Top Five Jazz Drummers

The video of Joey Baron that I posted the other day reminded me of how much I like that guy… which got me thinking about other jazz players I like.  In typical geek fashion, I was soon formulating a “Top Five” list of my fav jazz players.  Here’s what said list currently looks like:

1. Tony Williams
2. Elvin Jones
3. Jeff Watts
4. Joey Baron
5. Brian Blade

This is in order.  Tony will always be my number one – BUT, this list leaves out David King (my former teacher), who is automatically tied for the number one spot, just by nature of his immense influence on my playing.

Honorable mentions:

- Paul Motian
- Jack DeJohnette
- Jorge Rossy
- Roy Haynes
- Max Roach
- Ralph Peterson Jr.
- Billy Higgins

Dave King Interview

Here’s a cool interview with my former teacher, David King. I found it the other night. In it he discusses an avant garde piano trio he’s in, The Bad Plus, and their adventures with record labels.

Notice toward the end of the clip when the interviewer completely botches her facts on the Nirvana cover that The Bad Plus did on their first record. Awesome.

Album of the Week, #3

The pick for the third installment of Album of the Week is Haley Bonar’s new record, Big Star. Haley is a friend of mine from the music scene in Minneapolis, and the rest of the band members on this recording are also Minneapolis musicians: Dave King on drums (my former teacher), Bill Mike on guitars (from the Bill Mike Band), and Chris Morrissey on bass/vocals (also from the Bill Mike Band). BUT, Big Star isn’t the new Album of the Week just because the musicians are my friends. It is a truly incredible record.

The music follows a standard folk formula, with the typical focus on song writing and melody, but includes sonic landscaping reminiscent of Death Cab meets Fiona Apple. The record was tracked at Pachyderm Studios and mixed by the world-renowned Tchad Blake, which keeps the quality from sounding sub-par or “indie” (even though the entire production was managed on just a small percentage of a major label budget). The “indie” spirit and creativity is still present, however. And then, sitting comfortably on top of all of this, is Haley’s voice, which is one of the most unique-yet-soothing female vocal that I have ever heard.

The readers of this blog that are familiar with Dave King and the rest of his discography will be blown away by the way King is able to retain his personality on the drum set while still serving the music of a folk record. His feel is of course incredible, but the real magic of King’s playing on Big Star is the approach and treatment that he gives to each tune. At no point does he infringe on the style of the music, and yet almost every track contains unique and forward-thinking ideas for folk drumming.

Everyone should at the very least go visit Haley’s Myspace page and listen to a couple of the tracks, and you can also find info there on her tour dates and other happenings.

David King

So… I’ve mentioned Dave King before on this blog. I studied with him for a few years during college. He is the single biggest influence on my playing, and my perspective on music as a whole. If you read this blog and you aren’t familiar with him, then here are some links to check out all the different bands he’s in…

1) The avant-garde jazz trio Happy Apple. You can hear some of their latest tracks here, and you can listen to this interesting NPR report on the band.

2) The art/pop-electro/rock band Halloween Alaska. Check out their myspace and watch this documentary of their second record.

3) The world-renowned progressive jazz trio The Bad Plus. Listen to them here, and watch them here.

4) The indie-rock band Love-Cars. Check them out here.

5) The raucous collision of sounds called The Gang Font. This is a band King started with Greg Norton (the bassist from Husker Du). You can watch this interview and performance from their first show.

In addition to all these bands, King has also recorded and performed with Jeff Beck, The Jayhawks, Iffy, FKG, Craig Taborn, Tim Berne, 12RODS, Haley Bonar, Mason Jennings, Bill Carrothers, and many others. You can check out his Zildjian artist profile here, and there’s a Modern Drummer Magazine article on him here.

Snare Tone

Ok… the first episode in the Risen Drums Video Lesson Series was about snare tone. Specifically, the RIMSHOT. If you don’t already know what a rimshot is, go watch the video. Rimshots are a crucial element in a rocking snare sound. This post is a follow-up on something I mentioned briefly during the video lesson: snare sound in the studio.

In a pop/rock studio environment, the tone of your snare is the biggest factor in establishing a particular vibe or feel for a song (as far as the drummer is concerned). The entire sonic landscape of your groove will change as your snare tone changes. As mentioned in the video, a rimshot is a great way to capture a vibrant and energetic sound… but that’s not always what you want. For example, the current “new face” on the female pop scene is Sara Bareilles, with her single “Love Song.” Matt Chamberlain played on that track (a player I greatly admire), and his snare is a big, fat rimshot with tons of life. However, track 7 on that disc (“Between the Lines”) is a totally different snare tone. Chamberlain used a dark, papery sound on track 7… with a lot less “crack” and a lot more “push.” It’s most likely a different drum entirely, but odds are it’s also heavily doctored. What I mentioned in the video lesson was that a drummer will do “a lot of weird things to a drum in the studio” in order to capture the right sound.

Here’s a few of the “weird things” I do from time to time…

1) Newspaper. Throw a couple sheets of newspaper on your drum and just let them sit loosely on the head while you play. It’s a cool vintage sound that muffles some of the ring (depending on how many sheets you put on there). Notebook paper works too… but newspaper has a slightly different sound to it that I like better.

2) A towel. Or maybe a T-shirt… or a pillow case. They all have different thickness so try each one – my favorite is the pillowcase. Cut it up so it’s only 1-ply (but large enough to cover the whole drum) and then just drape it over the drumhead. This is another “muffled” sound but it’s characteristics are totally different than the newspaper.

3) A block of wood. More muffling with a different sound quality. I totally stole this from Steve Jordan when I saw him doing it on his DVD, “The Groove Is Here.” I’ve tried it a few times and it works great. Grab a somewhat thin piece of wood (like a 2×4 or something… maybe 6 inches long) and set if up on the top portion of the head (close to your rack tom). Tape it down a little so it doesn’t bounce.

4) Your keys. Seriously… your car keys or something. This is another idea I picked up from my former teacher Dave King. Just set your keys on the head off to the side. It’s a really cool “synthetic” sound… like a drum machine or something. This same idea can work with a small tambourine.

5) Splash cymbal. This is one that I discovered on my own… and it totally rules. Get a small splash (6-8″) and set it on the head off to the right. The play the drum off to the other side… a little left of center. A really cool techno sound happens here… and you can mess around with hitting the splash itself from time to time as an accent.

Try each of these out for yourself… they all have different results and you should get a feel for the personality of each one.

Now I’m on a roll…

Listen, I know this is my 3rd post in one hour, but I just started this blog today so I feel like I need to fill it up a little. Actually, I think I’ve figured out how to add pictures to the posts so I’m going to try it.

This is a print of the painting that my header was taken from. It’s a work by Jean-Michel Basquiat, an 80’s Neo-Expressionist from Manhattan. It’s titled “Max Roach,” after the Jazz founding-father and drumming legend of the same name. Roach has been a huge influence on me as a musician, and Basquait just nails the essence of Roach’s sound in depicting him as cloud hovering behind the drumset.

Basquiat was heavily influenced by Jazz and Jazz musicians throughout his career. If a painter (visual) can draw inspiration from a musician (audio), then that transaction should take place the other direction as well. In college I studied with the internationally-acclaimed, avante-garde drummer David King. Dave was CONSTANTLY referencing paintings and films in the lessons (which is where I first learned about Basquiat). This did not make much sense to me at first, but over time I began to see the connection that he was drawing on – the connection that exists between all forms of art. Creativity is art’s essence, and the creative process is so much bigger than any one genre of art (or music, for that matter).

More on this to come…