Welcome to Nucleo's articles page. This page will be updated monthly.
Table of Contents:
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Video Bootlegs
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Drum Melodies
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Magazine Articles
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Transcriptions
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Master Thesis
BOOTLEGS:
13/8 Drum Solo
God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman: Never in Denver
Castle on a Cloud from Les Miserables: Never in Denver
"Canon" Charles Mingus: Never in Denver
Drummer Ties Shoe during Drum Solo: Salsa
Drum Melodies:
"A Night in Tunisia"
This drum solo is a literal approach to the melody. My left foot uses foot bells attached to a beater instead of a hi-hat or clave. I find that this helps produce a more authentic Cuban-bata-drumming vibe. This video was shot on my Kodak Zi 8.
"Afro Blue"
"Moanin'"
MAGAZINE ARTICLES:
Mel Bay's Percussion Sessions E-Zine
Dawson Meets Stone: "Redefining Paradiddles" Part III
This article will build more drum solo combinations. Take this simple-easy-to-memorize warm-up and use this as a backbone to expand any paradiddle variation...read more
Dawson Meets Stone: "Redefining Paradiddles" Part II
This article will build more on triplet combinations. Take this simple-easy-to-memorize warm-up and use this as a backbone to expand any paradiddle variation...read more
Dawson Meets Stone: "Redefining Paradiddles" Part I
What is a paradiddle? Is it merely just a sticking (RLRR,LRLL)? Or can it also be the pattern and sound of two contrasting examples (ABAA, BABB)? I found the later to be very freeing, in that I was not just stuck to a certain sticking. In fact, seeing a paradiddle as two contrasting examples has done the following...read more
Understanding Groove: Part 1 The essence of being a skilled drummer is having a deep awareness and understanding of groove. Every band has a slightly different groove (or "feel"); it is our job to be able to match and support it in order to create a deeper, danceable, and more soulful groove in the specific musical setting...read more
TRANSCRIPTIONS:
1) Dannie Richmond
Artist: Charles Mingus
Song: "Boogie Stop Shuffle"
Album: Mingus Ah Um
Start Time: Drum Solo 3:30
Key : X notes- Cymbals or Stick on Stick Circled notes: Toms
2) Jeff Hamilton
Artist: Jeff Hamilton Trio
Song: "C Jam Blues"
Album: The Best Things Happen
Start Time: Beginning
Key : X notes- Cymbals or Stick on Stick Circled notes: Toms
3) Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste
"People Say" Click here for transcription.
"Cissy Strut" Click here for transcription.
"Look-ka Py-py Click here for transcription.
MASTERS THESIS: Abstract
The Logic of Cacophony: The Jazz Drumming of Elvin Jones Through the Perspective of Afro-Cuban Bata Music.
Nucleo Vega, University of Maryland, College Park
The music of Elvin Jones has been called cacophonous and disorienting by some critics, yet also beautifully logical and coherent by others. His playing is polyrhythmic and dense, and frequently creates the illusion of several drummers performing at the same time. Due in large part to the pervasive influence of the music of Elvin Jones, drums are no longer restricted to a time-keeping role in jazz; instead, the drummer is an active participant in the musical conversation with the soloist. Despite Jones’s remarkable influence, however, most pedagogical material and analysis on his drumming tends to view the music of Elvin Jones as isolated musical figures strung together, and does not seek to uncover the influences that shaped Jones’s playing, such as Afro-Cuban music. In order to reveal the logic and coherence behind Elvin Jones’s music, this paper focuses on the following traits of Cuban batá music: beat placement, rhythmic structure, and call-and-response, which are analyzed with the use of sound wave comparisons, transcriptions, current scholarship of Afro-Cuban music and Jones, and recordings. Understanding the sources behind Jones’s playing can help drummers perform in the style of Jones with more musicality, rather than merely regurgitating groups of memorized patterns. Click here for paper.
