The strongest role of time keeper has been held more often than not, by the great drummers starting back with guys like Baby Dodds and Zutty Singleton,  who grew up in New Orleans.

These two early jazz drummers were tremendously rhythmic. Dodds brought an evenness of touch to his playing to compensate for problems that had not been worked out by sound engineers trying to capture big bands sound. Zutty brought more attention to the snare drum.

The early drummers stuck to keeping the pulse, they kept working off the downbeat of the 1st beat; they held the band together and often played under them as support. These early drummers held back the band from letting loose and diminishing the groove. They truly made the music swing.

During those early days, someone that grabbed the attention of the jazz world and is still a household name among jazz aficionados is Gene Krupa. Gene learned from the earliest of drummers and took their subtleties and embellished on them.

At the later part of Benny Goodman’s career he was asked who was his favorite drummer and he barely gave any of his drummers much mention. The only one that received Benny’s total respect, despite often clashing with him personally was Gene Krupa.

Krupa was a gentleman and when he lost a cutting contest, he wasn’t afraid to admit it. He just took it as a lesson to benefit from. The one night he tipped his hat to another terrific drummer was when the Goodman Band, which Krupa was a part of, went up against another band whose drummer was the leader. Benny had been holding court and declared the King of Swing by many tabloids and opinion polls. So, it was with a lot of pride on the line that Benny took on someone else who also was known to all the regular patrons of the Savoy Ballroom as “The King of Swing”.

A Drummer Was Once The King Of Swing

If you were to think of what drummer could possibly be the King of Swing, your mind may round up the usual suspects and right away you could be yelling out “It must be Buddy Rich!” or “Art Blakey”, Elvin Jones, Alphonse Mouzon and Billy Cobham were not on the scene yet, so who could it be?

If you had heard a recording of Chick Webb, you might expect that judging by the brilliant quick fills, the flurries the powerful bass drum and those cymbals crashing, the man stepping out from behind the drums at the Savoy would be a big muscular guy and not someone that stood under 5 feet tall, possessed little use of his legs and had a painful and deformed back.

But, Chick Webb’s virtuosity was a huge influence on Krupa as well as Buddy Rich, who said about Webb that he was “the daddy of them all”.

Webb out of necessity had his Gretsch drum set customized and his drums were put on racks, which was very innovative at the time and observed as a major enhancement.

For those that are searching for someone to study for their technique and their understated shear artistry, it would be hard to find anyone better than Count Basie’s drummer Papa Jo Jones. He wasn’t flashy like some of his contemporaries, but his use of the hi-hat and amazing subtle attack was revolutionary.

As Bebop music began to be popular, rhythms were changing and someone that made that happen was Kenny Clarke that accented beats within a measure. His approach was adopted by both Max Roach and Art Blakey as well as Elvin Jones, John Coltrane’s fiery drummer.

As music developed in the style of cool jazz, some outstanding drummers came out of that school as well and they were Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnnette and Elvin Jones was part of this group too.

Drumming today often takes on lots more in the way of coloring the music as well as taking on long solos. There are great players that love their predecessors and play with the same style that made swing popular. Some women have even become keepers of the flame so to speak. Two such terrific players are Cindy Blackman and Terri Lyne Carrington.

Musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Mel Torme learned to play drums to get close to the feel and excitement of the pulse of music. Their understanding of the drums role in music made their contributions even greater. If we wish to learn music, we need to open our ears to the rhythms of the drum.

Being able to hear only some things in music and not others can be something we are all guilty of, but that will only happen if we close our ears and close our minds. When we don’t open our ears to what is musical, then we are cheating ourselves of a great deal of music; and our own playing is left deficient.

Everyone can have a favorite style of music. Often the music we love is music we were listening to in our teenage years. But, a real musician has huge ears; they hear what makes music, well musical! If a guitarist or any solo artist were accompanying a singer and played so loud that the singer has to compete to be heard, then it doesn’t matter if the soloist plays all the right notes and plays amazing melodic lines, if they drown out the singer, it’s as if that musician can’t hear a door slam!

Being a musician and being musical means making everyone else sound great. It means being what’s called being in the pocket. If you want to know what being in the pocket means, just listen to Joe Sample and the Crusaders. When you are listening to a band whose groove makes your feet tap and you can’t pull yourself away if you tried, well the band you are listening to is “in the pocket.”

When someone has really learned how to be musical, you can be sure that they will not only exhibit a total feel for the groove, but they will make music come alive with their dynamics. Having a command of dynamics is one way to draw people into the song, to excite them to cause tension and finally to make everything resolve the way it should.

Another facet of true artistry that goes hand-in-hand with dynamics is phrasing. If we were talking about music as a language, then it would be easy to recognize that just as what you say is important, how you say it can be as important, if not even more important.

Phrasing in music is that secret ingredient that makes what we have special. It’s the difference between just saying words and sharing an amazing story. When we have beautiful phrasing we are playing more than notes. We have opened our ears, our minds and our soul; we are musicians and we are musical!

Every new artist is a reflection of those before them as well as a development out of their own unique experiences. Although every post on here has been about an individual, it would be amiss if we didn’t at times tell you about something we feel is worthwhile reading and learning, so here it is – this month we would like to point to one book that is so hard to put down, it is simply called “The Music Lesson.” This book was written by Victor L. Wooten, a bass player virtuoso. But, note, this book isn’t addressed to bass players, it is addressed to everyone. Notice I didn’t say to every musician, but really anyone, as long as they want to reach within themselves and find the musician inside.

The title for this book could have been called “The Unwilling Student,” because Victor wrote it as a series of discussions that he had with a musical genius that he met in life, that appeared in his life for several days and left his mark on Victor’s playing. He left this mark even though Victor thought this person was very strange and unusual and seemed at first to be making statements that contradicted everything he ever learned from his teachers along, with anything that had made him a pretty good bassist already.

“The Music Lesson” is the kind of book that reads like a novel and so even someone that really didn’t consider themselves a musician could enjoy it. And of course for those that do think of themselves as musicians that want to get better, then it will be an even greater treat, because it doesn’t teach you bland rudimentary theory, in fact it claims not to teach you anything, but rather lets you absorb examples that are stated and see how absolutely right on they are. You will be able to read an interesting story and have it change your concept of what makes music musical.

If you’d like to appreciate music for being more than just notes, then you will find yourself absorbed in “The Music Lesson”.  In this book music is described as being made up of many elements. Each element is explained, so that you see how it can fit in your playing and why it deserves to be a part of every true musician’s makeup.

Victor Wooten proves that he is not just a great player that plays with Bela and The Flecktones, but he’s someone that has a great deal to say about music and can help everyone possessing an inquisitive spirit grasp. You may start out being a skeptic or an unwilling student yourself, but not for long!

The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music

Thomas Waller had a ravenous appetite and so the name ‘Fats’ was given him and it forever stuck. Fats loved the jazz music that was being created all around him and he learned the tunes by watching how piano rolls affected the keys on the piano. He would imitate what he saw. Because he was able to play quite well in his mid-teens he eventually began to play at large movie houses, where his other gifts developed as well. He was able to develop his sense of timing for humor as well.

By Fat’s late teens with the combination of excellent playing and entertainment, he became widely known in New York. His playing got to be heard by the famous James Price Johnson. James P. Johnson was already a jazz legend, one of the very best pianists and creator of jazz solos in his day and he took a liking to young Fats and he even told his wife that he believed he could make young Fats Waller a good player. Johnson’s style of playing is known as stride piano. James P. Johnson would have put a bit of competitive spirit in Waller, because Johnson was always competing with all the pianists of his day; the competition called cutting contests or cutting heads, was brutal to anyone that was not a real pro, usually only one or two of Johnson’s friends, like Lucky Roberts and Willie The Lion Smith were able to remain with their dignity fully intact. Being around Johnson gave Fat’s a professional edge.

By 18 years of age, Fats was able to earn a living by several means; he was employed creating piano rolls, just like the ones he had learned from, as well as playing rent parties, and he was also playing the piano at the Lincoln Theater.

While still in his early years, Fats made time to study piano from Leopold Godowsky, a classical pianist as well as composition and arranging from Carl Bohm, an instructor at Julliard. It would appear that Waller’s late mother Adeline had surely instilled her son with a love for the classics, as well as technical mastering of his instrument.

At 19, Waller was co-writing with his mentor James P. as well as performing improvisational jazz right along-side him.

Fats was not one to lock himself into any one position, but his musicianship landed him in jobs with the Fletcher Henderson Band and then in Chicago with the Erskine Tate Band, this happening while Louis Armstrong was in the band. Waller later became the accompanist for Adelaide Hall and Bessie Smith.

By 1930 Waller was getting known for one more thing besides his piano genius and his clowning around and that was his singing. But why stop there, Fats still had talent to spare and so with the help of a polished gentleman, born the son of a Madagascar nobleman, whose name was Andrea Paul Razafkeriefo, Fats created his melodies and Andrea (better known as Andy Razaf) put his lyrics to those musical gems. Between the two men such songs as “Ain’t Misbehavin,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” “Jitterbug Waltz” “Your feet’s too big” “Black and Blue,” and others were churned out much to the delight of jazz fans, because those songs have become standards.

Al Capone loved Fats Waller’s music, but rather than offer a job to Fats, he kidnapped him. When Waller was first abducted, he thought he would never go home again, but he was brought somewhere told to play and actually he was tipped well all evening and driven home with thousands of dollars.

Waller didn’t always play by himself or as a part of someone else’s band, he spent much of the later years of his short life with his own group known as Fats Waller and His Rhythm, which included Herman Autrey, trumpet; Gene Sedric, tenor sax; Slick Jones, drums; and Al Casey on guitar. Al Casey was Waller’s nephew and he had made sure that his nephew received proper schooling before he allowed him to join his band.

A few things happened within the last year of Fats Waller’s life. That serious side of music that his mother had cultivated came out when Waller played Carnegie hall. Also, in 1943, Fat’s had a cameo appearance in the movie “Stormy Weather”, which featured Lena Horne, Ethel Waters, Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson, the Nicholas Brothers, Katherine Dunham, Cab Calloway and Bill ‘Bojangle’ Robinson. It was on the train ride home from Hollywood that Fats died. Thomas Wright ‘Fats’ Waller was only 39 years old.

Fats was loved by so many that it was deemed fitting to have his ashes dropped from a plane over Harlem. This gifted musician will forever be an important musician of note in Jazz History.

His seemingly effortless playing as well as his comic nature can be seen in this clip called “The Joint is Jumpin.”

Throughout the audience as people were looking at the schedule of players, many were saying “Who’s this guy, Martin Taylor, did you ever hear of him?” Martin a Scottish guitarist that had grown up in England was not as well known as many of the guitarists there that night.  So, for many in attendance, this was going to be a first impression.

Martin was ready to walk out and one guitarist behind the curtain said to him “I really liked how you played ‘I’ve Got Rhythm’ on your album.” Martin turned and said, “well maybe I’ll just play that now!” and he walked on to the stage and the spotlight hit him and then the sound of a whole band seemed to appear; Martin’s fingers were playing lead, rhythm and bass and the audience was electrified! As good as everyone else was this night, Martin received the only standing ovation.

Becoming a household name in the United States, has still eluded Martin Taylor, but in Europe Martin is revered as one of the finest guitarists in jazz history. Born on October 20, 1956, Taylor grew up among musical surroundings. Young Martin’s father was a bass player that loved the music of gypsy jazz and so he often played his bass to songs made famous by Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli .

Martin started out learning from his father and other family members by playing along with them. It wasn’t formal training, but it was extremely valuable towards his musical growth. Martin took a few lessons, but back then Martin wasn’t ready to buckle down and study a book. He jokes that he was able to play well enough that he asked his teacher to please just sign the back of his lesson book as if he had gone through the lessons, because he was able to play all of them by ear.

While in his teens, Martin was playing on cruise ships and playing gigs all around London. During those teen years Ike Isaacs became a mentor. It was through this talented teacher that Martin honed his skills and became a well rounded guitarist and particularly an excellent finger style guitarist.

Ike Isaacs could see how well Martin had developed as a musician and so he introduced him to Stephane Grappelli and Stephane appreciated his playing so much that he hired this young 19 year old and kept him employed for the next 10 years, playing the jazz Martin’s own father had primed his son’s ears for.

Martin Taylor has developed his own style and is an excellent teacher. It’s fitting that he loves helping others develop their own ears and talent and he is launching “The Martin Taylor Guitar Academy” on April 15th, 2010. To learn more about Martin Taylor Guitar Academy (MTGA) ) Please Click Here

Before the Martin Taylor Guitar Academy opens, you may appreciate seeing Martin’s fine presentation of  the Jimmy Van Heusen’ classic “Like Someone in Love!” Take a free lesson here.

Melvin Tormé was born on September 13, 1925 and by the time he was 4 years old, he was already getting paid for singing at a restaurant in Chicago, accompanied by his parents of course, but getting paid nonetheless.

Mel Tormé grew up in a time when Hollywood was looking for child stars that could do it all. Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Rich, Sammy Davis Jr. and Shirley Temple were in that category and so was little Mel Tormé. His acting career was mostly small parts, but he was used as an actor for radio. Mel was a terrific drummer and pianist, which enabled him to become an arranger. Mel could scat sing both in the bebop and swing idioms. At 15 Mel wrote his first song entitled “Lament to Love” and at 19 he was arranging for his own group appropriately called the Mel-Tones that was put to work by Artie Shaw.

One of the most famous songs that Nat King Cole sang “The Christmas Song” was written by Mel and his friend Bob Wells. Actually, there is a funny thing about the writing of that song. It started out as just a few lines written by Bob Wells on an extremely hot day. He wrote it to remind him of what he considered to be more bearable weather. Mel viewed it as the beginning of a great song and so he finished the rest of it and its success is well known.

Mel Tormé was an innovator and a risk taker as well. What he did before any of his contemporary singers was to have recordings of his live concerts. He did this a number of times before anyone else took that risk.

There’s a lot to learn from Mel Tormé; A few of those things involve his rhythmic sense, his phrasing, which he credited learning from his personal favorite, Ella Fitzgerald and also his love for what he was doing. Mel never lost that in his 60+ year career. All one has to do to know that Mel loved what he was doing is to see how he gave attention to improving his voice late in life and he succeeded in doing that. He was no longer just the wispy Velvet Fog, which is a moniker that he really never liked, but he grew in control and power. Mel’s career was most successful in his last 13 years, so definitely Mel Tormé is one singer worth adding to your collection and sitting back and really listening to.

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Video of Special EFX

In 1913, specifically December 31, New Year’s Eve, a young Louis Armstrong was celebrating that evening and fired a gun in the air. He was a kid that got into trouble there and again, and this was one time it was felt that Louis should stay in the Colored Waif’s Home For Boys and he was there for 2 years. This turned out to be a good thing for Louis, who needed both the discipline and the environment where he could learn to play an instrument. Louis already possessed the love for music and prior to learning to play an instrument, he joined in with other boys in the area singing harmony.

The person that was able to help Louis realize his skills was Professor Peter Davis. While at the Colored Waif’s Home, Louis was trained first with percussive instruments, so he would develop rhythmic sense and then he was given a few different horns before winding up with a cornet and becoming the leader of the band at the home.

When Louis was 14, he took to the trumpet and at night after working all day at odd jobs, he would join other local musicians to play dance music. New Orleans was home to many gifted musicians and no doubt Louis learned something from all of them; But, fortunately the one that was Louis’ favorite, also took a liking to him and that man was Joe Oliver. Oliver taught Louis phrasing and harmony.

A few people had a strong impact on Louis and put him in the right direction. His own inventiveness, lung power, rhythmic sense, determination and self-confidence made him the most respected jazz musician of the 20th Century, not only as a horn player, but as a singing stylist. When you hear the term scat singing, it was Louis Armstrong that made it popular, but that’s another story.

Joe’s family shuffled back and forth between New Brunswick and Johnstown, Pennsylvania, depending on where his father could find work. Often it was in the steel mills of Pennsylvania.

One thing that both Joe’s parents cared about is making sure their boys all learned something that would insure that they were not stuck working in coal mines like many boys in Pennsylvania or in steel mills like Mariano Passalaqua, Joe’s own father.

When Joe was 9 years old, his father bought him a Harmony steel string guitar. Joe’s father even found him a teacher that was able to get Joe started with chords. The style of his early lessons he described as playing cowboy type chords, much like you would hear in Country Western music; but it was a start. Joe’s father recognizing his son’s talent made it a point to both listen for different melodies, or come up with something new every day. He would tell Joe “play this Joe’ and would make sure that his son could add it to his list of songs.

The way that Joe’s father made him practice was always the same. He was to start with the first song he ever learned and play everything he learned in succession, so that he never forgot anything. He was to learn these songs and be able to play them in different keys. It’s not hard to understand why he found himself playing the guitar at least 6 hours a day and often hating it, as well as the fact that he never played outside with kids his own age.

By the age of 14 Joe was playing at parties and dances and was approached by a boy a few years older than himself named Sam Sottile, who later became known as Bobby Lee and patented “the no-mishap guitar strap.” The boys practiced together for a gig in a club, which Sam claimed he had connections with. But, Sam’s interest for girls outweighed his desire to play at the time and so Joe’s first chance to play in a club was put on hold for just a short while.

Joe’s parents sent him to New York to learn sight reading from Harry Volpe. Although Joe learned to read music, it was not to the extent that he could play difficult charts by sight, like some of the studio musicians of the time, such as Billy Bauer or Howard Roberts. Joe’s strength was in his ability to hear.

When Joe’s father could no longer hold him under his strict control, Joe took to traveling and seeing some of his musical heroes in New York, such as Art Tatum and Charlie Parker. The new found freedom to do what he pleased and even possibly the admiration for Charlie Parker’s ability to perform while under the influence of heroin may have been the reason for Joe Pass to turn to heroin as well.

Heroin didn’t cripple Joe’s performance immediately, but within just a few brief years, Joe was totally addicted and going nowhere. This was an addiction that lasted from 1947 to 1960. It was only after staying at the Santa Monica narcotics rehabilitation center, called Synanon, where they wouldn’t allow Joe to play guitar for his first year there, to gather himself up and be responsible again, before picking up the guitar.

Synanon saved Joe’s life. But, it took more than 2 ½ years there to be able to face the world again. Interestingly enough there were other talented musicians weathering their addictions at Synanon, so though over 16 years had gone by since Joe was really part of the music scene, his career got a kick start when this band of rehabilitated musicians recorded an album called “The Sounds of Synanon.”

Though the album received recognition, Joe still had to pay his dues; but, his jobs were respectable ones. Joe was back doing what he loved and for the next decade, between backing talented musicians including George Shearing, releasing albums “Catch Me”, “Simplicity”, “Django”, and even playing the music of the Rolling Stones in a jazz format on 12 string guitar.

Joe was out to make up for lost time and when he noticed that good method books for jazz guitarists were few and far between in the early 70’s, Joe created a few for the progressive guitarist.

The door for Joe’s success swung wide open after he substituted for another guitarist in Benny Goodman’s band. He impressed Norman Granz enough to be signed up by Pablo records, where he released his first solo effort, an album entitled “Virtuoso.” This title actually became a series of albums.

Once Joe’s career took off, there was no stopping and he was on the road as a solo artist, teamed up with some big bands, or on a whirlwind tour with Oscar Petersen’s quartet. As talented as Joe was before, all the different experiences made him an even better musician.

Many people would especially love to watch Joe’s solo guitar performances and see him improvise, taking the melody in new directions and inversions of chordal arrangements. People were often thinking how will he find his way back to the original melody, but everyone would be thrilled to watch the master weave his way back. Joe often said “if you hit a wrong note, then make it right by what you play afterwards.”

Time away from home had a negative effect on his marriage. He was a faithful husband, but an absent one much of the time and felt truly sad when his wife Alice asked for a divorce. He did his best to be a good influence on his two children and he was very proud of them.

Fortunately, Joe ran into a good friend in New York that he had known in Germany named Ellen-Luders. The friendship blossomed and Joe was again a happily married man.

Joe did his best to balance his home life and his career. The travel was still a strain and Joe would sometimes say “what day is it?” “Oh Tuesday, then I must be in New York.” It was half jokingly that Joe said these things, but it was also fatigue.

From the soaring of his career in 1975 till his death on May 23, 1994, Joe played many styles, from swing to bop, Latin, to big band ensemble and some of his most cherished work was playing duets with the legendary Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgerald.

Playing with Ella was a special treat for Joe, because he felt like he had arrived. Ella played big venues like Carnegie Hall or Lincoln Center. Joe knew his ability was far above many of the pop performers that played huge venues, and yet he’d point at a jazz club that holds a few hundred and say “this is as good as it gets for a jazz musician.”

While Joe was a brilliant player, he really loved to listen to others play. His own personal favorite guitarist was Wes Montgomery and he didn’t mind saying it.

Pass knew he had taken some wrong roads in his life and so he reached out to others to give them help. One such person he reached out to was Emily Remler. He sat down to play with her informally in the musicians’ lounge of New York City’s Blue Note Club. They played for a little while and Joe got to look in Emily’s eyes and say “I can tell you’re cheating”, referring to her addiction. She told him that she had been doing much better and later that year she tried to avoid going on a gig with David Benoit, so she could concentrate on beating her habit. But, unfortunately she couldn’t get a replacement and her fear of messing up on the road became a reality and led to her tragic end.

Joe Pass was a wonderful guitarist that left a huge legacy and a huge number of friends. Guitarists will be studying his style and tremendous body of work for years to come.

Take a look at Joe playing with Ella
Worth seeing is Joe playing solo