Tony Williams comping on “There is No Greater Love”

Hi folks, we are living a difficult period for the Covid-19 disease, we are locked down in our houses but be positive this is an opportunity to invest your time studying and plan new projects.

Here’s the transcription of the drum comping played by the extraordinary Tony Williams on the tune “There is No Greater Love” from the live album Four & More: Recorded Live in Concert (1966) by Miles Davis. The transcription refers to the saxophone solo played by George Coleman, there are a lot of interesting stuff that deserves to be analyzed and studied.

Tony plays many phrases ending with an accent on the “4” and the “& of 4”, this is an example: a thirteen stroke roll (open roll) ending with an accent on the “4”, a simple and very effective phrase.

At the apex of the saxophone solo, Tony Williams plays a remarkable phrase played also on the trumpet solo, the 8th note triplets are played in unison on the snare and the floor tom with the bass drum on the last 8th note. The second part alternates the ride cymbal, snare and bass drum. Tony repeats the phrase four times with a variation on the last beat ending on the “& of 4”. Regards the phrase endings I suggest this great article by Cruise Ship Drummer: http://www.cruiseshipdrummer.com/2020/03/tony-williams-phrase-endings.html