Filmed on my iPhone at the 2012 Mel Brown Jazz Workshop, this impromptu jazz drumming lesson features Mel showing how one can take a simple 4 measure beat and turn it into a full week of challenging practice exercises.
So many terrific concepts and exercises drawn from a single, basic, fundamental one-bar rhythm extracted from the classic Ted Reed book. I am an advanced player, at it for a long time, and I’m deeply inspired by this. I have gotten so many great ideas from this 13 minute video. None of it is new for me but it’s presented in such a relaxed, inviting way that the information feels new for me. Thank you Mr Mel Brown. Isn’t Mr Brown a Portland, OR cat?
Such an elegant concept! YOU REALLY INSPIRED ME with some great lessons 30 years ago in Las Vegas, when you were with Diana Ross. Over the years i've tried to look you up, but I think you must have been busy inspiring others. SO GREAT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!!!
Shouldn't the accents on 3 and 4 be on the second partial? With the entire groove shifting over one triplet partial every repetition? Or is he just giving the superimposed eigthnotes arbitrary values in order to demonstrate a groove?
Hunter Thompson yeah he’s taking a very fundamental, almost primal 1-bar swing phrase and showing 20 ways to feel it, interpret and apply it-microcosm and macrocosm in a single 1-bar exercise - but overthinking it and picking it apart will lead to a lot of complicated thoughts, farther and farther away from the original message.
@@rhythmfield I had the privilege of studying with Fred Dinkins who has a very similar approach to Mel's. He'd have us do a number of exercises that were designed to get us seeing how notes aligned in down and up beats in service of solidifying our sense of the subdivision as well as improving our coordination. Did absolute wonders in improving time keeping and groove. The first thing he would tell me once I had it somewhat down was to immediately forget we were working on it and go play music. Seems he understood that these exercises were meant to improve the ability to play music that actually sounds good, rather than solve some sort of sonic calculus equation.
+Luis Pedro Martins Don't know if your question got answered but I think what you are asking is what is the count for the second note in the phrase which is a quarter note? Going left to right there is an eighth note on beat (count) 1 and the quarter note comes in on the & after one and because it is a quarter notes and gets the value of two eighth notes then you hold it through count two then you have another eighth note on the & of two then quarter notes that are back on the down beats of 3 and 4. Let me know if that answers your question
Steve Percoco the questioner vanished after asking the question - I hope he read, and understood, this excellent, thoughtful and un-condescending answer!
Have u even listened to yourself bro? GET THE MIC OFF THE RIDE PLEASE! No need to Mic it. And put an e ring or a muffler on that snare! I can't stand that horrible ride sound!
He didn't record this. If you read the caption you'll see someone else recorded this on what's now a primitive iPhone from 2012. Furthermore, there are no microphones present outside of the phone that captured this.
1 and a 2 and a 3 and 4 and.. Triplety, triplety triplets just isn't going to cut it. Wrong phrasing. It don't mean a thing if it don't have that jazz phrasing. This is just wrong.
Not wrong for diana Ross or his teacher philly joe jones I suppose though. I bet with a band he phrases however he needs to. The excercises hes showing us just happen to be triplets
Keep in mind that this is a teaching scenario. So something quantifiable has to be given to align everyone's understanding. After all, would you actually want to see someone like Elvin Jones' ride pattern written out "perfectly?" So triplets are the closest thing we've got to getting a point across in the absence of hearing a recording.
