While Jeff Porcaro Grooves: 8 Drum Transcriptions hit the first 500 copies sold, I’m glad to introduce new books and projects coming out in the next months and in the next year. Max Roach: 5 Drum Transcriptions will be the first of a series of sheet music books. The book is a collection of 5 … More New Book – Max Roach: 5 Drum Transcriptions
“Blue Rondo à la Turk” is a famous jazz composition by Dave Brubeck, included on the album Time Out (1959). It was originally recorded by the Dave Brubeck Quartet with Dave Brubeck on piano, Paul Desmond on alto saxophone, Eugene Wright on bass, and Joe Morello on drums. The title is a reference to the … More The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Blue Rondo à la Turk (Head Drum Transcription)
Recorded in June 1990, “The Only One” (Reservoir Records) is an album by jazz pianist Kenny Barron with Ray Drummond on bass and Ben Riley on drums. Here’s the complete drum transcription (8 pages – including a drum notation key) for the self-titled track. DOWNLOAD THE PDF
Here’s another Max Roach drum transcription: the trading fours played on “Mack the Knife” (also known as “Moritat”) from the album Saxophone Colossus (1956) by Sonny Rollins. The zip file includes the transcription in PDF format plus the audio file of the drum part. DOWNLOAD I’m very proud to announce that my blog has been … More Max Roach – Mack the Knife (Drum Trading Fours Transcription + Audio File)
Sounds from Rikers Island (Audio Fidelity, 1963) is an album by jazz pianist and composer Elmo Hope. It features Hope on piano, Lawrence Jackson on trumpet, Freddie Douglas on saxophones, John Gilmore on tenor, Ronnie Boykins on bass, Philly Joe Jones on drums, Earl Coleman, and Marcelle Daniels on vocals. The tracklisting includes legendary jazz standards such as … More Philly Joe Jones – One for Joe (Drum Solo Transcription)
For all jazz lovers, this month I’ll share two transcriptions from the work of Philly Joe Jones with two great jazz musicians. Let’s start with the first: Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section (Contemporary/Original Jazz Classics, 1957) is an album by Art Pepper. Despite the physical shape and possible exaggerations, he created a milestone with … More Philly Joe with Art Pepper (Drum Transcription)
Here I am with a new jazz drum transcription. “Conversation” by Max Roach is a drum solo composition included in the album Deeds, Not Words (1958). The drum solo itself is a perfect example of melodic drumming; for further research, I recommend the instructional video Melodic Drumming by Ari Hoenig. Max Roach creates a melodic … More Max Roach – Conversation (Drum Transcription)
Max Roach is one of my bigger sources of inspiration, a legendary player and a creative soloist; one of the first to introduce the concept of melodic drumming (listen to “Conversation” from the 1958 album Deeds, Not Words). Here’s a free collection of 3 Max Roach drum transcriptions of some of his most famous performances. … More 3 Max Roach Drum Transcriptions
It’s been almost two months since my last drum transcription, but here I am with new stuff: the intro and head transcription of the tune “Effendi” by Mark Murphy, with Joey Baron on drums. “Effendi” is a modal tune composed by pianist McCoy Tyner, and it’s included in his debut album Inception (1962). Mark Murphy’s version from … More Joey Baron: Mark Murphy – Effendi (Drum Transcription)
Here’s an advanced Ted Reed’s Syncopation interpretation useful to develop your independence. It consists of playing long notes on the bass drum and short notes on the snare drum, with the right-hand jazz ride pattern and the left-foot hi-hat in quarter note triplets (starting on the triplet’s second 8th note). The initial measure of the first exercise … More Ted Reed’s Syncopation – Jazz Interpretation (hi-hat in quarter note triplets)
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