Steve Smith

Drum Legacy

By Steve Smith

Artist Biographies & Media Guide written by Mark Griffith

Edited by Joe Bergamini and Steve Smith

Transcriptions by Steve Smith

Engraving by Michael Dawson

Design and Layout by Joe Bergamini

Assisted by Willie Rose

Produced by Paul Siegel and Rob Wallis

Co-Produced by Steve Smith

STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

Copyright © 2008 Hudson Music LLC

All Rights Reserved

www.hudsonmusic.com

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Foreword.......................................................3

Artist Biographies & Media Guide................3

Buddy Rich....................................................3
Art Blakey......................................................6
Max Roach...................................................10
Philly Joe Jones...........................................12
Elvin Jones...................................................13
Joe Dukes.....................................................16
Tony Williams..............................................19
John Riley....................................................25
Steve Smith..................................................27

“Standing on the Shoulders of Giants”.......30

Musical Examples.......................................31
“Moments Notice”.......................................31
“Insubordination”........................................32
Max Roach...................................................36
“Three Card Molly”: Elvin Jones................39
“Sister Cheryl”: Tony Williams...................41
“Two Bass Hit”: Philly Joe Jones................41
“A Night in Tunisia”: Art Blakey..................43
Solo in Fives.................................................45

Conclusion...................................................46
Drum Legacy DVD Chapter List..................47

Steve Smith

Drum Legacy

STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

Table of Contents

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In keeping with the theme of Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, Mark Griffith has written detailed
biographies and a suggested media guide that highlights the early influences, development, innovations
and legacy of the principal “giants” discussed in my Drum Legacy DVD. This unique approach will help
us appreciate and gain insight into the makeup of these very talented and inspiring gentlemen.

My own playing style occurs as a culmination of myriad factors: the time and place of my upbringing,
the instruction I have received, the many playing situations that I’ve been involved in, the in-depth study
of countless drummers that came before me, and the decisions I’ve made of what to play and when to
play it. Regardless of which styles of music you play, this is a universal way of learning to play an in-
strument, and of learning to play music. Mark Griffith brings these ideas to life in his vivid and percep-
tive writing.

- Steve Smith

Foreword

Featured Artist Biographies & Media Guide

By Mark Griffith

(drummer, recording artist, author

, historian)

Bernard “Buddy” Rich

(September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987)

Buddy Rich was introduced to the music business through the vaudeville entertainment circuit as “Traps,
The Drum Wonder” when he was not even two years old. He went on to perform as a tap dancer and a
singer on the burgeoning entertainment circuit in the 1930s and ’40s. After devoting himself to drum-
ming’ he became influenced by Tony Briglia (of the Casa Loma Orchestra), Chick Webb, Gene Krupa, Jo
Jones, and later, Shadow Wilson. During his career he played with musicians from the entire history of
jazz: from Dixieland to swing to bebop and even fusion. He first recorded in 1937 with swing and Dix-
ieland clarinetist Joe Marsala (replacing drummer Danny Alvin). These recordings are available on
Marsala’s Classics 1936-1942. Buddy spent 1938 with Bunny Berigan’s band, 1939-1942 with Tommy
Dorsey’s band, and in 1945 he formed his own band. In his band, Buddy set the musical bar very high
for all of the musicians that surrounded him, and even higher for himself.

Buddy Rich is often referred to as “the greatest drummer who ever lived.” However, to truly gain insight
to the musical greatness of Buddy Rich, you should first focus on his work as a sideman. Long before he
became a star drummer/bandleader, Buddy was busy performing and recording with his peers as a side-
man. This was where you really heard Buddy’s musicianship, and how he drove and complimented other
musicians. A perfect example is on the phenomenal 1946 Lester Young Trio recording with Lester,
Buddy, and Nat “King” Cole. Buddy’s early involvement with the Jazz At The Philharmonic tours (pro-
duced by Norman Granz) may have been the impetus for his recordings with Ella Fitzgerald, Bud Pow-
ell, and Charlie Parker. These numerous recordings are all outstanding. On Ella and Louis, Buddy

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complimented and supported one of the great jazz singers, Ella Fitzgerald, and the inventor of small
group jazz, Louis Armstrong, with authenticity, taste, and musicality. On Pres & Sweets (Lester Young
and Harry “Sweets” Edison), Buddy’s sense of no-nonsense, driving swing is superb. On The Genius Of
Bud Powell, Buddy and bassist Ray Brown hook up nicely to provide percolating support as Bud burns
up the piano. Thelonious Monk appreciated Buddy’s strong, yet often overlooked sense of groove. On the
recording Bird & Diz, Buddy adapted his swing drumming roots to the bebop environment, leaving room
for Monk’s quirky comping as well as the soaring solos of Parker and Gillespie. Also check out Buddy’s
more restrained playing with pianists Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and Teddy Wilson.

Benny Carter's The Urbane Sessions presents an interesting look at Buddy Rich. Not only is this a breath-
takingly beautiful and sublime recording, but this collection also features Buddy with two of his lesser-
known drum contemporaries: Alvin Stoller and Jackie Mills. It is a wonderful opportunity to compare
and contrast these three talented drummers. Alvin and Buddy had many of the same gigs; in fact, Stoller
replaced Buddy when he left Tommy Dorsey’s band (drummer Mo Purtill also had the daunting task of
“replacing” Buddy in the Dorsey band). Interestingly, when Buddy played in a more supportive role,
Buddy and Alvin sounded very similar. Stoller is on scores of superb recordings by leaders such as Roy
Eldridge, Coleman Hawkins, Erroll Garner, and Frank Sinatra. Drummer Jackie Mills came out of the
same swing tradition as Buddy, and held many prestigious gigs as well. But like many drummers of the
day, Mills was overshadowed by the enormous spectacle of Buddy Rich. Mills’ resume includes record-
ings with Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, and Harry James. There are hundreds of drummers like
Stoller and Mills throughout the history of drumming that have not received the attention that they de-
serve, yet have made huge contributions to the history of the instrument. All three of these drummers
make strong contributions to The Urbane Sessions by Benny Carter.

As Buddy Rich’s drumming skills grew and his reputation became more renowned, the entertainment
value of Buddy's spectacular drumming occasionally overshadowed his sense of musicality. Buddy knew
the importance of entertainment, and he learned many of his showmanship techniques from those who
came before him. Chick Webb, Papa Jo Jones, and Sid Catlett were all stick-wielding showmen, but
Buddy—and Gene Krupa before him—permanently brought the drums to the front of the stage and made
the drum solo a spectacle of entertainment to behold.

Buddy’s own recordings span the 30-plus years that he worked as a bandleader. During this time,
Buddy’s band was among the hardest-working bands in the music business. Nightclubs, casinos, dances,
television shows, high schools, colleges, shopping malls, and private affairs were all opportunities for the
Buddy Rich Big Band to get off of the bus and work. Throughout this time, Buddy made many record-
ings of his hard-working ensembles. Perhaps the first high-quality recording by Buddy and his band is
This One’s For Basie (1956). This album delivers exactly what the title describes: a swinging, in-the-
pocket affair that the Count would have dug. Ten years later, Buddy’s Swingin’ New Big Band record-
ing included an infamous arrangement of songs from West Side Story. The “West Side Story Medley”
would remain with Buddy for his entire career, and prove to be a true crowd-pleaser that always featured
lengthy and outrageous drum solos. “Channel One Suite” from 1968’s Mercy, Mercy was another drum
feature and crowd favorite.

Around this time, Buddy began to include arrangements of pop tunes such as “Uptight (Everything’s
Alright),” “Norwegian Wood,” and “Ode To Billie Joe,” as well as soul-jazz standards such as “Mercy,

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Mercy, Mercy” and “Sister Sadie” in his performances. His “swinging” sense of straight-eighth rock time-
keeping was a truly unique time feel that made these arrangements come to life. In an era where many
bandleaders were fusing jazz and rock, Buddy was one of the only musicians that fused the big-band
swing tradition, small-group jazz, and rock. Buddy Rich’s own brand of “fusion” had a style all its own.
Throughout the 1960s and ’70s his recordings Big Swing Face, Keep The Customer Satisfied, and The
Roar of ’74 inspired countless drummers to incorporate different musical genres into their own ap-
proaches, while grooving hard and playing the drums with an unrelenting fire and virtuosity.

Some of the most revered Buddy Rich recordings documented his “battles” with other virtuoso drum-
mers. In 1959, Rich versus Roach proved to be an interesting and influential contrast in approaches,
where each drummer led his quintet in a battling format. 1952’s The Drum Battle paired Buddy and
Gene Krupa with a band of all-stars, but only featured them together on one track. The recording Are
You Ready For This? featured Buddy and Louis Bellson battling on the song “Slides and Hides.” Al-
though this title is hard to find, it is well worth looking for. His televised battles with “Tonight Show”
drummer Ed Shaughnessy garnered even more attention for the art of drumming. Buddy even made a
record with the legendary Indian tabla player Ustad Alla Rahka called Rich Ala Rahka.

Seeing Buddy Rich play was one of the most thrilling musical experiences one could ever have. There are
fortunately many DVD’s currently available that highlight Buddy’s brilliance. Buddy Rich: Jazz Legend
1917-1987 (Alfred Publishing Company) gathers many of the best clips of Buddy in performance, and
presents them in chronological order in an amazing look at his life and career. Live at the 1982 Montreal
Jazz Festival (Hudson Music) and the recently released Live In ’78 (on the Jazz Icons series) are awe-
inspiring and helpful in studying Buddy’s drumming.

There are also some very good books about Buddy. Jazz singer Mel Torme is the author of Buddy's bi-
ography, Traps, The Drum Wonder. Doug Meriwether's Mister, I Am The Band - Buddy Rich: His Life
and Travels includes an excellent discography by Clarence C. Hintze with dates and locations of record-
ing dates, radio broadcasts, television shows, and performances. Upon careful study, you can see how
hard this band (and its leader) worked, and the distance that they traveled to spread the sound of big
band music. Buddy also followed in the tradition of Gene Krupa and Cozy Cole (who wrote the book
Modern and Authentic Drum Rhythms for the Teacher, Student, and Professional), and wrote an in-
structional snare drum book with Henry Adler, called Buddy Rich’s Modern Interpretation Of Snare
Drum Rudiments.

Buddy Rich was more than a phenomenal drum soloist. He was a relentless bandleader that demanded
100 percent from all of his musicians. He could demand this because he consistently delivered 110 per-
cent. In his long and storied career he entertained millions of music lovers, and inspired countless young
people to pick up a pair of drumsticks. Buddy had the true mark of a performing professional: he was
the definition of consistency. As a drummer, his timekeeping was instantly identifiable, and his won-
derful touch on the instrument was impeccable. In one way or another, Buddy Rich has influenced every
drummer that has ever picked up a pair of sticks, from Philly Joe Jones to Carmine Appice to Travis
Barker. He is an important part of a lineage of drummers who brought the drums into the spotlight.
Today, anyone who plays a drum solo or leads a band is carrying on the tradition of this lineage of out-
standing musicians, and walking in the footsteps of the great Buddy Rich.

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Art (Abdullah Ibn Buhaina) Blakey

(October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990)

Art Blakey had one of the most diverse careers in jazz drumming. He was a successful sideman, a sty-
listic pioneer, a bandleader, and ultimately a drumming icon. Not to mention that in jazz, there was no
bigger talent scout of up-and-coming musicians. He began playing the piano as a young man, eventu-
ally switching to drums, and he never looked back. Art spent his youth in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the
hard-working, blue-collar attitude of this industrial capital never left Blakey’s unique character. Blakey
was one of the best storytellers in jazz, both with the sticks and without. For example, he would recall
the sound of the mine buckets dumping coal as the inspiration behind his press roll, with its sudden
crescendo—and there has never been a better description! His hard-driving timekeeping and no-frills,
bold-faced attitude towards drumming can be traced back to his blue-collar roots.

Art Blakey’s drumming is often identified by a relentless and insistent 2 & 4 on the hi-hat; a sizzling, thin
ride cymbal; and straightforward comping phrases. His drum sound was lower in pitch than his peers,
and had less sustain. A strong underpinning of the shuffle was present in his swing feel, and when he laid
into a full-blown shuffle it could “wake the dead.” Blakey was one of the first jazz drummers to adopt a
decidedly Afro-Cuban approach, resulting a jazz mambo groove that became another Blakey trademark.
Blakey’s early polymetric approach opened the door for Elvin Jones’—and eventually Tony Williams’—
more advanced polyrhythmic styles. This often resulted in a tribal and even African “resonance” to the
rhythmic interplay. Blakey attributed this to his several trips to Africa, although these trips are still of-
ficially undocumented, and claimed by some to be fabrications that can be credited only to Blakey’s rep-
utation as a great storyteller.

While Art Blakey is often recognized as one of the most important contributors to “hard bop” drum-
ming, his approach was rooted in the swing tradition of Chick Webb, Papa Jo Jones, Cozy Cole, and Big
Sid Catlett. His approach was less refined than his peers, and fell somewhere between Kenny Clarke and
Max Roach. Blakey’s movements behind the drum set were often very exaggerated, his use of dynamics
was dramatic, and his bands were always entertaining to watch. And while it was Art’s timekeeping that
had the most indelible influence on drummers, his soloing was a show unto itself. Art’s extended solos
were based upon groove and polyrhythmic dexterity. Like Max Roach, his solos always had a distinct
form, and were based upon thematic material, not technique. Even when he recorded his only unac-
companied drum solo, called “The Freedom Rider” (from the album of the same name), there was an ob-
vious sense of form and groove. Art Blakey’s influence on jazz drumming is still as strong today as it was
in the ’50s and ’60s. Many jazz drummers have acknowledged Blakey’s impact, including Ralph Peter-
son, Carl Allen, Cindy Blackman, Cecil Brooks III, Lewis Nash, Winard Harper, and Marvin “Smitty”
Smith. However, due to the sheer breadth of his career output—and the popularity of other, more “dru-
mistic” drummers—Blakey’s contribution remains somewhat unappreciated by many drummers today.

Art Blakey first recorded in 1942 with pianist Mary Lou Williams. Williams came from Andy Kirk and
his Clouds Of Joy band (with drummer Ben Thigpen). She had a transitional approach that was rooted
in swing but laid the groundwork for bebop. The same can be said about Blakey. Art then went on to a
short stint with the highly influential Fletcher Henderson Big Band. In 1944, Blakey gained a great deal
of attention when he joined the great Billy Eckstine band, replacing Washington DC drummer Charlie

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Buck. As a young drummer, you could not have picked two better gigs than playing with Henderson and
Eckstine; many of the future stars of jazz came through those two bands. In Eckstine's band alone, Blakey
played with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughn, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Dexter Gordon,
Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, and Fats Navarro. Many of these musicians would later call on Blakey for
record dates and live appearances. With Eckstine, Art’s sloshy hi-hat sound was similar to Papa Jo’s sig-
nature hi-hat approach, and the excitement that Blakey creates is reminiscent of Chick Webb. The CD
set Billy Eckstine: The Legendary Big Band 1943-1947 captures this band at its peak. When Eckstine
broke up his band in 1947, Blakey seized the opportunity and formed his own group, Art Blakey’s Sev-
enteen Messengers. Then in 1948, Blakey played on James Moody’s Modernists, appearing with conguero
Chano Pozo. The album contains some of the earliest fusion of Afro-Cuban music and jazz. Today, this
recording is included on New Sounds - Art Blakey's Messengers/James Moody & His Modernists. On
this CD, You can hear Pozo’s strong influence on Blakey, and Blakey’s swing-era timekeeping.

In 1947, Blakey recorded with Thelonious Monk for the first time. In the words of Thelonious’ son, drum-
mer T.S. Monk, “Blakey was the first drummer to frame Monk’s music correctly.” Monk and Blakey were
truly peers: they had similar backgrounds, and were very close in age. This kinship comes through loud
and clear on Monk’s Genius Of Modern Music Volume 1, and 1952’s Volume 2. Blakey and Monk would
collaborate often through the years, but their best recording together occurred in 1958 on Art Blakey’s
Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk. This recording really shows Blakey’s reduction of the bebop
style of drumming: He has stripped out all of the unnecessary notes and patterns, taking a decidedly
swing-era approach to Monk’s music—without framing it as such. What Max Roach did for Charlie
Parker’s music, Art Blakey did for Monk.

The pairing of Blakey with Charlie Parker was stupendous. Parker’s 1950 recording One Night In Bird-
land is priceless. It features the only pairing of Blakey and Parker on record. This is unfortunate be-
cause the pair played together so well. Blakey brought out a different side of Parker. Art left a lot of
space, and Parker easily filled it up. “One Night” is also one of Parker's only live recordings on which the
performances extend beyond the typical three-minute limit of the recording technology of the day. The
cuts from this live broadcast average seven minutes in length, and feature Blakey manning the pace of
this groundbreaking music. This recording makes an interesting comparison to the Dizzy Gillespie/Char-
lie Parker Town Hall recordings of 1945, which feature Max Roach and Big Sid Catlett. For an even more
interesting comparison of Roach and Blakey, listen to Roach’s solo on “Wee,” from the 1953 Jazz at
Massey Hall concert recording. In it, Max pays such obvious homage to Blakey that it is hard to believe
that you aren’t actually listening to Blakey himself: the mambo pattern between the toms, the five-stroke
rolls around the set—every “Blakeyism” is there. It’s an inspiring listen.

Another piece to the early Blakey drumming puzzle is his work with Miles Davis. The two had played to-
gether in the Eckstine band, and Miles looked up to Blakey. This bond is strong on the newly-issued
Miles Davis recording Birdland 1951, which shows Blakey in full-on bebop mode. There are some tem-
pos here that rival some of Max’s fastest, and while Miles’ playing isn’t at its best, Blakey sets a fire be-
neath everybody. Also from 1951, Miles’ Dig is one of the first studio recordings that extended the
three-minute-per-tune time limit. These recordings offer a huge drum lesson; you can hear how Blakey’s
drumming framed the arrangements. The drummer is the de-facto arranger of every ensemble. The
mood and dynamic set by the drummer often shapes the soloists’ approaches into a spontaneous
arrangement that differs each night. The drummer can vary the orchestration of time-keeping sounds

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(hi-hat, ride, brushes), the texture of accompanying sounds (brushes, cross stick, bells of the cymbals,
short dead strokes, legato sounds, etc.), and the lilt of the time flow to inspire one-of-a-kind-
performances from the soloists. Blakey was a master of this. On Dig you hear Blakey shaping the dif-
ferent soloists (Miles, Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Walter Bishop) into a cohesive unit, and producing
a spectacular recording. Drum-wise, the fours on “Denial” are a textbook for jazz drumming independ-
ence, and the backbeats and press rolls on “Out Of The Blue,” and “Bluing” are vintage Blakey.

Art Blakey often played on recordings that members of his Jazz Messengers made outside of the band.
Selecting his best work as a sideman is difficult; Art was a consistently stellar performer. However, Sax-
ophonist Hank Mobley’s classic Soul Station is one of Art Blakey’s finest recordings as a sideman. The
title track is a quintessential example of the Blakey shuffle, with Art never letting go of the groove. His
time feel is the perfect balance of an insistent 2 & 4 on the hi-hat, a swinging ride-cymbal pattern, and
bubbling ghost notes combined with dead-stroke backbeats on the snare drum. “This I Dig of You” and
“If I Should Lose You” are textbook versions of swing, and nearly every performance from this record-
ing is a finger-poppin’ drum lesson. Pianist Horace Silver’s Trio recording of 1953 offers yet another
side of Art Blakey’s early style. While Silver would become a key ingredient in the original Jazz Mes-
sengers, in 1953 Blakey was a sideman on Silver’s first recording. Blakey lightened his approach greatly
for this date, sounding a great deal like his fellow Pittsburgh native Kenny Clarke, and even a little like
Shadow Wilson. Over the years Blakey wasn’t known for his work with pianists in a trio setting, but his
melodic drumming on this date is proof that he excelled in this format. Another thing of special note on
this recording are two duets between Blakey and conguero Sabu, continuing Blakey's contribution to
the fusing of Afro-Cuban music and jazz. Blakey interpreted many of the hand-drumming techniques
that he saw congueros using, and applied them to the drum set. He often changed the pitches of his
drums by applying pressure to the heads, and soloed with mallets producing a dry sound similar to hand
drums. Later, in 1955, Kenny Dorham’s Afro-Cuban featured Blakey with master conguero Carlos
“Patato” Valdes. Together they weave a tapestry of influential Afro-Cuban jazz.

Though he excelled on numerous record dates as a sideman, Art Blakey is best remembered for leading
The Jazz Messengers. The many editions of this band relentlessly toured the world, spreading the pop-
ularity of jazz with sincere and memorable performances. For the personnel of his band, Blakey became
one of jazz’s greatest talent scouts. Musicians such as Benny Golson, Lee Morgan, Horace Silver, Clif-
ford Brown, Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett, Chuck Mangione, Stanley Clarke, Wynton Marsalis, and Bran-
ford Marsalis all found success in Blakey’s bands. (Jarrett and Mangione both appear on the wonderful
yet forgotten Buttercorn Lady). There were numerous Jazz Messenger lineups, and even more record-
ings (I review them in detail in my “Artist on Track” articles in the October and November 1999 issues
of Modern Drummer magazine). Like Miles Davis, Blakey allowed each version of his band to develop
its own sound and approach. In the beginning, the Messengers featured Clifford Brown, Lou Donaldson,
and Horace Silver. This edition of the group was a bebop machine. A Night At Birdland Vols. 1 and 2 are
among the best bebop-era recordings ever. The soloists all had very different approaches and Blakey
gave them personalized support. These recordings also spotlight Art playing with bassist Curly Russell.
These two musicians had a wonderful hook-up that made the beat a little lighter than previous bebop
recordings. Also check out Blakey and Russell’s telepathic connection on Clifford Jordan and John
Gilmore’s Blowing In From Chicago. And speaking of blowing, Johnny Griffin’s 1957 record A Blow-
ing Session—featuring Blakey igniting John Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, and Griffin—is the
definition of the term “jam session.”

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The next edition of the Jazz Messengers featured Kenny Dorham, Hank Mobley, and Horace Silver, and
they brought with them a catalog of new tunes and a funkier approach that became known as “hard
bop.” This band is best heard on Live at The Cafe Bohemia Vols. 1 and 2. When Benny Golson, Lee Mor-
gan and Bobby Timmons joined the band, the Jazz Messengers hit their popular stride, with tunes like
“Moanin,’” Blues March,” and “I Remember Clifford” becoming jazz standards. Moanin’ is truly a clas-
sic jazz album. This version of the band also appears on the Jazz Icons DVD Art Blakey Live In 1958. The
1960 edition of The Messengers, with Wayne Shorter stepping into Golson’s position, hit its artistic
stride. This lineup is featured on the Mosaic Box set The Complete Blue Note Recordings Of Art Blakey’s
1960 Jazz Messengers—an essential collection of nine discs by this band. According to bassist-histo-
rian John Goldsby, when bassist Reggie Workman joined the Messengers in 1962 he turned the band
“from a straight ahead bebop group into a freewheeling jazz experiment.” This resulted in the out-
standing recordings Ugetsu, Caravan, and Free For All. This fire-breathing band added youngsters
Cedar Walton, Curtis Fuller, and Freddie Hubbard into the mix, and they could not be contained. With
these younger musicians in the band, Blakey’s drumming became more modern. There was also another
soloist in the front line, which put Blakey’s accompaniment skills to even better use. Art would let his
time float occasionally with this group, probably due to the influence of younger drummers such as Tony
Williams and Elvin Jones (both of whom he had influenced years before). Listen to his elastic time feel
on “Caravan” and “This Is For Albert.” But these tunes only hinted at what was to come. The recorded
height of this edition of the band came on the title track of 1964’s Free For All. This album rivals the
Coltrane Quartet in its sheer electricity, and is an unarguable classic. Their next record, Indestructible,
comes close to its legendary predecessor, which is no small task.

Finally, I’ll mention a group of recordings that has been overlooked by the drum community for far too
long. Art Blakey felt a kinship with all of his percussive peers, including the African and Afro-Cuban
drummers who taught him so much. It was Blakey who arranged the 1960 concert and recording of
Gretsch Night At Birdland with Elvin Jones, Philly Joe Jones, and Charli Persip. Art also gathered drum-
mers like Roy Haynes, Specs Wright, Art Taylor, Philly Joe Jones and Papa Jo Jones, along with African
and Afro-Cuban percussion legends including Ray Baretto, Sabu, and “Patato” Valdes in the studio to
record percussion ensemble pieces. The results of these sessions, Orgy In Rhythm Vols. 1 and 2, Drum
Suite, Holiday For Skins Vols. 1 and 2, Drums Around The Corner, and The African Beat, all featured
a strong camaraderie between the drummers, not to mention stellar performances.

Art Blakey had a wonderful sense of being totally in the moment when he played. When he played he re-
acted to all of the contributions from the musicians in the band—he heard everything! Music drove his
drumming, and his drumming drove the music. Perhaps Art himself said it best when he stated, “In jazz,
you get the message when you hear the music.” As we have seen, there are many ways to hear Blakey’s
music. There are also many DVD’s to see Art Blakey’s drumming. The previously mentioned Art Blakey
Live in 1958 and TDK’s 1976 Jazz Messengers are highly recommended, as is John Ramsay’s book Art
Blakey's Jazz Messages (Alfred Publishing Co.). But the lessons are in the groove and the signature
sound that Art Blakey created. Excitement emanated from the drums when Art Blakey played them. His
drumming was a joyful and sincere “free-for-all” for all to enjoy.

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Maxwell Lemuel “Max” Roach

(January 10, 1924 - August 16, 2007)

Max Roach was an inspirational human being. He was born in rural North Carolina, and came to New
York City to attend the Manhattan School of Music. He first recorded in 1943 with Coleman Hawkins,
and became a regular on the groundbreaking 52nd Street music scene. Max became the house drummer
at Monroe’s, and will always be associated with the music he helped create, bebop. He performed and
recorded with every musician that had a part in creating modern small group jazz: Charlie Parker
(Swedish Schnapps), Thelonious Monk (Genius In Modern Music Volume 2), Bud Powell (Jazz Giant),
Charles Mingus (the duet “Percussion Discussion” from At The Bohemia), Dizzy Gillespie, (The Quintet
Live At Massey Hall), and Miles Davis (Birth Of The Cool). For drummers, there are fast tempos, and
then there are Max Roach fast tempos. For bandleaders, Max was always a portrait of maturity, taste and
virtuosity at the drums.

Many drummers laid the groundwork for Max Roach. He learned from the swing-drumming tradition
of Papa Jo Jones and Chick Webb. He inherited the baton of musicality from Cozy Cole, and absorbed
the melodicism of Big Sid Catlett. Kenny Clarke’s innovations helped create bebop drumming, but Max
Roach created the art form of modern drumming by wrapping all these advances into one package. Max’s
practice of interspersing accents during the time flow became known as “dropping bombs,” and was an
impetus of innovation in jazz drumming. Max Roach threw down the gauntlet, and drummers realized
that the bar had been raised.

Max’s blistering tempos and virtuosity with Charlie Parker in 1945 set the standard for all generations
of bebop and jazz drummers to follow. Discovered only recently, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie - Town
Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945, on the Uptown label, is quite possibly the best recording of bebop
available. Both Max Roach and Big Sid Catlett shine on it. This is Max’s best bebop drumming on record.

Max went on to co-lead a band with trumpeter Clifford Brown. His playing with this band defined mu-
sicality on the drums, and created a drumset vocabulary that is still used today. Max’s sense of lyricism
created drum solos and comping figures that could be sung, and his solos clearly stated the form of the
song. Max began to create longer rhythmic motifs, extended his phrases across the barline, and gener-
ally applied the new bebop language to the drum set. All the recordings that this band made, especially
Study In Brown, More Study In Brown, Brown and Roach Inc., and Clifford Brown and Max Roach,
are essential musical cornerstones of the jazz drumming vocabulary.

Possibly the greatest meeting of two musicians at the top of their game occurs on the 1959 recording Rich
versus Roach, featuring Buddy Rich and Max Roach. This controversial and unique recording remains
a favorite of today’s drumming greats, and for many it was an introduction to jazz drumming. This album
has prompted much discussion, and every exciting note from these two masters could, and should, be
analyzed. One interesting aspect of this recording didn’t come from a drum solo, but instead came from
what was happening during a drum solo. When Max led his own band, he often wondered why the other
musicians would stop playing during his solos. This led him to insist that he receive the same type of ac-
companiment as everyone else. On Rich versus Roach pianist Richie Powell comped behind some of
Max’s solos, and Max soloed over a walking bass line on the popular “Sing, Sing, Sing.” At the time,

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these were not common practices, but Max insisted that the drum solo was equal in musical value to any
other solo. Max was a rare breed, a musician and a technician.

Max was well-known for his mastery of odd time signatures. In 1951, Thelonious Monk’s “Carolina
Moon” featured Max playing in 6/4. In 1956, Max played drums on Sonny Rollins’ “Valse Hot,” one of
the earliest 3/4 jazz waltzes. Also in 1956, Max and Clifford Brown played “Love is a Many Splendored
Thing” in 5/4 on the quintet’s Live at Basin Street. Max’s own group was performing the composition
“As Long As You’re Living” in 5/4 years before the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s popular “Take Five.” How-
ever, Roach didn’t record his composition until 1960 (“Take Five” was released in 1959). In 1957 Max
even released an entire record of compositions in 3/4 entitled simply Jazz in 3/4 Time.

Max’s influence went beyond the drums. His recordings Award Winning Drummer, Deeds Not Words,
and Max Roach +4, introduced jazz greats Booker Little, Hank Mobley, and George Coleman to the
scene. Max was also a busy social activist. In the ’50s and ’60s he became outspoken in his demands for
civil rights, producing such albums as We Insist: The Freedom Now Suite and Percussion Bitter Suite.
The latter featured singer Abbey Lincoln, who at the time was his wife.

When Max Roach performed, you never quite knew what you were going to hear. In 1966, the ground-
breaking Drums Unlimited included three unaccompanied drum compositions: “The Drum Also
Waltzes,” “For Big Sid,” and “Drums Unlimited,”—a tradition that he started in 1958 with his solo drum
piece “Conversation.” Max will be forever associated with these solos. Later, these compositions would
evolve into solo drum concerts, along with duet appearances and recordings with avant-garde stalwarts
like Archie Shepp, Anthony Braxton, and Cecil Taylor. Max’s solo drumming concept developed into
the band M’Boom, a recording and touring jazz percussion ensemble that Max founded with jazz drum-
ming mainstays Roy Brooks, Frederick Waits, Steve Berrios, and Joe Chambers. Since Max was one of
the first drummers to use a tympani with his drum set (while recording with Monk in the ’50s), a per-
cussion ensemble seemed like a natural progression. In the 1980s, Max’s own quartet and The Uptown
String Quartet (featuring his daughter Maxine on viola) merged, creating his Double Quartet.

In the late ’80s and early ’90s, all of Max’s various projects came together on two recordings: Max +
Dizzy Paris 1989, and To The Max. The first featured Max and Dizzy Gillespie playing duets from
throughout the history of jazz. Max also played his solo drum compositions, and there was an interest-
ing 32-minute interview. To The Max included many of Max’s different musical projects on an out-
standing two CD set.

Late in life, Max continued to be an active performer and was deeply involved in jazz education. He re-
ceived a MacArthur “genius” grant, participated in children’s music programs, taught at the collegiate
level, and was one of the first jazz musicians to collaborate with rappers. His performances and compo-
sitions always integrated tradition and innovation. His noted solo “Mr. Hi Hat” came from a concept
that Papa Jo Jones introduced, and that tradition is continued today by drummers Roy Haynes and Steve
Smith. Max also wrote compositions in tribute to unsung greats such as Big Sid Catlett and JC Moses.

Mr. Roach’s importance as a musician can be appraised by the diversity of drummers that he has influ-
enced: Stan Levey, Roy Haynes, Ed Blackwell, Joe Morello, Tony Williams, John Bonham, Steve Gadd,
and Terry Bozzio to name a few. All of these drummers drew a huge inspiration from the deep musical

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well that is Max Roach. His influence is essential in the realm of modern drumming, and will be felt for-
ever. Max Roach was a musical innovator, a virtuoso, a master drummer, a bandleader, and a true pro-
fessor of the drums.

Joseph Rudolph “Philly Joe” Jones

(July 15, 1923 - August 30, 1985)

Philly Joe Jones was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and came from a prolific music scene that pro-
duced jazz greats like Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, and John Coltrane. Jones’ nickname differentiated
him from the earlier “Papa” Jo Jones. He was influenced early on by lesser-known drummers on the
Philadelphia jazz scene like Butch Ballard, Dave Black, and Specs Wright. Philly Joe first recorded in
1947 with Joe Morris in a jazz-influenced Rhythm & Blues band that also featured saxophonist Johnny
Griffin. Early on, Philly Joe played many R&B style gigs; his shuffling backbeat on Joe Morris’ Anytime,
Anyplace, Anywhere documents Philly Joe playing in this style.

Philly Joe Jones firmly entered the jazz realm in 1953, with Tadd Dameron and Lou Donaldson. These
early recordings show a strong and swinging time feel, and prove Joe to be a solid accompanist. Jones
would eventually become a uniquely slick drummer, using precise stickings and flashy hand movements.
Ultimately, this slickness seeped into everything he played. He studied with Cozy Cole, who helped him
master the rudiments, and he also worked extensively out of the Charles Wilcoxon snare drum books.
Eventually he became influenced by Buddy Rich and incorporated a flashier and more drumistic ap-
proach to his playing. His complete assimilation of the rudimental approach became the most identifi-
able component of Philly Joe’s soloing vocabulary. He excelled at trading fours and eights, which can be
heard on the songs “Billy Boy,” “Two Bass Hit,” (both from the Miles Davis recording Milestones), “Ah
Leu Cha” (from Davis’ Round About Midnight) , and “Sippin At Bells” (from Sonny Clark’s Cool Strut-
tin’). As these recordings show, Philly Joe’s fours and eights were usually snare/rudiment based, and al-
ways stunning. For further listening, check out the amazing exchanges on “Temperance” from Wynton
Kelly’s Kelly At Midnight.

Philly Joe Jones participated in all of Miles Davis’ classic recordings from 1956: Workin,’ Cookin,’
Steamin,’ and Relaxin,’—all of which are loaded with jazz standards. It was Miles who, upon hearing
the now-common swing groove with a cross-stick accent on beat four, christened it the “Philly lick.” This
useful beat can be heard at its best during the piano solo on “All Of You” from Davis’ Round About Mid-
night, and “Miles” from Davis’ Milestones.

The brushwork of Philly Joe Jones is truly legendary. His predominant brush playing is featured
throughout Bud Powell’s Time Waits (especially on the song “Sub City”), and on Bill Evans’ trio record-
ing California Here I Come. In 1968 Premier Drums published his (currently out-of-print) brush book
entitled Brush Artistry.

Philly Joe’s timekeeping was multifaceted. It could be brash, audacious, and filled with attitude, as on “Be
Bop” from Sonny Clark’s Trio, “Dr. Jeckyl” from Milestones, “Moment’s Notice” from John Coltrane’s Blue
Train, and “Minority” from Everybody Digs Bill Evans. Or it could be very relaxed, as on “Bye Bye Black-
bird” from Round About Midnight, and “Surrey with the Fringe On Top” from Steamin.’

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Although he didn’t record often with larger ensembles, he could certainly drive a big band. It has been
said that Buddy Rich would often hire Philly Joe to rehearse charts with his band. For this aspect of
Joe’s playing, listen to Tadd Dameron’s The Magic Touch, Philly Joe’s own Big Band Sounds Drums
Around The World, and Dameronia’s To Tadd With Love. Philly Joe was truly at home in any size band
or jazz context. For a unique example of his drumming, listen to Philly Joe and Sonny Rollins play a
duet on “Surrey With The Fringe On Top,” from Rollins’ Newk’s Time. This was possibly the only “duet”
of Jones’ career, and is a very telling look into his style and sound. Although Philly Joe was widely
recorded as a freelancer, his suggested recordings as a bandleader are Blues For Dracula, and Trail-
ways Express.

From 1955 through 1962, Philly Joe Jones was the most influential voice in jazz drumming. He was al-
ways at his best when playing with bassists Paul Chambers and Sam Jones. Late in his career he toured
a great deal with Bill Evans and Bobby Hutcherson, and was co-leader of the group Dameronia. Video
footage of Philly Joe is rare. Some footage exists of Philly Joe sitting in with Thelonious Monk in 1968,
but it is hard to find. On the Legends of Jazz Drumming DVD (Alfred Publishing Co.) there is a clip of
Philly Joe playing with pianist Bill Evans.

Philly Joe influenced nearly every jazz drummer that came after him, however, New York’s Kenny Wash-
ington, San Francisco’s Vince Laetano, and Rochester’s Vinnie Ruggiero are some of the most-influ-
enced “disciples” of the great master. Philly Joe Jones remains the quintessential 1950s small-group
jazz drummer, and was named as one of the 25 most influential drummers of all time by Modern Drum-
mer magazine.

Elvin Ray Jones

(September 9, 1927 – May 18, 2004)

Elvin Jones was more than a drummer, he was a musical spirit that humanized all of what the drums
truly represent. Elvin came from a musical family; he was the younger brother of jazz legends Hank and
Thad Jones. He came up through the ranks in the fertile Detroit jazz scene, which also produced in-
strumentalists such as Barry Harris, Kenny Burrell, Milt Jackson, and Ron Carter; and notable drum-
mers such as Louis Hayes, Oliver Jackson, and Roy Brooks. Elvin Jones was a supremely significant
drummer that absorbed some late swing influences from Shadow Wilson and Gene Krupa, and walked
through the door opened by Art Blakey. Elvin first recorded in 1948 with Thad Jones and Billy Mitchell.
Thankfully, these recordings are still available on a collection called Swing Not Spring, released by Savoy
records. It must be remembered that Elvin is important not only because of his work with the legendary
John Coltrane Quartet from 1960 to 1965. Elvin’s pre-and post-Coltrane work is also influential.

When Elvin moved to New York in 1955, he freelanced with J.J. Johnson, Tommy Flanagan, and Sonny
Rollins. The recordings with these leaders show a confident drummer with good time, firmly based in
the jazz tradition, whose ideas occasionally slipped across bar lines, and was imparting a slight legato
time feel to the other musicians. On the recordings by J.J. Johnson (Dial J.J. 5, 1957), Bennie Green
(Soul Stirrin’, 1958), and Harry “Sweets” Edison (Patented By Edison, 1957), we hear prime examples
of Elvin’s early sideman work. He never “upsets the apple cart,” is workman-like in his approach, and is

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very swinging. With Sonny Rollins’ A Night At The Vanguard (1957), we hear Elvin progressing and be-
ginning to experiment. With Rollins, the ideas that would crystallize later with Coltrane are sporadi-
cally present, but are still somewhat unrefined. Rollins’ chordless trio created an unadulterated
environment for Elvin to experiment and stretch, and this essential recording is the result. We pick up
on Elvin’s progression in 1961 on Freddie Hubbard’s Ready For Freddie and Yusef Lateef’s Into Some-
thing, where we can hear some of the ideas from 1957 starting to really come together. Many of these
early recordings paired Elvin with bassist Wilbur Little, who was clearly unfazed by Elvin’s unique “ex-
pansion of time.” Later, bassists Ron Carter and Gene Perla filled this same role. Elvin was taking Art
Blakey’s polyrhythmic approach and expanding upon it. Elvin allowed the pulse to breathe, and his poly-
metric rhythmic vocabulary was truly multi-directional.

Elvin Jones could play louder than most other drummers, and when it was appropriate he created thun-
derous waves of rhythm. But he could also play softer than just about anyone. On pianist Tommy Flana-
gan’s Overseas (1957) we hear this side of Elvin’s playing. He could play softly and tenderly with brushes,
mallets, or sticks. This was never more evident than when Elvin played in a piano trio context. His trio
recordings with McCoy Tyner (Inception), Phineas Newborn (Harlem Blues), Tommy Flanagan
(Eclypso), Hank Jones (Upon Reflection), James Williams (Magical Trio 2), Stephen Scott (Aminah’s
Dream), John Hicks (Power Trio), and Robert Hurst (One For Namesake), balanced Elvin’s lighter
touch with the sheer power he was known for. Elvin was always tasteful and sensitive to the musical
landscape. Adam Nussbaum recalls seeing Elvin accompany jazz singer Maxine Sullivan at a jazz brunch,
and being knocked out by Elvin’s extreme sensitivity, “It wasn’t all slammin’ and bashin’,” recalls Nuss-
baum. As further proof of this important point check out Elvin’s playing on singer Johnny Hartman’s I
Just Dropped by to Say Hello, and with Gil Evans on Great Jazz Standards. While Evans’ recordings
were not big band dates, the large groups and intricate arrangements did require a different sensibility
from Elvin. Elvin’s stellar playing obviously impressed Gil, as he would later work with Evans on The In-
dividualism Of Gil Evans, and play percussion on Miles Davis’ collaborations with Evans, Sketches Of
Spain and Quiet Nights.

In my opinion, the most meaningful work of Elvin’s career (other than his playing with Coltrane) is his
work with organist Larry Young and guitarist Grant Green. Elvin’s drumming with Young (who would
later anchor the Tony Williams Lifetime) was firmly grounded in the tradition of B3 organ-style drum-
ming. His heavy quarter note pulse locked in with Young’s bass lines, and the sparse instrumentation
left room for Elvin’s ever-present 12/8 rhythmic underpinnings. Grant Green’s guitar kept the dynamic
of the group down; consequently the music doesn’t get as intense as the great Coltrane Quartet. This re-
straint makes these recordings somewhat more accessible, and a great place for drummers to start lis-
tening to Elvin. Other recordings include Grant Green’s Talkin About, Solid, and Street Of Dreams (all
recorded in 1964), and I Want To Hold Your Hand and Matador (both from 1965). Larry Young’s Into
Somethin’ added Sam Rivers to the trio of Young, Green, and Jones; and the highly influential Unity fea-
tured Joe Henderson and Woody Shaw with the dynamic rhythm section of Larry Young and Elvin
Jones. All these recordings are earthly and inviting, as opposed to Coltrane’s otherworldly quartet, which
lived somewhere in the rarified musical stratosphere.

It has been said to hear the influence of Elvin’s drumming, all you must do is to listen to any drummer
that came before Elvin, and then listen to any drummer that came after him. Some of the best examples
of drummers that evolved as direct descendents of Elvin Jones include Mitch Mitchell, Ginger Baker,

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Adam Nussbaum, and Jeff “Tain” Watts. Similarly, it is also interesting to listen to Elvin’s drumming
before and after the Coltrane Quartet. Elvin joined Coltrane in 1960, replacing the unsung yet influen-
tial Pete LaRoca. In Elvin, John Coltrane found an improvisational partner who pushed his quartet (with
pianist McCoy Tyner and bassist Jimmy Garrison) to heights that will never be equaled. Elvin Jones’ lop-
ing time feel, polyrhythmic approach, boundless energy, and thunderous crescendos were part of the
quartet’s signature. But however aggressive and bombastic its peaks, the band could also take it down
to a whisper. This group was together for only five years, but in that time they made a wide array of
recordings. Elvin is heard at his all-embracing best on Crescent and A Love Supreme, and his most sub-
lime on Ballads, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, and John Coltrane and Duke Ellington. There
are many live Coltrane recordings, but the Live At The Vanguard series (1961), Afro Blue Impressions
(1963), and One Up, One Down: Live At The Half Note (1965) are definitive documents of this hard-
working band. They made many studio recordings and all of them are remarkable, but Ascension and
Transition both offer the quartet at its aggressive peak. My Favorite Things and Africa/Brass provide
slightly mellower offerings. A fantastic example of Elvin’s spot-on timekeeping can be heard on 1960’s
Coltrane’s Sound. This band is also captured on Coltrane’s Jazz Icon and Jazz Casual DVDs.

Elvin made legendary recordings with other bandleaders as well. Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil, Joe

Henderson’s Inner Urge, and McCoy Tyner’s The Real McCoy are perhaps the most treasured examples.
But Shorter’s Juju and Night Dreamer along with Henderson’s In n’ Out can’t be forgotten. It is no co-
incidence that Elvin was present for many classic recordings. What he brought to a recording session (or
the bandstand) could not be measured by the notes alone. Elvin Jones had a spiritual presence that was
palpable to the musicians around him. His capability of producing waves of pulse and free expression-
ism on the drums emanated from his tenure with Coltrane. Two recordings with Ornette Coleman, Love
Call and New York Is Now, show this side of Elvin. And he would continue this approach throughout
his life: Check out the 1999 recording Momentum Space with avant-garde masters Dewey Redman and
Cecil Taylor. But to appreciate his emotional range, listen to the 1964 recording Stan Getz & Bill Evans
to hear a more restrained side of Elvin.

The seemingly endless waves of pulse, often combined with a gentle overture, made Elvin’s own albums
unique. And these recordings often spotlighted future stars of jazz. The Ultimate Elvin Jones and Puttin’
It Together featured saxophonist Joe Farrell. Live At The Lighthouse featured Dave Liebman, and On
The Mountain featured Jan Hammer. Elvin’s influence went far beyond jazz. Guitarist Carlos Santana
calls Elvin’s 1969 recording Poly-Currents (with conguero Candido Camero) one of his “absolute fa-
vorites.” Musicians from every style have been struck by the thunder and lightning that is Elvin Jones.
Some of his more uncelebrated work includes his drumming in the ’60s psychedelic western movie
Zachariah, his recording with the group Oregon, Together, and with television soundtrack composer
Raymond Scott’s Secret 7 on The Unexpected. And however unique these situations were, Elvin always
brought a childlike sense of musical adventure to the proceedings.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s many of today’s jazz greats called upon Elvin to bring his magical
spirit to their recordings. John McLaughlin formed an organ trio that featured Elvin, and the subse-
quent recording After The Rain is a modern classic. Kenny Garrett went head-to-head with Elvin on
African Exchange Student, and Wynton Marsalis benefited from Jones’ pulse on Thick In The South.
Elvin would continue to lead his Jazz Machine band and introduce future stars to the jazz world until
his death. Their Jazz Machine video (View Video), and Elvin’s Different Drummer (Alfred Publishing

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Co.) video provide visual proof of Elvin’s inimitable style. Elvin Jones’ welcoming, larger-than-life spirit
remains with anyone who ever met him, and drummers continue to walk through the artistic doors
which he opened. He is one of the most influential drummers of all time.

Joseph “Dukes” Thomas

(August 21, 1937 - December 1992)

There is no doubt that Joe Dukes is the least known drummer mentioned in this package. But don’t let
your lack of familiarity cause your interest to waver. Music history is filled with influential drummers
who have not received their just due—but the jazz drumming continuum stands upon their shoulders
nonetheless. As an introduction to this forgotten great, let’s set the scene with some historical context
and musical background. To understand Joe Dukes, we need to take a look back at the beginnings of the
Hammond B3 organ trios.

In 1950, “Wild” Bill Davis was one of the first keyboard players to take the Hammond B3 organ outside
of its usual home, the church. Davis popularized the combination of jazz and R&B with a “big band” ap-
proach, and applied it to a trio setting: organ, drums and guitar. In 1951, Bill Doggett started an organ
trio and followed in Wild Bill’s footsteps. By the mid ’50s, Philadelphian Jimmy Smith started drawing
darker and more percussive sounds from the organ. He added some bebop and greasy blues to the B3
vocabulary, and the organ’s popularity grew in leaps and bounds.

In support of this new style of jazz, a circuit of “organ clubs” soon established itself throughout the
United States. These clubs all had Hammond B3 organs permanently installed in their establishments
to accommodate the many popular touring organ groups. These bands performed with a bluesy, highly
accessible, and inviting approach that music lovers across the country found quite appealing. This is the
environment in which Joe Dukes established himself as a drummer. There were many bands that were
based around the sound of the Hammond B3, but the organ drummers were a breed unto themselves.
There were dozens of organists making a living on the chitlin’ circuit (as it was called) including “Wild”
Bill Davis, Jimmy Smith, Groove Holmes, Jimmy McGriff, Brother Jack McDuff, Dr. Lonnie Smith,
Reuben Wilson, “Big” John Patton, Don Patterson, Johnny “Hammond” Smith, Gene Ludwig, and
Charles Earland. These groups are a tradition within the jazz tradition.

This exciting scene gave early exposure to many legendary musicians such as George Benson, Pat Mar-
tino, Grover Washington Jr., and Joe Lovano. And many celebrated drummers including Bernard Pur-
die, Billy Hart, and Mike Clark cut their teeth playing in organ bands that included equal doses of groove
and swing. There were a handful of drummers that became known almost exclusively for their style of
organ drumming, including Chris Columbo, Eddie Gladden, Ben Dixon, Jimmy Lovelace and Joe Dukes.
Drumming giants Tony Williams and Steve Gadd have mentioned the importance of seeing the early
organ groups and experiencing the drummers’ infectious sense of groove. This influence was so strongly
felt that Williams’ first band, the Tony Williams Lifetime, was an organ trio, and Steve Gadd’s band The
Gadd Gang (although it didn’t have an organ player) had the honky-tonk vibe of an organ group.

Many of drumming history’s established greats (including Elvin Jones, Harvey Mason, and Dennis
Chambers) have benefited greatly from their experience playing with organ groups. There are still many

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fantastic organists keeping this tradition alive, including Joey DeFrancesco, Larry Goldings, John
Medeski, Hank Marr, Tony Monaco, and Mike LeDonne. And there are many drummers who continue
to bring the organ groove to every note that they play. These drummers include Donald Bailey, Grady
Tate, Idris Muhammad, Alvin Queen, Bill Stewart, Byron Landham, and Cecil Brooks III.

This all brings us to the great Joe Dukes. Joe Dukes was born Joseph Thomas on August 21, 1937 in
Memphis, Tennessee. He died in December of 1992 in New York City. He is one of the most important
drummers to emerge from the organ-drumming tradition. Joe hit the music scene as a part of the
Brother Jack McDuff group in 1961. He stayed with McDuff for six years and played on numerous record-
ings. The McDuff group (which included George Benson) was often augmented by guest soloists, big
bands, and singers on their recordings. They even had a hit record called “Rock Candy.”

Joe Dukes’ style of swing had an unrelenting energy that recalls early Art Blakey and a sense of melod-
icism and virtuosity that recalled Max Roach. Dukes brought these influences to the organ-drumming
tradition. Up until that point, the organ-drumming style was rather unrefined. It relied on greasy swing
and supportive groove as opposed to solos, independence, and polyrhythmic patterns. Although many
of the early organ drummers didn’t have the technique that the bebop drummers had, they had all the
feel one could want in a musician. They were drummers who related more to the earlier swing-drum-
ming tradition than to later bebop drumming styles. The organ drummers could keep people dancing
and clapping well into the night; this was a staple of the chitlin’ circuit. To quote a phrase, “they swung
you into bad health!” Like the swing big bands of Benny Moten or Jimmy Lunceford, the organ bands
played good-time party music.

Joe Dukes always kept this “feeling” in his drumming, but he also added a sense of virtuosity. He fused
the organ style of swing-influenced drumming, the modern style of small-group bebop drumming, and
later added a sense of funkiness that was unmatched. He was also a fantastic showman! You can hear
Joe Dukes’ swinging brand of traditional organ-style drumming on Brother Jack Meets The Boss, where
Gene Ammons guests with McDuff’s band. On Brother Jack McDuff’s Screamin’ we hear an explosive
Joe Dukes on the bluesy “After Hours” and the swing staple “One O’Clock Jump.” Joe stretches out and
solos at length over a Latin vamp on the title track. Also appearing on this album is the original version
of Dukes’ melodic drumming feature, “Soulful Drums.” This showcase places Joe Dukes in the line of
truly melodic drummers that began with Big Sid Catlett, continued with Max Roach and Sam Woodyard,
and continues today with Terry Bozzio and Ari Hoenig. Dukes rerecorded this tune on his own The
Soulful Drums Of Joe Dukes (reissued on CD under Jack McDuff’s name) with an even more aggressive
approach. “Soulful Drums” has since been covered by Idris Muhammad and Steve Smith and remains
as one of the most unique drum features ever recorded.

The collection Jack McDuff: Legends of Acid Jazz features a great dose of Joe Dukes. The breakneck
tempo of Ray Charles’ “I Got A Woman” is breathtaking. The band is preaching while being catapulted
by Joe’s groove on “Hallelujah Time,” “From The Bottom Up,” and “Scufflin.” Dukes’ tighter time feel
on “Au Privave” shows that he was very capable of fitting into the more traditional role of a bebop drum-
mer. The McDuff recording Crash (featuring guitarist Kenny Burrell) is a more relaxed and swinging
example of McDuff, Dukes, and company.

To get a feel for what the chitlin’ circuit was all about, check out Jack McDuff’s Live. This is an out-
standing recording of two shows that McDuff’s group played in 1963, and includes an inspired reading

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of the group’s hit “Rock Candy,” among other swingin’ and soulful good-time jazz. You can almost smell
the chicken frying and the greens simmering.

However, to stop paying attention to Joe Dukes’ drumming after the famous McDuff group would be a
mistake. In the late ’60s and early ’70s, Dukes joined forces with another of the great organists, Dr. Lon-
nie Smith. Smith had played with George Benson’s popular working band (with superb organ drummer
Marion Booker), and eventually went out on his own. Joe Dukes soon signed on. Dr. Lonnie Smith’s
group was one of the busiest organ groups in the 1970s and often included baritone saxophonist Ron-
nie Cuber, whom some drummers might recognize from his work with Steve Gadd’s Gadd Gang. Dr.
Lonnie Smith (like many other leaders of the time) often included funky versions of popular tunes in his
sets. On his recordings Drive and the essential Live At The Club Mozambique, Smith’s band played Sly
Stone’s “I Want To Thank You,” and Blood Sweat and Tears’ “Spinning Wheel.” In the hands of Joe
Dukes, these grooves percolate with excitement and a sense of funk more often associated with James
Brown’s bands. Witness the selection “I Can’t Stand It” for confirmation of this claim. Joe’s drum breaks
and infectious beats on “Spinning Wheel” could easily be mistaken for funk masters Modeliste or
Garibaldi. Yes, Joe Dukes was that funky! His funk playing has that unique sense of swing that could
only come from a jazz background, and his lighter touch keeps the syncopated conversation of his left-
hand comping smooth, exciting, and propulsive.

Check out Joe’s version of a classic fusion groove on the intro of “Twenty Five Miles.” Note the similar-
ities between this groove and the one that Tony Williams plays on “It’s About That Time” (released only
four months earlier on Miles Davis’ In A Silent Way). Joe’s exciting drive on “Seven Steps to Heaven”
also recalls Tony Williams; however, the swinging quarter-note groove that Dukes lays down on the end
vamp is organ drumming at its best! Both of these examples show a distinct Tony Williams-esque ap-
proach, reminding us that while Tony was influenced early on by the organ drummers, that influence was
eventually reciprocated. Joe’s brisk time-feel almost channels Art Blakey on the tune “Expressions,”
while his comping leans closer to Philly Joe Jones, and his all too brief solo shows a sense of virtuosity
that is truly Dennis Chambers-ish. The “stupid funky” grooves on “Scream” and “Play It Back” reminds
us that Joe’s early Memphis roots were never too far from the surface. I must also mention that all of this
authentic funk and jazz drumming is happening on the same set of drums and cymbals, dispelling the
modern myth of a separate “jazz drum sound” and “funk drum sound.” Joe Dukes’ drum sound on Live
at the Club Mozambique destroys this fallacy by letting us hear some serious swing, and treacherous
groove from the same drums and cymbals, not to mention the same drummer!

The tradition of the organ-led groups in jazz is very important, but it would have been lost without the
influence of the drummers. Joe Dukes is one of the most important players from that tradition, and his
inclusion in this set is monumental. It is rumored that none other than Frank Zappa recognized Joe
Dukes’ unique sense of groove: He is rumored to have sought Joe to occupy the drum chair in his band.
Although I have never been able to confirm this, Chester Thompson (who followed Dukes into Jack Mc-
Duff’s band before joining Zappa himself) told me that in his opinion this would have made sense, and
that Dukes was Zappa’s type of drummer. Dukes assimilated a unique blend of characteristics into his
playing that I have never heard from another drummer: excitement, melodicism, drive, funk, and swing.
Joe Dukes created a supremely soulful and unique voice on the drum set. And after all, isn’t that what
it’s all about?

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Anthony Tillmon “Tony” Williams

(December 12, 1945 - February 23,1997)

Tony Williams has been lauded by nearly everyone who has ever picked up a drumstick, and rightfully
so. He has inspired us all! His virtuosity is unmatched, and creativity runs rampant throughout his ca-
reer of groundbreaking music and breathtaking drumming. He walked through the door that Roy
Haynes, Art Blakey, and Elvin Jones opened for highly interactive, aggressive, and elasticized modern
drumming. His work with the Miles Davis Quintet set the standard for creative mid-’60s jazz drumming.
His sideman recordings on Blue Note with Jackie McLean, Kenny Dorham, Grachan Moncur III, Andrew
Hill, and Herbie Hancock cemented his importance in a new style of music that introduced an avant-
garde sense of freedom into a more straight-ahead setting. This was later referred to as “free bop.” As a
bandleader, Tony led many different ensembles. His first recordings, Life Time and Spring, expanded
the sense of freedom that Tony took to his work with Miles. Later, this sense of freedom was integral to
his early Lifetime trio with Larry Young and John McLaughlin—the band that defined the concept of jazz-
rock or fusion. His mid-’70s band, The New Tony Williams Lifetime (with Allan Holdsworth, Tony New-
ton, and Alan Pasqua) created the treatise for many later approaches in jazz-rock with their recording
Believe It. With his final quintet, Tony explored his compositional and arranging skills with six stellar
recordings of his own compositions that framed his consistent, explosive, and supportive drumming. In
between all of his work as a bandleader, there were many special recordings that benefited greatly from
Tony’s presence. It is no coincidence that Tony played on so many classic recordings; his inclusion on a
recording date raised the musical bar.

For this package, Tony Williams has an even more special meaning. Tony is the perfect example of a
modern drummer who was standing on the shoulders of those who came before him. He assimilated the
approaches of his favorite drummers and added to them, advancing the artform of jazz drumming while
inspiring others to do the same. At the time of his death he was even working on a project that exam-
ined the evolution of jazz drumming. Tony’s greatness is well documented on his many recordings. But
what is often overlooked is that because these recordings began at an early age, they afford us the chance
to study the development of an exceptional artist. Today, not only can we examine his recordings, we
can examine how his peers on the jazz drumming scene influenced him in his formative years. It’s time
that we go back a little further and examine the roots and influences of this innovative drummer and see
what shaped the musical mind of this one-of-a-kind artist.

As a boy, Tony was very aware of the tradition of jazz drumming. His father was an active saxophonist
on the Boston jazz scene, which was the home of forward-thinking musicians like Herb Pomeroy, Jaki
Byard, and Sam Rivers. We can gain insight into what this environment must have been like by listen-
ing to Tony on Sam Rivers’ Fuschia Swing Song. Through his father and his early teacher Alan Dawson,
Tony was getting experience playing jazz with many older Boston musicians. He was learning on the
bandstand in a “trial by fire” environment. While he was studying with Dawson, there is no doubt that
a sense of fearless musical exploration was emerging in Tony. But this interest in musical exploration
was not only confined to jazz. Like many teens in the 1960s, Tony was also enamored with rock’n’roll.
He cited groups like The Beatles and The MC5 among his favorites.

The teenage years are an impressionable and rebellious time in anyone’s life, and the teenager thinks
there is nothing he cannot do. There is a good dose of this youthful bliss and creative innocence in Tony’s

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early, super-confident drumming approach. Because of his audacious technical abilities, it is easy to for-
get that when Tony began playing with Miles Davis he was only a teenager. However, in retrospect this
may be one of the reasons that he could be so daring. Think about the confidence that must have come
from playing with an icon like Miles Davis, starting in 1963 at the age of 17. Combine this with the fact
that that the 1960s were a time of change, rebellion, and cultural upheaval. With Miles Davis, Tony had
fallen in with a man some considered to be the ultimate rebel. To properly study Tony Williams, we
must understand his upbringing, with this myriad of personal, cultural and musical influences. To re-
ally appreciate and fully understand Tony’s uniqueness we should look at the drumming influences that
were present “on the scene” (both locally and nationally), and how they manifested themselves in Tony’s
drumming. This creates a cultural perspective to contextualize Tony’s groundbreaking drumming and
extraordinary musical approach.

When Tony’s father used to take him to Boston nightclubs to hear live jazz, many of the groups that he
heard were the then-popular organ groups. Tony would later comment that those groups had a strong in-
fluence on him. Possibly this is one of the reasons why his first Lifetime band was an organ trio. The
Boston jazz scene was very active, and Tony most likely would have heard drummers Bill “Baggy” Grant,
Clarence Johnson, Larry Winters (all of whom were very close with Alan Dawson), and Jimmy Zitano. Zi-
tano was good enough to have played with Miles in Boston in 1955, and later recorded with Donald Byrd.
Bill “Baggy” Grant was one of the “godfathers” of bebop drumming. He played and recorded with Char-
lie Parker, Gigi Gryce, and Boston pianist Jimmy Martin. Clarence Johnson was a supremely-swinging
drummer who recorded with Freddie Roach, James Moody, Ben Webster, and Harry “Sweets” Edison.

In a 1985 drum clinic, Tony talked about the ingredients that he felt would make a perfect drummer:
technique, feel, and creativity. He began by citing Boston drummers with these attributes, mentioning
Dawson’s technical abilities and Baggy’s feel. Unfortunately he couldn’t recall the name of his Boston-
area example for creativity, but I have no doubt that it is one of the drummers named above, seen by
Tony in his formative years. He then proceeded to recall the big-name drummers that had those quali-
ties: Max Roach (technique), Art Blakey (feel), and Philly Joe Jones (creativity). Tony made no secret of
the fact that as he developed, he went through periods where he consciously tried to sound like his major
influences: Max Roach, Art Blakey, Roy Haynes, and Philly Joe Jones. But in addition to these giants,
Tony also mentioned lesser-known influences like Jimmy Cobb, Louis Hayes, and Clifford Jarvis. While
a great deal of examination has been done on the big-name drummers, the lesser-known players have
been largely ignored. Let’s take a look at a few of Tony’s lesser-known influences.

By the time Tony first recorded in 1963 with Jackie McLean (Vertigo, One Step Beyond), Herbie Han-
cock (My Point Of View), and Kenny Dorham (Una Mas), his drumming was ripe with influences from
his jazz-drumming peers. These drummers set the standard with the same bandleaders whom Tony
would soon be working with. For example, Tony’s straight-eighth-note “boogaloo” playing and loose
swing was very similar to that of the popular Billy Higgins. Tony’s ride cymbal playing had assimilated
bits of Art Taylor, Jimmy Cobb, Shelly Manne and Louis Hayes. His looser, more out-of-time playing had
its origins with Pete LaRoca and later showed evidence of Sunny Murray and Rashied Ali. Herbie Han-
cock told me that “Tony’s sense of exploration and fire was inspired by his boyhood friend, drummer Clif-
ford Jarvis.”

Billy Higgins’ influence on Tony can be heard when you listen to Billy’s playing on Donald Byrd’s 1961
recording Free Form, Jackie McLean’s Let Freedom Ring, Herbie Hancock’s Takin’ Off, and Dexter Gor-

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don’s Go! (all recorded in 1962). Compare these recordings to Tony’s early 1963 recordings as a sideman
on Blue Note. Higgins had become known for his swinging and joyful time feel. He combined his time-
keeping with a sense of freedom that came from his experience with Ornette Coleman. Together this
created a unique looseness within Billy’s effervescent time flow. All the while, Higgins’ comping style kept
a more traditional bebop approach. But the similarities between Billy and Tony didn’t stop there. Hig-
gins created a signature “boogaloo beat” that was very straightforward and direct, as heard on Han-
cock’s “Watermelon Man” and Lee Morgan’s “The Sidewinder.” This groove became immensely popular
and most drummers were influenced by it. But Tony’s interpretation loosened up the eighth notes, ac-
centuated the bass drum, and widened the beat slightly. This resulted in more of a rock feel (listen to
“Eighty One” on Miles Smiles and “Stuff” on Miles in the Sky), as opposed to Billy’s sanctified R&B
boogaloo. This makes sense because Tony was from one of the earliest rock-influenced generations. Billy
Higgins’ voice in drumming was a combination of a loose time feel, a traditional comping style, and a
signature groove. Thus, the young Tony Williams sounded similar to the already established Billy Hig-
gins both in style and approach.

When Miles Davis was putting together a new band in the early ’60s, he considered other drummers
before hiring Tony Williams. He recorded with Frank Butler and New Yorker Willie Bobo (who was re-
portedly offered the gig before Tony). But it was Tony who ultimately got the call. Tony was replacing
Jimmy Cobb, who in turn had replaced Philly Joe. Musically, the new band was entirely different in con-
ception and direction, yet Cobb had laid some of the groundwork for Tony. Upon listening to Jimmy’s
drumming on Miles’ 1961 Live At The Blackhawk recordings, you are introduced to Cobb’s instantly
identifiable ride cymbal approach. This approach was created by Jimmy’s unique sense of “rhythmic
skipping” and breaking up the beat (often attributed to more modern players), combined with his sig-
nature swinging-quarter-note style. This was a major, yet usually overlooked, influence on Tony’s early
timekeeping.

Tony’s ride cymbal playing flattened out at higher tempos. The origin of this approach is usually iden-
tified with Max Roach. But Max’s strong influence on Tony was found more in his melodicism, musi-
cality, and orchestration. For uptempo timekeeping, give a listen to Shelly Manne breaking up the ride
on “Love For Sale” from Shelly Manne and His Men at The Manne Hole Vol. 1, or Louis Hayes’ brisk
swing on Kenny Drew’s Undercurrent and Freddie Redd’s Shades of Redd. When asked, Tony would
often recall the influence of Louis Hayes.

Art Taylor’s timekeeping was a favorite among musicians in the late ’50s and early ’60s. Both Jackie
McLean and Kenny Dorham worked with Taylor in the years preceding their work with Tony. “A.T.” (as
he was called) had a professional and unobtrusive drumming approach, but it was his comfortable and
slightly pushing time feel that musicians liked. Listen to the slight push of his time feel on McLean’s
Swing, Swang, Swingin,’ and Kenny Dorham’s Inta Somethin’, and compare it to Tony’s. We can even
compare their takes on the tune “Una Mas,” which they both recorded with Dorham.

In 1959, Pete LaRoca recorded the first free-form drum solo on a tune that was otherwise played in time.
“Minor Apprehension” from Jackie McLean’s New Soil was highly influential. Suddenly drummers could
solo off of an internal “pulse,” free of the restraints of keeping strict time for themselves within their
solos. LaRoca was an important drummer; he played in John Coltrane’s first band (that went un-
recorded), and recorded and toured with Sonny Rollins’ trio. At the time, Pete was also playing with

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clarinetist Tony Scott in a band that featured Bill Evans. Scott’s band was exploring the concept of play-
ing freer within the time, and LaRoca’s loose drumming made this possible. For evidence of Pete
LaRoca’s contribution towards this concept check out the recently issued 1959 Tony Scott live record-
ing At Last.

I mentioned earlier that Herbie Hancock told me of Tony’s admiration for the playing of his old friend
from Boston, Clifford Jarvis. Clifford and Tony both studied with Alan Dawson at the same time. Jarvis’
playing bubbled with a unique sense of adventure; he was explosive, wild, and unpredictable. Clifford
was a big influence on Tony, and can be heard on recordings with Freddie Hubbard: Open Sesame
(1960), Hub-Tones (1962), and Blue Spirits (1965). Clifford also recorded in 1965 with Jackie McLean
on Right Now. Jarvis would later go on to play with Roland Kirk, Pharoah Sanders, and Sun Ra.

Because he was such an influential teacher, there is a tendency to overlook Alan Dawson as a player. His
1964-5 recordings with Booker Ervin The Freedom Book, The Song Book, The Blues Book, and The Space
Book all offer a good look into the mind of Dawson the musician. The many recordings that Dawson did
with pianist Jaki Byard show a free-thinking drummer who knew no musical boundaries in style or ap-
proach. It is possible that this is the type of music that Tony was hearing when he heard his teacher play-
ing in Boston with Byard and others. If so, the scope of Alan Dawson’s influence on Tony becomes clear!
Yet it sounds as if Alan was being influenced by Tony as well. Check out Sonny Rollins’ recording In Eu-
rope Nov. 1-2, 1965, which features a very musical Dawson in the freedom of a saxophone trio format. Ex-
ploration was in the air when Tony Williams was developing. There is no doubt that he benefited from,
and expanded upon, the many breakthroughs of his percussive predecessors and peers in jazz drumming.

Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage was a monumental recording in the mid-’60s. Tony Williams’ float-
ing time feel and elasticized drumming was an essential ingredient in it. However, according to George
Coleman (who played saxophone on the recording), drummer Stu Martin was Herbie Hancock’s origi-
nal choice for the recording. Martin was not a complete unknown, he had already recorded with Quincy
Jones, and would go on to record later with John McLaughlin and become one of the important free
jazz drummers. But he has never quite received proper attention; maybe this would have changed if he
was included on this seminal recording. Herbie replaced Stu with Tony Williams on the second day of
recording, and Tony wound up as the only drummer on the record. This is more than a piece of drum
trivia. The inclusion of Martin might clue us into Hancock’s thinking at the time, and would have
changed this recording completely.

We have examined many of the ingredients and experiences that contributed to Tony Williams’ genius.
Now let’s look at some of the results of all of this musical input. Tony’s best-known work is his ground-
breaking playing with the Miles Davis Quintet. For my ears, E.S.P., Miles Smiles, Sorcerer, Nefertiti,
Miles In The Sky, and Filles De Kilimanjaro act as an inseparable suite of timeless music and spectac-
ular drumming. Everyone has their favorites, but these recordings are all different and equally amazing.
Tony’s live recordings with Miles are a study in the evolution of a band and its drummer. The Complete
Concert of 1964 is jaw-dropping in its audacity and its ultra fast tempos. However, the recently released
1963 Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival shows that this band wasn’t always living on the edge and run-
ning in fifth gear. Miles’ Live In Europe (with saxophonist George Coleman), Live In Tokyo (with Sam
Rivers) and Live in Berlin (with Wayne Shorter replacing Rivers) reflect Tony’s desire to progress to-
wards a looser concept within the quintet. The pinnacle of the quintet’s live output occurred at Chicago’s

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Plugged Nickel with the truly essential recording Live at the Plugged Nickel. This is the quintet at its ad-
venturous and rambunctious peak. In the words of Miles, Tony was the “fire and the creative spark of
the band,” and “the center that the group’s sound revolved around.”

A great deal can be learned from comments that Miles Davis makes about Tony in his autobiography.
He states that Tony liked musicians who “made mistakes.” When it came time for Miles to replace George
Coleman in the band, Tony suggested musicians that “were reaching for different kinds of things.” Tony
pointed Miles towards Ornette Coleman, Archie Shepp, Eric Dolphy, and Sam Rivers. Miles also recalls
Ornette Coleman’s band as Tony’s favorite. Later in his career, Tony would play with a musician that was
always reaching for something else and “making mistakes,” guitarist Derek Bailey. Tony made two
recordings with Bailey and bassist Bill Laswell under the group name Arcana. These two recordings,
The Last Wave and Arc of the Testimony, show Tony’s fondness for the avant-garde, and his natural ap-
proach to playing in this genre. For a more acoustic version of Tony’s avant-garde playing, listen to Don
Pullen’s outstanding New Beginnings, and Jonas Hellborg’s The Word.

I believe that Tony’s incorporation of the avant-garde or free approach to drumming is one of the keys

to his playing. His ability to temporarily suspend time and freely float between timekeeping and time-
suspension is a central ingredient of what makes Tony truly unique. He had the ability to fill a bar with
a “maximum density” of notes, while his polymetric sense of time allowed him to create larger pulses that
would flow over the basic time. This gave him a unique sense of overdrive (a “fifth gear”) that few oth-
ers could achieve. Tony’s early Blue Note recordings Life Time and Spring are essential studies of Tony’s
expressionistic and free drumming approach. However, this was not an approach that Tony invented.
He was again standing on the shoulders of drummers that had paved the way before him. Loose time-
keeping began with Roy Haynes in 1951. Elvin Jones, Ed Blackwell, Joe Chambers, and Paul Motian
continued to expand on this elasticized sense of time flow. Tony and Jack DeJohnette became the most
popular purveyors of this approach, but it was the avant-garde drummers that transformed the existing
linear time flow into an expressionist wave of pulse and sound. Rashied Ali, Andrew Cyrille, Sunny Mur-
ray, Barry Altschul, Steve McCall, and Charles Moffett were important drummers that took their cue
from tradition and developed an approach that many of the greats absorbed. This floating pulse provided
a sense of freedom that came from expanding and contracting waves of time and flow. Tony benefited
greatly from this approach, and a handful of bandleaders called upon Tony to play in this style. Tony uti-
lized these concepts to perfection with Andrew Hill on his classic Point Of Departure, with Jackie
McLean on One Step Beyond, and with Grachan Moncur III on Evolution and Some Other Stuff. This
is the stuff of sheer genius.

Tony’s interest in the avant-garde was always balanced by his foundation in the jazz tradition. Tony re-
ferred to Miles Davis’ recording Milestones as “the definitive jazz album of all time,” and continued by
saying that it “had the spirit in it of everyone who plays jazz.” Tony’s “traditional” jazz playing is spot-
lighted on Kenny Dorham’s recording Una Mas, Herbie Hancock’s My Point Of View, and on Miles’
Seven Steps To Heaven. Tony’s straight-ahead jazz playing was also spotlighted on many piano trio
recordings. His playing with Hank Jones on the many Great Jazz Trio recordings was truly classic, and
Tommy Flanagan’s Master Trio features Tony swinging hard. Geri Allen’s Twenty One is one of the best
trio offerings of Tony’s career. Tony’s last recording as a leader was a splendid trio recording with Mul-
grew Miller (the longtime pianist from his quintet) and Ira Coleman called Young At Heart.

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In the decades before the tragic and sudden end of Tony’s life, his musical interests were focused on
more than drumming. In 1985, upon completing his study of music composition at U.C. Berkley, Tony
put together a band to (in Tony’s words) “make a major assault on the record-buying public.” Tony’s tal-
ented quintet (which featured Wallace Roney, Billy Pierce, and Mulgrew Miller) became the primary
outlet for his exquisite compositions. Together they recorded Foreign Intrigue, Civilization, Angel
Street, Native Heart, The Story Of Neptune, (these five being available as a Mosaic boxed set) and Tokyo
Live. Like the recordings of the great Miles Davis Quintet, the Blue Note recordings of the Tony Williams
Quintet form a suite with a strong compositional style, memorable arrangements, and ultra-melodic
and aggressive drumming. Throughout the band’s existence, almost all of their music was composed by
Williams; his compositions were the true star of this band. You can see this band in action on the video
New York Live. Tony’s compositional tour-de-force occurred with his all star orchestral recording
Wilderness featuring Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, Stanley Clarke, and Pat Metheny. The expan-
sive nature of this recording was grounded by Tony’s playing with bassist Stanley Clarke, recalling their
telepathic approach from Clarke’s 1974 self-titled debut recording and Stan Getz’s influential 1972 mas-
terpiece Captain Marvel.

Tony’s legacy is so vast that it includes more than his drumming and his compositions. One of his great-
est contributions to music was his pioneering of the combination of jazz and rock. His band Lifetime was
the first fusion band, and their 1969 debut recording Emergency! remains one of the most influential
recordings of all time. Turn It Over, Ego, and The Old Bum’s Rush would follow before The New Tony
Williams Lifetime burst onto the scene with Believe It and Million Dollar Legs.

Tony Williams untimely death from a heart attack at the age of 51 left a void left in modern drumming.
It is his peers Jack DeJohnette, Billy Hart, Al Foster, and Billy Cobham—who were all actually older
than Tony was, yet were influenced by him—that have carried on in Tony’s enormous footsteps. Gener-
ations of distinctive drummers have continued to humbly build on what Tony and his peers introduced.
Lenny White, Steve Gadd, Vinnie Colaiuta, Steve Smith, Chad Wackerman, Marvin “Smitty” Smith, Den-
nis Chambers, Cindy Blackman, Jeff Watts, Terri Lyne Carrington, Bill Stewart, and Brian Blade all
come to mind as musicians whose approach to drumming emanates from the musical path blazed by
Tony Williams.

As a drummer that ultimately changed both music and drumming, Tony was always developing his God-
given talents. His belief that “playing with people and for people is the fastest and best way to learn how
to play music, and to learn what you want to play and how you sound best” is a reflection on Tony’s own
development. Tony was very methodical about developing his unique voice: “After I started to get into
drumming, and was listening to all these guys—Max, Art, Philly Joe—along with Louis Hayes, Jimmy
Cobb, and Roy Haynes; I started making a mental graph, like a Rolodex type of thing in my head. I could
see that at certain places every drummer has tendencies—what he will or won’t do at a certain point in
the song. So I made mental notes about all of these drummers. I started seeing places where all of them
weren’t doing this or that, so I thought, ‘if no one else is doing this, I might as well.’” He concluded with
a statement that defines the spirit of the concept behind Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. He said,
“But I was only able to make those conclusions and assumptions after studying all of the drummers that
I really liked.” Tony found a musical void, and he developed his drumming voice to fill that void. In
doing so, he left us with one of our greatest musical gifts.

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John Riley

(June 11, 1954)

John Riley began playing drums at age eight, after receiving a snare drum as a gift. With the support,
encouragement and patience of his parents, John and Mary Ann, he played in the school band and began
drum lessons with a good local teacher, Tom Sicola, in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. While under Tom’s
guidance, he gained control of the snare drum through work on the rudiments and reading. Eventually,
he acquired a complete drum set and his lessons expanded to include grooves, coordination, and read-
ing studies for the drum set.

At age twelve, John began playing in rock bands and heard his first jazz recordings: the soundtrack to
The Gene Krupa Story and Max Roach’s Conversation. Two years later, he played his first pro gig, which
he obtained through an audition played over the telephone. John began studying with Joe Morello in
1971, after meeting him at a drum symposium. John then went on to attend the University of North
Texas, where he was introduced to a larger world of music and percussion. While at UNT, he played in,
toured, and recorded with the famed One O’ Clock Lab Band. In 1976, he moved to New York City and
was soon called to join the Woody Herman Band. This hard-working band toured constantly. Woody had
a tradition of outstanding drummers that went all the way back to Dave Tough, and eventually included
Jake Hanna, John Von Ohlen, Ed Soph, and Jeff Hamilton. John assimilated all of their best charac-
teristics while making his own contributions to the legacy of Woody Herman drummers. Check out
John’s playing on La Fiesta, from 1978. After leaving the Herman band, John returned to New York and
began freelancing with a wide spectrum of world-class musicians including Stan Getz, Milt Jackson,
Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Lovano and Bob Berg.

Throughout his illustrious career John has excelled on both big band and small-group gigs and record-
ings. He always seems to find the right approach to compliment an ensemble. Riley’s playing is firmly
rooted in the jazz tradition while looking towards the future. His early recordings with bebop legend
Red Rodney (One For Bird and Red Snapper), The DMP Big Band (Carved In Stone, Salutes Duke
Ellington) and Bob Mintzer (Homage To Count Basie), show these traditional roots. John can be heard
keeping time on open hi-hats like Papa Jo, dropping bombs like Max, turning up the heat behind shout
choruses like Buddy, and effortlessly maneuvering tricky arrangements like Mel Lewis. These highly re-
fined musical skills have made him one of the best big band drummers around today, and have led John
to share a longtime relationship with saxophonist and big band leader Bob Mintzer. John made his first
appearance on record with Mintzer on 1988’s Spectrum (filling the shoes of Peter Erskine), and has ap-
peared on all of Mintzer’s big band recordings since. While there have been many recordings with
Mintzer, the standouts are 1991’s Departure, 1994’s Only In New York, and 1996’s Big Band Trane.
More recently, John appeared on Mintzer’s exceptional quartet recording In The Moment. Most of these
recordings feature Riley’s nearly telepathic hook-up with bassist Jay Anderson. Together, they consis-
tently provide a musical springboard to catapult Mintzer’s compositions and playing to new heights.

John’s presence in the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra is a continuation of the forward-thinking, small group
approach to big band drumming that began when the band was led by Mel Lewis (and can even be traced
back to an earlier time when Lewis and Thad Jones co-led the band). The recording Lickety Split fea-
tures knotty compositions and dense arrangements by pianist Jim McNeely. John’s masterful naviga-

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tion of these lush arrangements is simply awe-inspiring. Also check out the recent Up From The Skies,
which features an arrangement of the Jimi Hendrix title track and a challenging feature for John enti-
tled “The Life of Riley.” The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra is the best around, and Riley’s consistent and cre-
ative drumming is one of the main reasons why. John has also played with The Carnegie Hall Jazz Band,
and big band leaders Vince Mendoza and George Gruntz. It was in Gruntz’s band that Riley joined forces
with Kenwood Dennard and Grady Tate to play with Miles Davis and Quincy Jones on the recording
Miles and Quincy Live At Montreux.

It is not only big bands that benefit from Riley’s accompaniment. He can set a fire under a small group
as well. His low-key and easy-going swing compliments guitarist John Hart on Hart’s recording One
Down. The heat gets turned up a bit more on Bruce Williamson’s Big City Magic, and even more on
Ted Rosenthal’s Expression. However, John’s best small group playing is on Kenny Werner’s Uncovered
Heart. On it John joins all stars Joe Lovano, Randy Brecker, and Eddie Gomez to play Werner’s beau-
tiful compositions with a modern interpretation that approaches absolute mastery. Also check out John
Serry’s Enchantress recording for some more fusion-oriented playing from Mr. Riley.

It’s unfortunate that John’s playing in John Scofield’s original quartet (with Joe Lovano and Anthony
Cox) went undocumented on record. However, we are lucky to have the DVD John Scofield: Live Three
Ways. This document does not come close to capturing the fire that this quartet created in two years of
touring, but it’s very good. This quartet was playing the music that would appear on Scofield’s Flat Out
(with Terri Lyne Carrington and Johnny Vidacovich), Time On My Hands (with Jack DeJohnette), and
Meant To Be (with Bill Stewart). Scofield’s quartet with Riley was one of the best jazz groups of the
1990s. During this same time, John was also busy working with Gary Peacock, John Pattitucci, Mike
Stern, and Steve Khan.

John Riley is much more than a busy freelance performer on the international jazz scene. He is also
among the very few great players who are also gifted teachers, and this is no coincidence. John holds a
Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Education from the University of North Texas and a Master of Music
in Jazz Studies from Manhattan School of Music. Today, he is on the faculty of Manhattan School of
Music and SUNY Purchase, and is an Artist in Residence at the Amsterdam Conservatory in Holland. His
keen insights have helped his students become some of the most sought-after young drummers on the
jazz scene today. His ability to help drummers recognize their weaknesses, while offering support and
advice to set the student on the road to improvement and success, makes him one of the best jazz edu-
cators around.

John’s books are an indispensable part of modern jazz drumming education. He is the author of The Art
of Bop Drumming, Beyond Bop Drumming (both from Alfred Publishing Co.), and The Jazz Drum-
mer’s Workshop (Modern Drummer Publications). He has taught master classes around the world, and
is presently working on his first instructional DVD.

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Steven Bruce Smith

(August 21, 1954)

Steve Smith has created quite a legacy of high quality and creative instructional drum videos. In 1987
his first two videos, Steve Smith Part One and Part Two (Alfred Publishing Co.), raised the bar within
the world of instructional video. In 2003, he went beyond his groundbreaking approach with the re-
lease of the award-winning Drumset Technique/History of the U.S. Beat (Hudson Music). His collabo-
ration with Adam Nussbaum on The Art of Playing with Brushes (Hudson Music) is an exhaustively
complete treatise on this important subject. With his new DVD package, Steve Smith Drum Legacy -
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, Smith is continuing his legacy of teaching drummers about the tra-
dition and lineage of the drumset. This is a tradition and a process that Smith takes seriously, “I have
always felt strongly about the master/apprentice relationship, and this seems to be the best way to help
young drummers become better musicians.” says Smith. “I began studying the drums in earnest at nine
years old with a local Boston-area teacher named Bill Flanagan, who came from the swing-era big band
tradition. He was both a teacher and mentor. In 1973 I attended a Stan Kenton camp. Peter Erskine was
teaching there, and his lessons have stayed with me to this day. Since then, I have been lucky to have had
some superb teachers, both on and off the bandstand. At Berklee I got to study with Alan Dawson. I had
a very close master/apprentice relationship with Gary Chaffee, and more recently with Freddie Gruber.
On the bandstand with Steps Ahead, Mike Mainieri has been a terrific teacher, and Michael Brecker was
always instructing without really trying to be a teacher.”

Even in the midst of his popularity with the group Journey, Smith was always open to learning. “Pete Ma-
gadini wrote a book called Poly-Cymbal Time (now re-named Polyrhythms for the Drumset) that I got hip
to in the early ’70s, so when Journey was playing in Toronto in the late ’70s, I tracked Pete down and took a
lesson. In the early ’90s, Pete ended up moving to the same town where I was living in Marin County, Cal-
ifornia. I took weekly lessons from him and went through his book page by page. It was great to study the
book directly with Pete; he really helped my understanding of polyrhythms. I recommend his DVD Jazz
Drums (Hal Leonard); Pete does an excellent job of explaining the fundamentals of jazz drumming.”

While Steve was growing up, the Boston area was fertile ground for seeing the jazz giants, and for get-
ting gigs. “Because I was in Boston, I got to see most of my heroes up close: Buddy Rich, Sonny Payne,
Elvin Jones, Art Blakey, Tony Williams, Billy Cobham, Lenny White, Bob Moses, Mike Clark, Eric Gra-
vatt, Alphonse Mouzon, and Al Foster, to name a few. Experiencing the energy and creativity, in person,
of these masters was priceless and life-changing. When I was a Berklee student, some of my drummer
classmates were Vinnie Colaiuta, John “J.R.” Robinson, Kenwood Dennard, and Casey Scheuerell. We
would inspire and learn from each other, and that was also a valuable experience.” Smith’s professional
touring career began in 1974 with his tenure in the Lin Biviano Big Band, with whom he toured and
recorded with for the next two years. At that same time he also performed with bebopper Buddy De-
Franco and was a member of the free-jazz group The Fringe featuring George Garzone. In 1976, Smith
began his association with jazz-rock by joining violinist Jean Luc Ponty’s band and recording the album
Enigmatic Ocean, which also featured guitarist Allan Holdsworth. But it was while touring with rocker
Ronnie Montrose a year later that Smith was asked to join the popular rock band Journey, which brought
his playing to the attention of a young rock audience. With Journey, Smith toured the world and recorded
many successful albums, including the multi-platinum Escape and Frontiers. Smith’s inventive time-

Steve Smith

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28

keeping, stadium sized tom-tom fills and deep sense of groove were instantly identifiable on some of the
biggest hits of the 1980s. Among young rock drummers, he was admired for the artistic quality of his
drumming in a pop context.

In 1985 Smith left Journey to pursue his original passion, jazz, and to continue his developing career as
a session player. Over the past 25 years, Smith has played on many hits with such diverse artists as
Focus, Mariah Carey, Bryan Adams, Zucchero, Tina Arena, Andrea Bocelli, Ray Price, Corrado Rustici,
and Savage Garden.

In 1983, while still a member of Journey, Smith began leading his own fusion band, Steve Smith and Vital
Information. The band’s current lineup features Tom Coster on keys, Baron Browne on bass and Vinny
Valentino on guitar. Vital Information has released 12 records in 25 years of existence, which for a “fu-
sion” band is no small accomplishment. Their 2007 Hudson Music release, Vitalization, features Steve
at his best, incorporating all of his influences into a very cohesive whole that even includes his newly de-
veloping skill of konnakol—the art form of South Indian vocal percussion.

Steve is also the leader of Steve Smith’s Jazz Legacy, a group that continues the tradition of the great
drummer-led jazz bands. Jazz Legacy, whose performance is featured in this DVD, communicates with
music lovers of all generations, striving for excellence and playing non-compromising, burning, straight-
ahead jazz. Jazz Legacy features Andy Fusco on alto sax, Walt Weiskopf on sax, Mark Soskin on piano
and Baron Browne on bass. This band was previously known as Steve Smith and Buddy’s Buddies
(named for the presence of alumni from the Buddy Rich Band). In 2003 they released two CDs on Tone
Center records, Very Live at Ronnie Scott’s Set One and Set Two, which were a follow up to their self-
titled debut recording released in 1999.

Outside his own groups, Smith has maintained an extensive touring and recording career, appearing
with jazz luminaries such as Mike Mainieri’s Steps Ahead, which included virtuosos such as Michael
Brecker, Richard Bona and Mike Stern (Live in Tokyo 1986 and N.Y.C.). Other high profile jazz touring
and/or recording gigs have included such artists as Ahmad Jamal (where Steve had the opportunity to
play with and learn from a jazz legend every night), Stanley Clarke, Wadada Leo Smith (Yo Miles!, Up-
river, and Skygarden), Zakir Hussain (George Brooks Summit and Drum Nation Vol. 1), and the Buddy
Rich Big Band (Burning For Buddy Vol. 1 and Vol. 2). Steve has also performed in many Buddy Rich trib-
ute concerts; he can be seen on the 2004 DVD A Salute to Buddy Rich featuring Phil Collins, Dennis
Chambers, Steve Smith and the Buddy Rich Band (Hudson Music).

In 1998, Smith began producing and playing on a series of driving electric jazz albums for the Tone Cen-
ter label, with a revolving cast of talented players such as Dave Liebman, Frank Gambale, Stu Hamm,
Tom Coster, Larry Coryell, Jerry Goodman, Howard Levy, Steve Marcus, Scott Henderson and Victor
Wooten. In 2004, Steve began to tour with Soulbop, an all-star group featuring Bill Evans, Randy
Brecker, David Kikoski, Victor Bailey and Hiram Bullock. In 2005 they released the CD Soulbop Band
Live. 2005 saw the release of another all-star project Steve produced and played on for Tone Center
Records, Flashpoint, featuring Steve with Dave Liebman, Aydin Esen and Anthony Jackson.

Smith’s drumming, while always decidedly modern, can best be described as a style that embodies the
history of U.S. music. His original love of rudimental parade drumming is evident in his intricate solos.

Steve Smith

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29

Likewise, his command of jazz—from the New Orleans, swing, bebop, avant-garde or fusion traditions—
is often enhanced with his powerful rock drumming sensibilities. This allows him to push the boundaries
of all styles of music to new heights. He is focused on the exploration of improvised music, incorporat-
ing styles as diverse as Blues, Jazz, R&B, Funk, Cajun and rhythms from India. He combines all of these
into a singular approach which features explosive solos and intricate timekeeping. He has been ac-
claimed by both peers and fans: Modern Drummer magazine named him one of the Top 25 Drummers
of All Time, and in 2002 voted him into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame.

As a drummer, Steve Smith has worked with the best musicians alive today. With this work he is con-
sistently pushing the boundaries of creativity, and expanding upon his position at the top of the inter-
national drumming community. As a bandleader, his endless touring schedule brings world-class bands
to all corners of the globe. As an educator, Smith is both an eternal student and a perpetual teacher of
the drums.

With Steve Smith Drum Legacy - Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, Smith has combined many of
these different aspects of his career into a cohesive package. In this DVD, he applies his analytical skills
to his own development as a drummer. With the live footage and included CD, we witness another of
Smith’s world-class bands, and see Steve applying his drumming skills in a musical context. Steve ex-
plains how he has assimilated the U.S. drumming tradition, and he teaches us how the legacy of jazz
drumming has allowed him to “stand on the shoulders of giants.”

Written by Mark Griffith
Edited by Steve Smith and Joe Bergamini

Steve Smith

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As John Riley points out on this DVD, “You must assimilate before you can innovate,” and
in order to assimilate you must study the giants in your particular field. We are all “Stand-
ing on the Shoulders of Giants” in whatever field we are in. For example, if you study ar-
chitecture, painting, filmmaking or music, you must study the work of the masters and
innovators that came before in order to see how we arrived at the current “state of the art.”
By being educated and knowledgeable, and developing your playing abilities, you will pos-
sess many options and can make informed decisions as you play.

An idea that should be clear in this program is that we are all “links in the chain” and each
drummer’s innovations are only possible because of the foundation developed by those who
came before. Making decisions about whom and what to study is crucial in shaping your
own sound as a player. Then you make moment-to-moment decisions as you are playing—
what to play and when to play it. All this, and more, goes into shaping who you are as a
player. This is the type of work that all the drummers highlighted in this program have done.

It’s also very important to realize that studying Buddy Rich, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Philly
Joe Jones, Joe Dukes, Elvin Jones, and Tony Williams will not only help your jazz drumming
understanding, it will also help your rock and funk drumming approaches as well. The
drummers that we focus on in Drum Legacy are the same drummers that the early rock
and funk drumming innovators studied. Players like Earl Palmer, Charlie Watts, Bernard
Purdie, Carmine Appice, Ginger Baker, Clyde Stubblefield, Mitch Mitchell and John Bon-
ham came from roots that were mainly in jazz drumming. These are some of the drummers
that “wrote the book” on rock and funk drumming, and they were all familiar with the play-
ing of the jazz drumming giants, and much of the information that is discussed in this pro-
gram, before they made their ground-breaking recordings.

Notice that what John Riley and I have done in discussing and demonstrating this material
is give you an example of a process: the process of gaining knowledge and inspiration that
comes from listening to drummers either live or on recordings, and then translating that
input into something tangible in your own musicianship. It is important to develop this abil-
ity in order to dip into the deep well of knowledge that is available to us when we need it.

“Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants

”

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Here are all of the on-screen musical notation examples that are in my Drum Legacy DVD. I have added
some additional explanation to give further insight and clarity to the ideas. I didn’t write out every ex-
ample that I played in the program because I trust that what I am playing and demonstrating is clear
enough for you to grasp without notation.

1. This is a well-known Tony Williams lick that is very difficult to actually write down. The way I wrote
it is the closest notation that I could come up with. If you play it literally, as written, it will sound stiff;
the phrase needs to be interpreted. Use a swing interpretation, “slurring” the notes together. Play the
three rights in a row with a feel closer to triplets than to 16th notes. Use the rhythm of the left hand to
get the feel of the phrasing.

2. Here it is written again without the pickup into beat “1.” Note that because it is essentially a 3-beat
phrase, in this case it takes up the same space as a dotted 8th note. The lick repeats every three bars.

MUSICAL EXAMPLES

“Moments Notice”

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These following examples are for you to begin developing the ability to break up the time into phrases
of 3 and 2, which creates a looser feel and is a “modern jazz” approach to playing time. If we look back
at the different ways that drummers have kept time throughout the history of jazz, they first started with
a New Orleans snare drum-oriented approach (1920s) where they played the snare drum in a style that
was directly related to parade drumming and played the bass drum in two (or four) beats to the meas-
ure. There was no hi-hat at that point in drumming history. Then drummers moved into the swing drum-
ming approach (1930s), where they played the “jazz beat” on a cymbal—or the newly invented
hi-hat—and played some accents on the snare drum while keeping a firm 4/4 bass drum. With the
bebop/hard bop approach (1940/50s), the drummers moved the steady “jazz beat” onto the newly de-
veloped ride cymbal, and played the snare drum and bass drum using syncopated accents. The looser,
“modern jazz” approach I am demonstrating in this chapter is the next step in the evolution of jazz drum-
ming concepts (1960s/70s). (For detailed examples of the evolution of drumset playing styles, see disc
two of my Hudson Music DVD Drumset Technique/History of the U.S. Beat.)

3. This example of a bar of 3/4 is a typical “integrated” phrase of 3.

4. Two bars of 3/4 and one bar of 2/4 add up to 8 beats. This is a good starting point to experience the
feel of breaking up the time into “3s” and “2s.”

5. Here are the same two integrated phrases of 3 and the phrase of 2—a total of 8 beats—written as two
bars of 4/4 time.

“Insubordination”

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To develop the ability to use this advanced jazz concept, start by mixing up the phrasing of two bars of
3/4 and one bar of 2/4—which equals two bars of 4/4. In the Drum Legacy DVD I demonstrated this
concept using “building blocks of two bars,” to quote John Riley, and the two bars of 4/4 are divided as
two 3s and one 2. You should also start with the 3+3+2 combination, move to the phrasing of 2+3+3:
one bar of 2/4 and two bars of 3/4. Then try playing the 8 beats as 3+2+3: a bar of 3/4, a bar of 2/4 and
a bar of 3/4. The next step is to extend the phrasing over four bars, for example: 3+3+3+3+2+2, or
2+2+3+3+3+3, or 3+3+2+2+3+3. Eventually it will feel quite natural to break up the ride cymbal beat
into phrases of 3 and 2, and play integrated orchestrations which incorporate the snare drum, hi-hat and
bass drum all working with the ride cymbal rhythms. I taught myself many variations of the short 3 and
2 phrases, first by listening closely to (and transcribing) some of Jack DeJohnette’s playing, and then
finding some orchestrations that came naturally to me. Now I can freely improvise with this idea, but at
first I had to build a vocabulary using a methodical, step-by-step process.

6. In this next example, I am taking a step-by-step approach to teach you how to play a phrase I use that
is inspired by the playing of Elvin Jones. Start by playing hand-to-hand triplets, RLR LRL. Continue to
play in the triplet rate and then start to phrase in 4. An easy way to do this is to play your right hand on
the floor tom on beat 1, then move your right hand to the snare drum for the next right, then back to the
floor tom for the next right. Continue this pattern, playing every other right on the floor tom.

7. Now add the bass drum to the same beats that you are playing on the floor tom. You can now clearly
hear the phrasing of 4 over the 8th note triplet rate. If you focus on the bass drum beats, you’ll notice
they are playing a half-note triplet over a measure of 4/4.

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8. Once you can play the previous pattern while keeping the hi-hat on 2 & 4, shift your hands so they are
playing the following “linear” pattern. I put a slight accent on the bass drum and the floor tom. This is
a very nice lick that I use occasionally, but here I am using this as a step to set you up for this “Elvin-ish”
lick that gives you the feeling of “waves of rhythm.”

9. To demonstrate the evolution of the Elvin-ish lick I start with a basic step of establishing the tempo
and the triplet rate on the snare drum. In the DVD I play this and the next two examples in sequence.

10. Then I play the linear pattern (the same as example 8) that puts the bass drum in a half-note triplet
rhythm and sets up the hands for the final step.

11. Then keep the bass drum playing the same rhythm and double all the notes in the hands using the
sticking RLRRLL. When I play this example in the DVD, I slow it down and speed it up to help give you
a clear idea of the sticking, phrasing, orchestration, sound, and feel of this idea.

Steve Smith

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12. A variation of the above example uses an 8th-note triplet on beats 1 & 3 played between the bass
drum and snare drum, with the 16th-note triplets on beats 2 & 4. I shift between the original version and
the variation a few times. In the DVD I play this and the next two examples in sequence.

13. In this example I am shifting between the previous two licks.

14. This is a variation of the variation, where I keep the bass drum on beats 1 & 3 as an 8th note, and dou-
ble the second and third notes of the triplets on 1 &3, with the sticking RLLF (F meaning foot, or bass
drum).

15. A phrase of 3/4 in the style of Elvin Jones as played by Steve Gadd.

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16. This is an example of how Steve Gadd uses his “Elvin lick” in 4/4. Play two bars of the 3/4 lick and
then the same concept using a bar of 2/4. I do use this a few times in the program but I didn’t actually
break it down and demonstrate it.

17. “For Big Sid”: My interpretation of the AABA melody to the Max Roach piece “For Big Sid.” Check
out Max’s various versions to hear him play his own piece. Chart on page 36.

18. “Drums Unlimited”: My interpretation of the Max Roach tune “Drum Unlimited.” This chart will
give you an idea of how to use the A and B sections of the tune to construct an unaccompanied drum solo
piece. Chart on page 37.

19. “The Drum Also Waltzes”: There are many versions of this famous Max Roach piece. John Bonham
sometimes used the theme of “The Drum Also Waltzes” to start his drum solo on his tour-de-force “Moby
Dick.” Other drummers that have used this theme in their solos are Bill Bruford, Neil Peart, and Ahmir
“?uestlove” Thompson.

Max Roach

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Steve Smith

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20. This is John Riley’s example of playing the middle note of the triplet on the snare drum while play-
ing the jazz ride beat on the cymbal, 2 & 4 on the hi-hat, and four beats to the bar on the bass drum. This
is an excellent way to start to experience the “wide beat” in the style of Elvin Jones. Notice that Elvin
plays the middle note of the triplet near the end of his solo just before this example.

21. For another step into developing the “wide beat,” play the jazz ride beat on your ride cymbal, 2 & 4
on the hi-hat, and a syncopated quarter note triplet on your snare drum. (I describe this in more detail
in my DVD Drumset Technique/History of the U.S. Beat in the section where I talk about developing a
swing pulse) Once you are comfortable playing the syncopated quarter-note triplet on the snare drum
while playing the jazz cymbal beat, add the bass drum: play the last note of the triplet on beat 1 and the
last note of the triplet on beat 3. I play this example and the next example in sequence on the DVD.

22. Once you are comfortable with the previous example then play, on the snare drum, two 16th notes
in place of the one 8th note that falls on the middle note of the triplet on beats 1 & 3. Feel how the two
16th notes lead you into the note on the bass drum.

“Three Card Molly”: Elvin Jones

Steve Smith

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40

Play this beat again and again, breathing and relaxing, until it feels completely natural. Pay attention to
the balance between your limbs and make sure that the ride cymbal is the dominant sound, and the
snare drum and bass drum are “underneath” the flow of the ride cymbal. You can add a slight accent on
the bass drum as it completes the phrase of the two 16th notes on the snare drum.

I continue to play some more ideas in this vein but I am assuming that you can figure out what I am doing
by watching and listening. Of course it’s very important to read the bio/suggested media list that is part
of this package, listen to Elvin yourself, and hear him playing his many ideas in context.

23. Here is the classic Elvin “primary triplet phrase” played first as a “6” then as an “8,” meaning there
are six notes every two beats or eight notes every two beats. I am using a left lead. Of course, you can play
this as a right lead, or you can play it alternating between the right and left: RLF LRF RLF LRF or LRF
RLF LRF RLF.

24. I start with the “6” version of the Elvin tom triplet lick and then move to the “9” version where there
are nine notes every two beats. One way to think about this is that the left hand is actually playing a
quarter-note triplet, and then you fill in the other beats with the right hand and the bass drum. Again,
you can change the stickings in these examples.

Steve Smith

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41

25. I found this Tony Williams idea a challenge to write out, because he did not play this as a traditional
Swiss Army Triplet. First of all, I wrote it in the snare drum space simply for the ease of seeing the hand
pattern. The Swiss Army Triplet starts with a right flam, which has a light grace note with the left hand
before the main accented note in the right hand. The way Tony played this, and the way I play it, is to
play the grace note with the left hand after the main note in the right hand. Both notes are accented, but
the right-hand main note is a little louder than the left-hand grace note. It’s not really a left flam, as you
can see in the DVD, because I raise my right hand higher than the left, and a left flam would be the op-
posite of that. Also, the sticking is very clearly RRL RRL.

26. This is the first of a series of classic Philly Joe Jones “slick” solo phrases. Many of these examples in-
clude “stick-on-stick” accents, where you hold the left stick on the snare drum head and play it with the
right stick. The stickings for all of these examples are my own, but they come from listening closely to
Philly Joe Jones and transcribing his rhythms. I then use my own experience with the rudiments and my
work with the Charlie Wilcoxon books—the same books that Philly Joe studied from—to come up with
stickings that sound good and work naturally on the drumset. I play this one measure example, pause
for a second, and then go on to play the next three examples in sequence and in time.

27.

“Sister Cheryl”: Tony Williams

“Two Bass Hit”: Philly Joe Jones

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28.

29.

30. This is another one measure phrase that I play and then pause a bit.

31. I then play these two measures and continue to play the next two examples in sequence and in time.

32.

33. In the next to the last measure the rolls are achieved by lightly “buzzing” both sticks into the snare
drum and floor tom heads.

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34. Art Blakey’s two-bar “Cubop” cymbal rhythm. This example and the next are played in sequence.

35. The two-bar beat that Art plays on his version of “A Night In Tunisia.” I use this same beat in the Jazz
Legacy version.

36. A four-bar Art Blakey solo phrase that he would repeat as a motif, giving the listener a chance to
hear and identify some thematic material, which is a very useful soloing device.

37. Another four-bar Art Blakey solo phrase. When I repeat the idea that I play in the first four bars, I
embellish the phrase by adding a triplet “pick-up” that leads into the next bar. I heard Art play this on
various recordings.

“A Night in Tunisia”: Art Blakey

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38. This is a beautiful Art Blakey three-beat phrase that he uses as a 3-over-4 polyrhythm. Art starts the
phrase on the “&” of 1 and repeats it over 8 bars, until it finally resolves smoothly into beat 1. This is ac-
tually an idea used by the drummers of India, and it appears Art came up with this quite naturally. No-
tice that Art plays a shorter version of this phrase in some of the archival footage included on the DVD.

39. I wrote out this Blakey phrase in a simplistic way, just to give you a visual reference of the rhythms
played. I didn’t get into any orchestrational details.

40. The double bass drum ostinato that I use in my solo in “A Night In Tunisia.” I’m playing doubles (RR
LL), but I start with a single right and then start the doubles: RLL RRL LRR LLR, etc. For the 6/8 type
of feel that I am playing, using this sticking feels smoother and more natural than if I were to play the
pattern starting with a double: RRL LRR LLR RLL.

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41. “Solo in Fives” is based entirely on quintuplets: groups of 5 even notes. I play a left-hand quintuplet
ostinato on my side snare with the snares turned off.

42. The quintuplet “sticking” pattern that I play on the bass drum pedals is similar in concept to the
double bass drum ostinato that I use in the 6/8 part of my solo in “A Night in Tunisia.” For the “Solo in
Fives,” I start with a single right and then I play doubles: RLLRR LLRRL LRRLL RRLLR. As you can see,
there are four different variations that occur because the basic 5 subdivision is an odd number.

43. The quintuplet double bass drum pattern written out for both feet:

44. A hand/foot pattern first created and perfected by Vinnie Colaiuta. The hands and the feet both play
a “hand-to-hand” pattern with the hands on the beats 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &, and the feet playing all of the 16th
in-between notes. I think of the feet as pickup notes into the hands; the right foot comes just before the
right hand and the left foot comes just before the left hand. Then I focus on the accents played by the
hands, which creates the rhythms. I wrote this pattern without notating the tom melodies.

Solo in Fives

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45. Another way I use this idea is to change the sticking in the hands but continue the feet using the
same pattern, with the right foot as the 16th note before 1 and the left foot as the 16th note before the
“&” of 1, etc. This way I may play RR LL RR LL with my hands, but I don’t alter the bass drum pattern.
I demonstrate this idea on the DVD using various stickings.

46. When I use flams in this pattern, I am usually using hand-to-hand RLRL sticking, and then I play
some of the rights and lefts as flams. This is the same idea as accenting some of the notes to give you dif-
ferent rhythms, but I am putting flams on the accents. This last example uses hand-to-hand sticking
with flams on 1, the “&” of 2 and beat 4, a classic New Orleans rhythm.

Now that you’ve watched the DVD, read the written material, and followed along with all the written ex-
amples, you may be wondering, “what do I do with all of this information?” First, make some decisions
about which ideas you want to work on and take your time assimilating them. I suggest starting with
something that you think you will have an application for now or in the immediate future. Work on the
phrases and concepts until they feel natural. As you play them, record yourself to make sure your time
and feel is good, and that the balance between your limbs is exactly the way you want it. After you have
a grasp of a certain lick or phrase, let your creativity flow naturally and follow your own inclinations to
see where that leads you.

Ultimately you want to take this material and allow it to help you develop your own vocabulary that is
an extension of a tradition, making yourself a link in the chain and creating your own drum legacy.

Steve Smith

CONCLUSION

Copyright © 2008 Hudson Music LLC

All Rights Reserved

www.hudsonmusic.com

Steve Smith

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47

Chapter Selection:

A) Opening (0:59)
B) Intro (1:06)
C) "Moments Notice"

1) Performance (7:01)
2) Discussion (21:03)

a) Approaching the Song
b) Accompanying the Soloists
c) Drum Solo
d) Hand and Foot Combinations
e) Syncopation and Stick Control
f) Tony Williams Lick

D) "Insubordination"

1) Performance (6:49)
2) Discussion (21:57)

a) Uptempo Ride Pattern
b) Modern Jazz Phrasing
c) Developing Modern Phrasing
d) Duo Playing
e) Elvin “Rolling Triplets”
f) Gadd - Elvin Phrase

E) Max Roach

1) “Big Sid” Performance (1:57)
2) “Big Sid” Discussion (7:37)

a) Influences and Solo Pieces
b) Playing Melodically
c) Origins of Max’s Ideas

3) “Drums Unlimited” Performance (2:06)
4) “Drums Unlimited” Discussion (7:00)

a) Hi-Hat Theme “A”
b) Second Theme “B”
c) Themes and Variations

F) "Three Card Molly": Elvin Jones

1) Performance (6:41)
2) Discussion (21:58)

a) Seeing Elvin
b) The Wide Beat
c) Elvin and Gene
d) Elvin’s Approach
e) Elvin Concepts Demonstrated

G) "Sister Cheryl": Tony Williams

1) Performance (7:12)
2) Discussion (24:41)

a) Origins: “Poinciana”
b) “TW” Matched Grip
c) Tony’s Evolution
d) Tony’s Phrases and Ideas
e) Tony Ideas Explained
f) “Fred”/Tony’s Influence

DRUM LEGACY DVD CHAPTER LIST

H) "Two Bass Hit": Philly Joe Jones

1) Performance (6:10)
2) Discussion (16:18)

a) Treatment of Tune
b) Buddy’s Influence on Philly Joe
c) Philly Joe Phrases
d) Use of Rudiments
e) Philly’s Time Feel

I) "Soulful Drums": Joe Dukes

1) Performance (3:49)
2) Discussion (19:26)

a) Joe’s Style: Leaving Space
b) The Chitlin’ Circuit
c) The B3 Organ
d) The Jazz Shuffle
e) Uptempo Shuffle
f) Quarter-Note Feel

J) "A Night in Tunisia": Art Blakey

1) Performance (13:20)
2) Discussion (17:38)

a) Learning Art’s Soloing Language
c) “Cubop” and Driving Swing
c) Motivic Solo Phrases
d) Using Licks As Cues
e) Drum Solo Construction
f) Remembering Art

K) Solo in Fives (3:03)

1) Quintuplet Ostinato
2) "Khanda West" (2:04)
3) Techniques Used in Fives Solo

a) Moeller Motions
b) Freehand Technique
c) Hand-Foot Alternating Concept
d) Conclusion

L) Smith vs. Smith: Drum Battle (2:32)
M) Closing Credits (3:11)
***

Bonus:
A) Drumset Approach Master Class - Australia's Ul-
timate Drummers Weekend 2004 (22:30)
B) "The Drum Also Waltzes" AUDW 2004 Perform-
ance (2:43)
C) Steve Smith’s Jazz Legacy: Live in NYC

1)"Insubordination" (8:42)
2)"Three Card Molly" (6:31)
3)"Soulful Drums" (5:29)
4)"Night in Tunisia" (11:20)

D) "Moanin'" from Drum Legacy Master Class at
Drummers Collective, NYC (5:16)