Jazz Drum Transcriptions - an educational resource - newest transcription: Birdland - drums: Alex Acuña

Kevinpursuit said:
I am all for drum education, and the knowledge of how one plays it thru transcription, but without the expression of inner feel for the music, not expressing it, its just becomes robotic.
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Amen
i grew up in 40s and 50s with Big Band still alive and BeBop - Modern Jazz. Spontaneity was very common with drummers.
Look at YouTube videos of those great drummers.. where is the music stand with the charts ?
Listen to those early recordings of BeBop/Modern Jazz.. same piece played by same musicians
(yes Virginia drummers are musicians !) many times over and rarely are they exactly the same. Look at the Basie video of Magic Flea and the great work of drumer Jones. All the other players with charts except him. Feeling for the number as in when and where to accent or cut loose doesn't come with a chart but from the heart. I used to think that classical would only sound good "as written" Then I was directed to Jacques Lussier Trio and their interpretation of Bach .. Air on a G String".. many recordings all slightly different and the drummer.. wow. I have an acquaintance drummer who only was comfortable with charts and joined a Polka Band. They didn't have drum charts so having some horn experience he used a Trumpet chart. Polkas in my mind need fills consisting of buzz rolls, kick drum and crash/splash cymbal accents and spontaneity ! Yes I wish I had more formal training and read better but would it replace
"feeling the music" ?
cheers
 
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David M Scott said:
Amen
i grew up in 40s and 50s with Big Band still alive and BeBop - Modern Jazz. Spontaneity was very common with drummers.
Look at YouTube videos of those great drummers.. where is the music stand with the charts ?
Listen to those early recordings of BeBop/Modern Jazz.. same piece played by same musicians
(yes Virginia drummers are musicians !) many times over and rarely are they exactly the same. Look at the Basie video of Magic Flea and the great work of drumer Jones. All the other players with charts except him. Feeling for the number as in when and where to accent or cut loose doesn't come with a chart but from the heart. I used to think that classical would only sound good "as written" Then I was directed to Jacques Lussier Trio and their interpretation of Bach .. Air on a G String".. many recordings all slightly different and the drummer.. wow. I have an acquaintance drummer who only was comfortable with charts and joined a Polka Band. They didn't have drum charts so having some horn experience he used a Trumpet chart. Polkas in my mind need fills consisting of buzz rolls, kick drum and crash/splash cymbal accents and spontaneity ! Yes I wish I had more formal training and read better but would it replace
"feeling the music" ?
cheers
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I'm afraid there is a misunderstanding here. I am not concerned with someone performing a transcription in his band. My point is to get an understanding of how to accompany a theme and to gather ideas that you can then apply.
 
David M Scott said:
Amen
i grew up in 40s and 50s with Big Band still alive and BeBop - Modern Jazz. Spontaneity was very common with drummers.
Look at YouTube videos of those great drummers.. where is the music stand with the charts ?
Listen to those early recordings of BeBop/Modern Jazz.. same piece played by same musicians
(yes Virginia drummers are musicians !) many times over and rarely are they exactly the same. Look at the Basie video of Magic Flea and the great work of drumer Jones. All the other players with charts except him. Feeling for the number as in when and where to accent or cut loose doesn't come with a chart but from the heart. I used to think that classical would only sound good "as written" Then I was directed to Jacques Lussier Trio and their interpretation of Bach .. Air on a G String".. many recordings all slightly different and the drummer.. wow. I have an acquaintance drummer who only was comfortable with charts and joined a Polka Band. They didn't have drum charts so having some horn experience he used a Trumpet chart. Polkas in my mind need fills consisting of buzz rolls, kick drum and crash/splash cymbal accents and spontaneity ! Yes I wish I had more formal training and read better but would it replace
"feeling the music" ?
cheers
Click to expand...
My wife cannot swing. She cannot improvise. But put the notes on the page and she can breathe life into them. There is a skill set to making the black little scratches on paper sound like Beethoven or Bach or Mozart. The same little motive in a Wagner is not played the same way those that same little motive might appear in Rachmaninoff. Feeling the music living the music being the music oh yes!
 
Timo-Germany said:
I'm afraid there is a misunderstanding here. I am not concerned with someone performing a transcription in his band. My point is to get an understanding of how to accompany a theme and to gather ideas that you can then apply.
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Gotcha..and books for Jazz drummers that teach rudiments, of which there are several written by the greats, is great if that's what your referring too.
On the flip side, the buzz or press roll was the manner of the day in BeBop/Modern Jazz and so I more or less perfected it. Later drummers started to show more double stroke and paradiddle snare work. In all honesty I have never really mastered those but it hasn't hampered me even when I played with a BigBand who gave me charts. Luckily growing up with those pieces I knew when and where the fills etc were. I guess my fudging worked as our leader, militarily music trained, kept me around for 7 years until I wanted out.
 
David M Scott said:
Gotcha..and books for Jazz drummers that teach rudiments, of which there are several written by the greats, is great if that's what your referring too.
On the flip side, the buzz or press roll was the manner of the day in BeBop/Modern Jazz and so I more or less perfected it. Later drummers started to show more double stroke and paradiddle snare work. In all honesty I have never really mastered those but it hasn't hampered me even when I played with a BigBand who gave me charts. Luckily growing up with those pieces I knew when and where the fills etc were. I guess my fudging worked as our leader, militarily music trained, kept me around for 7 years until I wanted out.
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Thank you for sharing your experience with us. We can all learn from each other.
 
KCJazz said:
Trumpet players use this one. There are very few b-flat drumsets.

View attachment 563884
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1654877381033.jpeg

Did someone say flat drumset?
 
I have played in groups using the real book for over 25 years. Being only a drummer with barely adequate reading skills, my impression of the real book is that it is just a set of lead sheets with chords, melody line and a comment or two on tempo and feel. A drummer playing a note for note transcription of an early version of a song could possibly cause a train wreck depending on what the other guys are doing.

Depending on the players using it, the same tune will sound entirely different every time it's played, and once the head is done and the solos start it's time for the drummer to really start listening to what's going down because the band is now off in the zone.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not real sure if a drum transcription of the head is really that useful for most standards. However, I can see where having the groove written out for tunes like St. Thomas, Night in Tunisia, Poinciana, Equinox, Caravan, Song for My Father, etc. would be useful to a young drummer who hasn't grown up with that music. There are other tunes like Four or Stolen Moments where a suggestion for the intro would be useful as well.

Having said the above, your Real Book for drummers would be an excellent way to see how the drummers like Max and Elvin who played those songs approached them. Personally, I would buy it just to study their styles while listening to their recordings, but probably leave it at home when going out for gigs.
 
gryphon said:
I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not real sure if a drum transcription of the head is really that useful for most standards. However, I can see where having the groove written out for tunes like St. Thomas, Night in Tunisia, Poinciana, Equinox, Caravan, Song for My Father, etc. would be useful to a young drummer who hasn't grown up with that music. There are other tunes like Four or Stolen Moments where a suggestion for the intro would be useful as well.

Having said the above, your Real Book for drummers would be an excellent way to see how the drummers like Max and Elvin who played those songs approached them. Personally, I would buy it just to study their styles while listening to their recordings, but probably leave it at home when going out for gigs.
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That's exactly what my intention with my series is. It's meant as a guideline, as an inspiration. Please, I would never advise someone to play a transcription on a gig or even e rehearsal, there you have to open your ears!
 
Watching this with great interest, as it's something I learned in college. I started college life majoring in jazz performance, drums and percussion. All jazz majors were required to buy a copy of The Real Book, "even" we drummers, and never be without it. This was 1982, and I think the legal version had just started being published. (There were lots of tales at school of underground TRB sales, but I got mine at the school bookstore.)

I don't think there were Bb/Eb versions at the time, and I don't recall any of the wind/brass players having any particular difficulty. Concert pitch, everybody! I do remember our instructors discussing how drummers could make use of the melodic information on the chart, and why it was important we be able to read the chart and not just "wing it". We were all expected to learn to read charts fluently.

(I also remember calmly clapping my way through the rhythm for Au Privave in class along with a couple other percussionists while the horn players struggled. :lol:)

Cheers!

Fred
 
fpatton said:
Watching this with great interest, as it's something I learned in college. I started college life majoring in jazz performance, drums and percussion. All jazz majors were required to buy a copy of The Real Book, "even" we drummers, and never be without it. This was 1982, and I think the legal version had just started being published. (There were lots of tales at school of underground TRB sales, but I got mine at the school bookstore.)

I don't think there were Bb/Eb versions at the time, and I don't recall any of the wind/brass players having any particular difficulty. Concert pitch, everybody! I do remember our instructors discussing how drummers could make use of the melodic information on the chart, and why it was important we be able to read the chart and not just "wing it". We were all expected to learn to read charts fluently.

(I also remember calmly clapping my way through the rhythm for Au Privave in class along with a couple other percussionists while the horn players struggled. :lol:)

Cheers!

Fred
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Thanks for your comment. Would you like to share with us how the melodic information should be transferred to the drum set?
 
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