When my brother was in town for Christmas we stopped out to see Brad. We were sitting in his living room and I remembered when we used to set up our drum sets in the living room, that very same living room. We were in high school and Brad’s mom was at work. Brad had studied at the Eastman and he showed me all that I know – very little. His first lesson was I, 2, 3, 4, on the hi-hat, drop the kick in on one and then add snare on two.” I was sitting with Marc Weinstein a few months ago when he told me how little he knew of the fundamentals. Marc plays with Pat Thomas in Mushroom, he played with MX-80 after Dave Mahoney and he’s currently playing in a blues band in Buffalo. We were laughing and trying to outdo one another with what we can’t do, rolls etc.
Our friend, Bennie, has been studying Brazilian percussion. She was leading the drum section in the stadium at Flash matches when we met her and we’ve seen her play in various settings. She occasionally brings a Brazilian instrument to Margaret Explosion gigs and sits in for a few songs. The last time I saw her I asked if she would stop by sometime and show me a few simple jazz beats. She came over on New Years Day with a paper bag of IPAs and a soft pink case with her panadero inside (a tamborine-like instrument that in the right hands can sound like a whole drum set.) Bennie has the right hands.
Specifically, I wanted to learn how Al Foster does what he does with his left hand in the last couple minutes of of Miles’ “He Loved Him Madly.” That’s all! Bennie had me start with a brush in my right hand while she sang chic, chic, ch-chic, chic, ch-chic, chic, ch-chic, chic over and over and over and over. And she wanted me to keep my right hand over the ride, not pull back and drop beats like I do. I did this for a half hour or so while she scat sang. I had the other brush in my left hand and couldn’t wait to start using it but Bennie would snap, “no backbeats” when it touched the snare. No backbeat? I live for the back beat. When the cymbal pattern was relatively smooth she had me doing it with four on the floor. I tried a snare beat again and got scolded. Bennie suggested I place a quick snare beat just before one of the kick beats. She sang the beat and I tried it. It was exhilarating. I know there is a whole world in there, in and around that simple cymbal pattern.
Bennie had a book with her and I told her I didn’t know how to read the notated drum patterns. She said don’t worry about that just read what the drummers have to say.
2 Comments
Five stars on this post.
Bennie is a great teacher. I taped a lot of her instructions.