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

Timo-Germany said:
Dear Community,

I have started a YouTube series called "Real Book Drumming" on my channel, which is always expanding. The Real Book is the bible for all jazz drummers. "Real Book Drumming" is meant to be a learning tool, an aid for aspiring jazz drummers. I transcribe the drum part of the original recording and then play to the themes of the songs, the transcription follows the video for better understanding. Please check my channel.


I look forward to a lively exchange.

Thanks for your time!
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Great videos Timo! Nice to see it all transcribed as you play along. Looking forward to more.
 
rfreese888 said:
Great videos Timo! Nice to see it all transcribed as you play along. Looking forward to more.
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Also I would love to see a video about how you actually transcribe. I hear it get's easier after you do a few but I am too impatient! Do you do it all with software or manually first with paper then onto computer? Any tips for how to go about it?
 
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rfreese888 said:
Do you do it all with software or manually first with paper then onto computer? Any tips for how to go about it?
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It depends a bit on the complexity, it happens that I handwrite some things. But I usually write directly with Finale. For monitoring I use Reaper, there you can loop and adjust the speed, the Moises app is also used, there you can separate audio tracks, so I only have one track with the drums. That's not really perfect most of the time, but it can help here and there.
 
Timo-Germany said:
Thanks a lot!!! I hope to finish "Freddie Freeloader" until tomorrow. What transcriptions would you wish to see next?
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Anything with Max Roach or Philly Joe. There is a Tad Dameron album called Mating Call with Philly Joe and Coltrane I am thinking to try and transcribe that album as a project.
 
Timo-Germany said:
It depends a bit on the complexity, it happens that I handwrite some things. But I usually write directly with Finale. For monitoring I use Reaper, there you can loop and adjust the speed, the Moises app is also used, there you can separate audio tracks, so I only have one track with the drums. That's not really perfect most of the time, but it can help here and there.
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I have a lot to learn
 
Dear community,

my latest video in my educational YouTube series "Real Book Drumming".


This time it's a real classic, it's the first 28 bars of the track "Freedie Freeloader" from the album "Kind Of Blue" by Miles Davis, on drums a wonderfully swinging Jimmy Cobb. I warmly recommend this piece especially to all jazz newcomers, because Jimmy's timekeeping, his feel and his sound is unparalleled here, the drums can be heard well in the mix and the tempo is very pleasant to play at about 128bpm. In addition, no wild comping figures occur, so you can swing along quite simply.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, the first tune with Max Roach is in preparation, this week will be followed first by a transcription of Art Blakey. I hope you'll like it!
 
Dear Community,

I continue my YouTube series "Real Book Drumming". In this video it's the first 40 bars of the piece "Straight, No Chaser" from the album "Genius Of Modern Music Vol. 2" by pianist Thelonious Monk, with Art Blakey on drums. Thelonious Monk first recorded "Straight, No Chaser" on July 23, 1951 with a quintet at WOR Studios in New York, with Art Blakey on drums. The piece begins with a 12 bar drum intro before Thelonious Monk picks up the theme. Blakey then accompanies the first chorus on the ride cymbal, switching to a half-open hi-hat on the second pass.


Please subscribe to my channel for more free drum content and drum videos.

Thanks a lot!
 
Thank you for your channel, Timo

As I'm no 'real' and far away from a 'real book' jazz drummer, I'm just about to discover your videos. And your transcriptions are good exercises for me poor reader. I like your drumming and sounds, for example your 'Butterfly' is great (I could never ever replicate this).

Two short hints:

At posting #4 (Ain't that a kick in the head) you linked the wrong video.

Second:

Timo-Germany said:
... Please do not blame me if I publish content on my channel only in German language from time to time. Would it be interesting in such a case to add an English subtitle?
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Youtube provides English subtitles automatically, if you click 'CC' subtitles in the lower bar. It translates quite well. Just checked your video about calf heads, and it even translated a wrong wording to the right English expression.

(at 11:02 you talk about "Pflege-Anleitung' but leave out the 'an'. The German 'Pflege-Leitung' would be translated to 'care administration', but youtube correctly translated to 'care instructions'. No offense, your German is much better than mine).

At least, you have one more 'follower' now.
 
Dear Community,

please take note of my latest transcription.


It's the first 48 measures of the piece "African Flower" from pianist Duke Ellington's album "Money Jungle." Ellington originally called the song "La Plus Belle Africaine" when he composed it for the Negro Arts Festival in Dakar. He recorded it on September 17, 1962 at Sound Makers Studios in New York City for the album "Money Jungle" with Max Roach on drums and Charles Mingus on bass under the title "La Fleurette Africaine.

Transcribing African Flower was a real challenge, although technically it is not necessarily the most demanding piece. The genius is in the composition and the accompaniment of the protagonists. The tempo seems to fluctuate and somehow not, the sound of the drums and the percussive sounds of the piano and bass blend together. Of course, I made my transcription to the best of my ability, yet I'm happy to open it up for discussion, every transcription is also an interpretation. So if you have any suggestions or hear things differently, please let me know.

African Flower is the first song in Volume 1 of the Real Book, the original fake book that was released in the 1970s but has since been updated and legalized. African Flower has been described by jazz author and music journalist Brian as an "impressionistic sound painting (...) in honor of those flowers whose full beauty blooms only in hiding in the African jungle," and German jazz critic Hans Ruland wrote "of the almost spiritual accord of three musicians as rarely captured in a studio."
 
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Tarkus said:
Thank you for your channel, Timo

As I'm no 'real' and far away from a 'real book' jazz drummer, I'm just about to discover your videos. And your transcriptions are good exercises for me poor reader. I like your drumming and sounds, for example your 'Butterfly' is great (I could never ever replicate this).

Two short hints:

At posting #4 (Ain't that a kick in the head) you linked the wrong video.

Second:



Youtube provides English subtitles automatically, if you click 'CC' subtitles in the lower bar. It translates quite well. Just checked your video about calf heads, and it even translated a wrong wording to the right English expression.

(at 11:02 you talk about "Pflege-Anleitung' but leave out the 'an'. The German 'Pflege-Leitung' would be translated to 'care administration', but youtube correctly translated to 'care instructions'. No offense, your German is much better than mine).

At least, you have one more 'follower' now.
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Thank you so much!!!!

I have changed the video from post #4 accordingly, thank you so much for pointing that out!

Thanks also for the tip with the English subtitle, that makes it a lot easier.

I hope you continue to like my channel, a thousand thanks for your support!!!!
 
Dear Community,

my educational YouTube series continues, please take note of my latest transcription.


In this video, it's the first 40 bars of the piece "Cantaloupe Island" from pianist Herbie Hancock's 1964 album "Empyrean Isles." Tony Williams was on the drums. Cantaloupe Island was recorded in 1964 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs in New Jersey for the Blue Note label.

Cantaloupe Island was recorded in 1964 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs in New Jersey for the Blue Note label. In addition to Herbie Hancock on piano, one hears Freddie Hubbard on cornet, Ron Carter on upright bass and Tony Williams on drums. The binary piece is one of the first examples of a modal jazz composition with a funky played beat. Incidentally, the title Cantaloupe Island does not refer to a real existing island. Instead, it is a fantasy island that bears the name of a melon variety, the cantaloupe melon.

Please subscribe to my channel for more free drum content and drum videos.

Thanks a lot!
 
Dear Community,

my educational YouTube series continues, please take note of my latest transcription.

I have transcribed a piece that might be especially interesting for jazz beginners. It is "But Not For Me", composed by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, from the live album "At the Pershing: But Not for Me" by Ahmad Jamal, recorded on January 16, 1958 at the Pershing Hotel in Chicago. On drums, New Orleans-born drummer Vernel Fournier.


I hope you like it!

Please subscribe to my channel for more free drum content and drum videos.

Thanks a lot!
 
Dear Community,

my educational YouTube series continues, please take note of my latest transcription.

For this video, I transcribed the first 36 bars of the track "Tunji" from tenor saxophonist John Coltrane's album "Coltrane - The John Coltrane Quartet," released in 1962. The album was Coltrane's first full studio album with his classic quartet consisting of pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and the terrific drummer Elvin Jones.


I hope you like it!

Please subscribe to my channel for more free drum content and drum videos.

Thanks a lot!
 
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