Digable Planets- Rebirth of Slick

1992- Digable Planets- cool like dat

click on pic/then skip add- (sorry its not cool- it's vevo)

Here is the drum part:

  (PDF)

Now you must acquire a taste for free form jazz

When Elephants Dream of Music...

Pirote & Lulu from Bob Moses's seminal (1983) release When Elephants Dream of Music. Cover art is Bob's beautiful water painting which also captures the beauty of the artist's musical compositions.

Could not find this track available on YouTube so do yourself a favor and purchase this amazing album. Below is the track "Trevor" also on When Elephants Dream of Music. The compositions are a lush, rich tapestry and may be considered like Gil Evans' work or  Bobby Previte's  (Claude's Late Morning) album from the same time period (1988) as big band music for people that don't like big band (no offense to Buddy Rich). Or a gateway to big band music.

Bob's groove on Picolo & Lulu is a sparse, tight Miles/loft funk insistent rock type beat:

                                                                       (PDF)

Wolrdwide Funk

DeJohnette's- The Ripple Effect (2005)

 

Jack DeJohnette - keyboards, drums, percussion

Ben Surman - keyboards & audio remixer/reimaginer

Foday Musa Suso - kora

John Surman - recorder, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone

Marlui Miranda - vocals

The sparse source version of Worldwide Funk is on the Jack DeJohnette/Foday Musa Suso duo "music from the hearts of the masters" release from 2006.

To my ears this track shows how similar the grooves of Tony Allen and Jack DeJohnette are. For further proof of this check out Tony Allen's amazing drumming on Ernest Ranglin's Modern Answers to Old Problems- on the track Outernational Incident:

Here is Jack DeJohnette's groove:

(PDF)

More Jack!

Essential mid 1970's classic  Jack DeJohnette goodness.

The year is 1976. The artist is the late great Collin Walcott.

Collin Walcott is probably best know for his work with Oregon and CODONA.

CODONA: CO= Collin Walcott; DO= Don Cherry; NA= Nana Vasconcellos

The passing of percussion great Nana Vasconcellos earlier this year brings a coda to CODONA. Solace is John Abercrombie, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette are still alive and well and as creative as ever.

Believe it or not- there is no link available to Cloud Dance on YouTube at this time, so you will just have to do yourself a favor and purchase it. A transcription of the tune is available at the excellent blog JTA- The Jazz Trancript Authority

The drums come into the song late, which  is where the transcription starts. Delicate, crisp and airy DeJohnette.

(PDF)

Now for something.....

The artist is Harknox. The year is 1999. The song is Fire Like This:

Full disclosure, this track is featured (probably the best feature) in the film Me, Myself and Irene (view at your own risk)- I will not aid and abet by providing a link or clip. If you want a good laugh I am sure you can do better than this. 

The transcription has 32nd notes that should probably be played as single strokes. To make it easier to read I indicated them as double stroke 16th notes.

                                                                            (PDF)

ELECTRICITY!

                                            Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart)

I promised to post some Beefheartian drum transcriptions and promptly procrastinated. WTF-almost 50 years after Safe as Milk was released, the fist ever posting/publishing of a Beefheart drum transcription, albeit a rough transcription at best. First five measures are the introduction, the last measure is the main rhythm of the song which John French describes as a quasi conga line rhythm derived from the guitar lines. The transcription is from John's demonstration in the "corny/out of context" film  Captain Beefheart: Under Review.

                                              The year is 1967. The song is Electricity:

                                            The drummer is John "Drumbo" French:

                                                         .
                                                     The transcription is below:

(PDF)