New Monday #36
Happy Monday, y’all!
There was a band I used to go see when I was a kid, the Little Wilson Band. They played R&B. They had a great singer, Al, but I used to watch the drummer. His name was Pat and he rarely played fills, and he always had a great groove going on. When Little Wilson played, the whole club danced.
Pat was a funky-ass drummer, and it wasn’t what he was playing, but how he was playing it. He’d bring his right hand up almost to his ear before bringing it down to hit the snare. On some songs he’d strike across the high hat rather than coming directly down on it. Even his posture had an effect: some songs he’d sit more in a lump, others he’d be on the edge of his stool.
When I was producing, I took what I’d learned from watching Pat and tweaked drummers' performances and grooves with little physical changes to their movements.
Here are some videos where the way people are playing is really what they are playing.
Dennis Davis
Dennis Davis was a jazz cat who played with David Bowie on seven consecutive albums through the seventies. Davis was part of the DAM rhythm section—along with Carlos Alomar on guitar and George Murray (can you figure out why they were called DAM?). These guys were Bowie’s funkiest.
There’s not a lot of video of Dennis Davis in which you can really see him playing, but I found this clip from Kimmydrums, who’s knocking out Davis’ parts on Fame. Note the changes in the groove across three sections, as the part slides all over the beat, sometimes behind, sometimes ahead, syncopated, shuffling, and constantly funky. Most of all, watch the variety of stick movements, tiny directional changes, posture adjustments, changes to her grip, the way she dances on her throne. It’s different for each pocket she plays.
Kimmydrums is a former session player turned massage therapist who’s now back behind the kit. In her videos she “embodies” the player she’s mimicking. Hell of a player. I’d love to have her on a session.
Ringo!
This video of Martina Barakoska knocking off Ringo’s fills on A Day in the Life kinda popped my brain out of my head. Arguably the most famous drum fills ever, Ms Barakoska does all sorts of things with her arms, leaning everywhere, and she really cops the feel of those fills perfectly. And they are WEIRD LOOKING fills. I’ve recorded a ton of drummers and this stuff doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen. Maybe it’s all the space between, or the long pauses in the middle of the fills, or maybe it’s seeing a drummer not playing constantly and trying to hit every drum and do every style of fill. Should it be so odd to see a drummer hit just the snare on 2 and 4 and do nothing else when it’s not a mic check?
Martina Barakoska is another amazing player. And she’s available for sessions!
God Help Us
I don’t sit around watching videos of women drummers. I also watch priests. Here’s Father Hyacinth Marie Cordell playing polyrhythms. Technically, he’s a great player, but after popping in on a number of his videos, it became clear he isn't groove-oriented. This video of him doing John Bonham features him in the same “body" as the polyrhythm clip and it sure doesn’t feel like Bonham although he’s playing all the same notes. Maybe he’d have more feel if he was playing along to the record, but to my eye, it looks like the groove isn’t his calling.
Fred
Many great dancers were fabulous drummers. Here’s Fred Astaire playing drums with his feet while tap dancing. Notice that the way he plays the drums has the same precise, elegant quality as his dancing. Fred was also great on a kit that wasn’t spread all over the floor. And again, his elegance of movement is present. How we do one thing is how we do everything.
El Estepario Siberiano is amazing, but can he tap dance while playing? I think not.
Coffy
Coffy was a “blaxploitation" movie that came out in 1973. It featured Pam Grier as an emergency room nurse getting revenge for her sister’s death from an overdose. How does Coffy get revenge? With a shotgun, killing pimps, drug dealers, and eventually her corrupt politician boyfriend. She shoots him in the crotch. His name is Howard.
In the background you can hear a little wha wha guitar, some percussion...
Coffy had an AMAZING soundtrack by vibraphonist Roy Ayers.
Roy Ayers was a bop player who invented jazz funk, if one invents such a thing. The soundtrack of Coffy is more jazz-oriented than soundtracks to similar films, such as Shaft or Superfly, with Ayers cutting vibraphone solos all over it, vocals by DeeDee Bridgewater, harpsichords, and wonderful drums and percussion by Dennis Davis!
Coffy Soundtrack album - worth a listen, or five.
Maybe groove is less about shifting tracks ahead or back and more about shifting butt cheeks on the seat, or how you hold that stick?
Have a great week. Get your butt in the studio!
Luke
