’s drums sound great. And he, along with Gordon and the rest of the band, create one sound that can only happen, I suppose, when the same musicians have been together between 40-50 years.

Sitting in the audience I am listening to each song as one sound made up of many parts. I can also shift my attention to the sound of keyboard player Mike Heffernan, or Rick Haynes’s solid bass, or to Barry Keane’s brushes, triangles, woodblocks, or the wake-up tom-tom fills of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The audience is there to hear Gordon Lightfoot and his songs. And the bandmembers are excellent at creating musical parts for themselves that also perfectly fit Lightfoot’s songs.

My friend, Jason Carey, is with me two nights ago. He is surprised Barry leaves so much space in his drumming. After the show, Jason asks Barry if he’s ever tempted to play more. Before Jason finishes is question, Barry is shaking his head saying, “No. No. Because that wouldn’t be right for the songs.”

Here, then, is my 1981 interview with Barry. He is now touring parts of the States with Gordon Lightfoot. If you have a chance to go — go! You will hear great songs, great musicianship, and get a crash course in how a band sounds as a world-class team.

[SKF NOTE: 6/17/17 – Barry Keane’s full interview is now available on MD‘s Archive Page.]

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