Tag Archives: Whitney Balliett

Big Sid Catlett – A Beautiful Sense of Composition

Posted on December 27, 2019 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: Ruby Braff was a jazz trumpeter born in 1927 and died in 2007. Having first hand accounts from musicians who knew and worked with great drummers like Big Sid Catlett is invaluable. In Ruby Braff’s brief remembrance here, … Continue reading →

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Learning from Singers to Be a Better Drummer

Posted on January 13, 2018 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: Paging through books from my music book collection, reading again the passages I underlined, I remember I did so because all of these passages — or almost all of them — helped me become a better drummer. Breathing … Continue reading →

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Shaughnessy: Dave Tough Like Elvin in His Sense of Time

Posted on September 26, 2017 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: In 1985 I clipped and saved Whitney Balliett‘s piece, Little Davey Tough, from my copy of The New Yorker magazine. This was a writer’s standard pre-internet method for building a personal resource library. Mr. Balliett’s piece is timeless … Continue reading →

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Sid Catlett: Delicacy as Powerful as a Bomb

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: Whitney Balliett‘s interesting book can be read at any time, starting on any page. There’s almost always at least one tidbit of historical significance on every page. Of course, drummers can learn a great deal about drumming from other … Continue reading →

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Elvin Jones’s Room

Posted on November 26, 2014 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: For a time in the late sixties, [Elvin Jones] lived in a first-floor room at the Chelsea Hotel. The room was long and narrow and dark, and it was clearly a bachelor’s nest. The bed hadn’t been made, … Continue reading →

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