First Place For Jazz, Drums

The goal of this play along series is to provide the jazz drummer with play along and practice material that will be challenging informative and musical. The series contains important jazz tunes based on the standard jazz repertoire. While there is no written melody there are a number of melodies that one can sing over the existing chord changes. I have been giving similar recordings to students through the years and this is the result of the feedback about their wants and needs as players. It always seemed to make sense to me to practice in the context of a tune adhering to the form and melody. These play along tunes provide you with a musical backdropto hone your own skills. I certainly encourage you to explore your musical boundaries. These tunes give you a place to practice comping soloing trading fourths and eighths working on your ride cymbal sound etc. As you can see your development is limited only by your imagination! The tempos range from quarter note equals 100 to quarter note equals 320. You can work on these in any given order but we suggest the slower tempos first. I also give you a suggested listening list of essential jazz standards and drummers that exemplify this kind of musical drumming. Steve Davis.

On September 16 and 17 2006 The Modern Drummer Festival Weekend returned to the incredible New Jersey Performing Arts Center for its most ambitious festival ever. Sixteen drummers and percussionists performed with more than twenty musicians making for one of the most exciting festival weekends in its eighteen-year history. Backstage while these incredible performances were taking place each artist was interviewed at a practice kit. Each in-depth interview features playing and demonstration as well as discussion on technique warming up their MD Fest performance and much more. And for the first time ever on any MD Festival drummers interviewed drummers: SteveSmith interviewed Thomas Lang Aaron Spears interviewed Gerald Heyward Gerald interviewed Marvin McQuitty etc making for some truly historic moments. SaturdayDisc One: The Performances. The spectacular performances on this DVD include: Ronald Bruner Jr. Jason McGerr Teddy Campbell Gerald Heyward Aaron Spears Marvin McQuitty Glenn Kotche Thomas Lang Luis Conte Stewart Copeland with Gizmo Run time: 3 hours Disc Two: VIP backstage pass the interviewsExtensive and in-depth interviews at a practice kit with each of this year’s featured performers including demonstration and discussion of technique practice and warm-up routines and specific playing examples from their MD Festival performance.Run time: 3 hours 22 minutes SundayDisc One: The Performances Dave DiCenso Bobby Sanabria with Ascensión Brann Dailor Mike Mangini Danny Seraphine with CTA Steve Smith’s Jazz Legacy Run time: 3hrs Disc Two: VIP backstage pass the interviews Extensive and in-depth interviews at a practice kit with each of this year’s featured performers including demonstration and discussion of technique practice and warm-up routines and specific playing examples from their MD Festival performance.