Drums Journal

INSIGHTFUL PRACTICE

2010-12-26T09:13:00.000-08:00

Like in my first post I'd like to keep talking about what I've been practicing lately. Recently I realized that in order to progress and expand I definitely did not need any new material to learn, but rather work towards strengthening what I already had under my hands. It was therefore important to analyze some key concepts to explain what they are and how to approach them, before diving into random and un-useful practicing.

CONFIDENCE: What does it mean being confident, and how do you get confident? Confidence in drumming can manifest in many different ways: it means being strong with constant pulsation, rhythmic ideas, intelligent grooves and a number of other obvious qualities that every drummer, according to the style chosen, should have. This is a superficial explanation, or better say, the result of a very detailed process that starts with knowing yourself as a person in the first place.

What I encountered (and still am) is that in order to extinguish some bad habits in my drumming I would have to do that on my total self. So whenever I would talk and feel uncomfortable or not sure with what I would say I'd ask myself why. I generally don't lie - unless it's for a good reason - so that would not be an issue. Rather I would feel less at ease whenever I would say something just to please somebody else, without that being my total truth. As soon as I transported this concept on the drums I found out that whenever I'd play something I thought others wanted me to play as opposed to what I really heard at that moment, immediately my confidence would start diminishing. Therefore confidence is also: BE TRUE TO YOURSELF. With that said it doesn't mean that being completely careless about any given musical situation and just masturbate on the drums is the answer to self-confidence. Confidence actually manifests in knowing your own weaknesses and strengths, accepting them and working on them towards your own UNIQUE VOICE.

One practical example: when soloing I always felt very constricted by having to subdivide all of my phrasing according to a specific tempo. I often felt I wanted to expand into an almost rubato solo and at the same time being able to keep time and make the form of the composition clear. I fought with this for a very long time, being upset at my inability to technically and artistically express like the very same amazing drummers I love so much. Then one day I said to myself that true artists - like, say, Picasso - became such through transcending the rules and coming up with their own. So I started LETTING GO and with much surprise I suddenly realized that my feet could work towards keeping a steady beat while my hands would totally break free to play in that rubato style. I could do both things at the same time, it sounded good and made sense musically, and that's how I followed my instincts and worked on them, accepting them as my signature. Here's a take from a recent concert I played with Don Byron and Fabrizio Puglisi. You can hear how the form is kept but the time in the soloing is stretched.

There's a lot more I want to talk about my practice, but being these very detailed argumentations I will dilute the subject in the next upcoming posts where I will also feature some new drummers. Also if you feel you want to share your experiences, please feel free to leave a comment! Blessings, Tommaso.

DAN RIESER

2010-09-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

Little we know of behind-the-scenes drummer Dan Rieser except that he appears on a lot of records with many great artists and that his sound on the drums is purely amazing. The first time I heard Dan was at the now legendary club Living Room in its old location in NYC. That night he was playing with singer Rebecca Martin and he was wearing a baseball cap! I remember entering the small place and being suddenly captured in a magic atmosphere. I got totally mesmerized by Rebecca's songs and voice and the sound of the band was something I never experienced before. I have a particular image in mind watching Dan's playing: his motion of his left hand hitting the snare drum was so slow I could not believe it! That movement produced the warmest sound on the snare as if naturally compressed. A life lesson right there!

From very indiscrete sources we know that Mr. Rieser grew up in Columbus, Ohio, started playing drums at around 10 years old and performed in a rock/metal band during high school. For a few years he went to Capital University and then transfered and finished at Berklee College of Music in Boston. In 1991 he moved to New York where he started playing with his peers Bill McHenry, Chris Cheek, Seamus Blake and The Bloomdaddies. Around that time Dan spent 4 years touring with Marcy Playground. After that he played and recorded with Norah Jones (yes, he is in "Come Away With Me" too!), Jesse Harris, Chiara Civello (check out Dan's playing in "Last Quarter Moon"), Richard Julian, The Little Willies, Rosanne Cash and many others. Some say to have heard Dan mentioning some of his influence: Stewart Copland, Jimmy Cobb, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Jim Keltner, Ringo Starr.

This is the sound I'm talking about. Start is at 0:55

JOE STRASSER

2010-09-05T15:21:00.000-07:00

One of the most underrated drummers around, Joe is a master of the instrument, with a beautiful taste for phrases, sound and rhythm. I also got to know Joe at Smalls, one of the main sources for meeting great players in NYC. Joe's cymbal playing reminds me of Bill Stewart's approach although you can hear a clear reference to the masters of tradition such as Philly Joe Jones, Jimmy Cobb and Roy Haynes. I was always looking forward to his solos, so intricate yet inventive and colorful. And so precise! His versatility made him appear in a wide range of contexts ranging from pop stars such as Jose Feliciano, to jazz giants such as the Heath Brothers. Strass is also co-leader of Hotpants, a great funk band that performs regularly at the uptown venue Smoke. I owe Joe a lot for giving me many tips on the practice and for inspiring me each time I'd see him play.

You can hear Joe's grandeur in any of the many live recordings at Smalls:
http://www.smallsjazzclub.com/index.cfm?itemcategory=30817&personDetailId=114

Following is a video of Joe with Kurt Rosenwinkel and Ben Street in 1997! Good ol' times!

DANIEL FREEDMAN

2010-09-05T07:07:00.000-07:00

Another amazing drummer and good friend who I got very much inspired by is Daniel Freedman. I started seeing Danny at Smalls back in the late '90s usually playing with the Jason Lindner Big Band, the Omer Avital sextet or the Charles Owens Quartet. Danny grew up in NYC studying with drums masters Max Roach, Billy Higgins and Vernel Fourier. He later traveled to West Africa, Cuba and the Middle East to deepen his knowledge in world rhythms. What I love about him is his versatility and his original ideas in mixing various styles of music. His emotional intention and good energy always left a positive feeling whenever I'd go hear him play. Lately Daniel has been reaching a high state in his career, putting out his own records as well as working with famous artists such as Sting, Meshell Ndegeocello and Angelique Kidjo. Here's a groovy perfomance featuring Danny, Jason Lindner, Avishai Cohen and Meshel Ndegeocello:

and a fantastic solo by the man in Istanbul with his own project Third World Love:

Sites:
http://www.danielfreedman.net
http://www.myspace.com/danielfreedman

Live recordings at Smalls Jazz Club:
http://www.smallsjazzclub.com/index.cfm?itemcategory=30817&personDetailId=309

JIMMY LOVELACE

2010-09-05T03:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, here we are featuring a great drummer who - unfortunately no longer with us - I admired so much. I spent countless nights (and mornings) at Smalls Jazz Club especially during my first few years in New York. Jimmy, a classy gentleman dressed either in black or white, always wearing special hats, would play there almost nightly. His trio with the late Frank Hewitt on piano and bass player Ari Roland was one of the most spectacular things to listen to. Jimmy was a humble, soft spoken and smiley person whose touch on the drums influenced many of us who were coming up. His sound was warm and round and he could play so soft and fast like nobody else could. Unfortunately he doesn't appear on many recordings but some of them are available at the Smalls Records website. In the old days Jimmy used to play with Wes Montgomery. Here's an example of his finesse on the drums:

Here's a short biography courtesy of Todd Jenkins:

James Ross Lovelace was born on February 6, 1940, in Kansas City, Missouri. He became a pro musician in the early 1960s, gigging with George Benson, Wes Montgomery, Tony Scott, Junior Mance and other jazzmen. 1965 was a banner year for the drummer, who appeared on Benson's "Benson Burner" and "It's Uptown", Mance's "Good Life", and Montgomery's "Twisted Blues" all in that year. Lovelace was a regular member of Benson's quartet for over a decade. He sometimes stepped away from the bop template, as on Tony Scott's 1969 New Age archetype "Homage to Lord Krishna" and Amina Claudine Myers' tribute to Bessie Smith. In 2000 the drummer supported Claude "Fiddler" Williams on "Swingin' the Blues", the violinist's final album. Lovelace only appeared on a couple of dozen albums during his long career, generally preferring to stick to small club dates, the environment in which he thrived. At Smalls he was regularly featured in duets with pianist Frank Hewitt, with whom he recorded "We Loved You" in 2001, and the group Across 7 Street.

Jimmy's above picture is taken from visual artist Zoe's great website http://www.productiveinsomnia.com

Practicing

2010-09-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

After so many years of playing drums, I always find myself so amazed on how deep you can go in the practice. I believe the drums to be one of the most physical instruments; you can definitely approach it as a martial art, as a meditation practice. Lately I've been going back to Stone's Stick Control to use it in a totally new way, at least for me. Under suggestion of my friend and super talented drummer Ferenc Nemeth I started memorizing my own stick control patterns with a sequence that would make sense to me with the aim of knowing the whole book by heart. That way you can have more concentration on what you're practicing, on the feeling of the arms when trying to relax them, on the sound produced and the movement and balance of the sticks. Knowing the patterns allows me to come up with different combinations between the four limbs, using them for feet practice as well as other grooves.

For now I really want to get to a point of total effortlessness in my movements (I found piano player Kenny Werner's book "Effortless Mastery" really helpful with this) so that I can avoid any sort of tension in my body. That's also why it is good not having to read. Besides the physical aspect it is also a great tool to develop mnemonic concentration and rhythmic visualization. Of course it's fun to play the different patterns at a considerable speed, but definitely more challenging at a very slow speed making sure every single hit is in place.

This is my personal sequence, although I noticed, when talking to other drummers, that each one comes up with a slightly different one. I will illustrate only the 4 stroke combination.

RLRL RLRL (single)

LRLR LRLR

RRLL RRLL (double)

LLRR LLRR

RLLR LRRL

LRRL RLLR

RLRR LRLL (paradiddles)

RLLR LRRL

RRLR LLRL

RLRL LRLR

RLLL RLLL (triple)

LRRR LRRR

RLRR RLRR

LRLL LRLL

RRLR RRLR

LLRL LLRL

RRRL RRRL

LLLR LLLR

RRRR LLLL (4 strokes)
LLLL RRRR

Day 1

2010-09-04T11:59:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my drums journal. I'll be sharing some insights concerning practice, instruments as well other great drummers who have been, are and will be influencing me. My name is Tommaso Cappellato, for info about my activity you can check out my site http://tommasocappellato.com. Hope you enjoy!