PATHWAYS

A JOURNEY THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT

OF RLRRLRRL STICKINGS & VARIATIONS
IN DIFFERENT STYLES

Presentation by Skip Hadden

Pathways… The unfolding of the way…So Far… October 10, 2020

1. David Garibaldi “Most Important Beat” Video 10:47

2. Fat Back pg These bass patterns are played under
a. RLRRLRRL STICKINGS & VARIATIONS page
3. “Prehistoric Rhythm, The King Kong Beat” Red Bone w Pete DePoe 3:59
a. from David Garibaldi “Funky Beat” pg 7 and 14 -17
4. “There Goes That” Ray Obiedo w Paul van Wageningen 5:00
a. Music in above video DG plays along with
5. “Vuela Por Noche” Tower of Power “Drop It In The Slot” 1:57 1975
a. From David Garibaldi “Off The Record” psg 68-70 2016
6. “Soul Vaccination” Tower of Power “Tower of Power” 5:13 1973
a. From David Garibaldi “Off The Record” pgs 23-29 2016
7. “Page One” from pgs 4-11 from “Code of Funk” 5:43 2006
a. David Garibaldi Lessons DVD booklet
b. also David Garibaldi “Code of Funk” 4:43 pgs 52-59 2006
8. Linear Time Feels and Phrasing Gary Chaffee
a. Originally from Percussioner International Magazine 1985 pgs 42-48
9. Baiao Patterns for Drumset Duduka da Fonseca
a. Modern Drummer magazine August 1995 pg 110-111
10. Around the World: “Diddlin’ The Baiao” Gary Novak
a. on Chick Corea’s “Discovery” Daniel Bédard Modern Drummer
magazine February 2016
11. Discipline: Tom Brechtlein “Tales of the Dancing Kangeroo’s” Drum Magazine
12. Caixa Do Samba: Julio Caesar Modern Drummer magazine Brazil Jan 2016
13. Steve Smith Part 1 / 2 (?) Booklet from DVD 2004
14. Steve Smith Clinic Handout 1980
15. Stanton Moore “In The Pocket:”
a. “More Street Beats: A Modern Approach to Second Line Rhythms”
from Modern Drummer magazine December 2006 pgs 120-121
16. Stanton Moore Clinic Handout pgs 6-8 2005
17. John Riley “Jazz Drummers Workshop:”
a. Second Line Applications: “Funkifying Your Beats N’awlins-Style”
Modern Drummer Magazine December pgs 104-105 1999
18. Theodore Brown "History and Analysis of Jazz Drumming to 1942”
a. “Castle House Rag” James Reese Europe w Buddy Gilmore 1914 pg 163
19. Selected Discography and Reference Materials
20. Broken 8 Time Feel materials. The Miles Davis w Jack DeJohnette “Directions”
being an excellent example.
 RLRRLRRL & Variations

4 .
y y y y y y y y y y
. .
y y y y y y y y y y
œ ..
ã4 . œ œ œ œ œ œ . . œ œ œ œ œ
1 2

. y y œ y y œ y œ y y œ y y œ y œ . .y œ y y œ y y œ y y œ y œ y y œ .
ã . . . .
3 4

. . . œ ..
y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y
ã . œ œ œ œ œ œ . . œ œ œ œ œ
5 6

. y y œ y œ y y œ y y œ y y œ y œ . .y y œ y y œ y œ y œ y y œ y y œ .
ã . . . .
7 8

ã .. œ .. .. œ ..
y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
9 10

. y œ y œ y y œ y y œ y œ y y œ y . .y œ y y œ y œ y y œ y y œ y œ y .
ã . . . .
11 12

13 14

Skip Hadden Pathways Presentation

 RLRRLRRL & VARIATIONS

15. 16.
 RLRRLRRL & VARIATIONS
RHYTHMS 1-16 PLAYALONG SONG SUGGESTIONS

#1 . “Prehistoric Rhythm” Red Bone w Pete DePoe

“There Goes That” Ray Obiedo w Paul van Wageningen
“Vera Cruz” Trio Da Paz w Duduka da Fonseca “Brasil From The Inside”
“Family” Steve Slagle “Alto Manhattan” w Bill Stewart
“Zoyd” Mike Clark “Carnival of Soul”
“Ain’t It Funky Now” Grant Green w Idres Mohammad
“Monk’s Dream” Michael Wolff/ Mike Clark “Expedition 2” 2015
“Love Slip Up On Ya” The Meters w Zigaboo Modeliste 1975
“Inter-are” Mark Guiliana Jazz Quartet 2017
“Schizophrenia” Bobby Sparks II w Little John Roberts 2019
BOMBA – “Bomba e Peles”
“Bomba Fusion_Beat_“Bemsha Swing”
“Bomba Fusion_Beat_Armando’s Rumba“

#2. “Ain’t It Funky Now” Ruben Wilson “Hot Rod” w Idres Mohammad
“Head Start” Steve Khan “Backlog”
w Mark Walker, Marc Quinones, Bobby Allende
“Criss Cross” Steve Khan “Backlog”
w Mark Walker, Marc Quinones, Bobby Allende

#3. “St. Thomas” Ray Obiedo “Latin Jazz Project, Vol. 1”

w Paul Van Wageningen
“Fire on the Bayou” The Meters w Zigaboo Modeliste
“Hey Pocky Way” The Meters w Zigaboo Modeliste
“Mixed Media” Ravi Coltrane “Moving Pictures” w Jeff “Tain” Watts

#4. “Vuela Por Noche” Tower of Power “Drop It In The Slot”

w David Garibaldi 1975
“Bomba Pa’ Carmen” Charlie Sepulveda y The Turnaround
“Mr. EP” Tribute to Eddie Palmieri w Raul Maldonado, Gadwin Vargas

#5. “Soul Vaccination”“ Tower of Power “Tower of Power 1973 Garibaldi

Tower of Power “The East Bay Archieve Vol. 1, Boston 1973
Tower of Power DVD Tower of Power “In Concert” 2005
#5 cont. “On The New Ark” Brian Lynch w Obed Calvaire/Pedrito Martinez
“Bomba” Freddy Ayala Folk Songs PR

#6. “Ain’t It Funky Now” George Duke “Face The Music”

w Little John Roberts

#7. “Repuesta A Maria” Clavé e Guaguanco La Rumba Que No Termina

“Sharp Aztec” Ray Obiedo “Carousel” w David Garibaldi 2019
“Surviving in the City” Ignacio Berroa “Heritage and Passion” 2014
“Una Vez Mas” Dafnis Prieto “Back to the Sunset” 2018

#8. In development

#9. In development

#10. “Vera Cruz” Trio Da Paz “Brasil From The Inside” w Duduka da Fonseca
“Black Echo IV – Iron” Ettiene Charles, “Carnival” w Obed Calvaire
“Lingus” (piano solo) Snarky Puppy “We Like It Here” w Larnell Lewis
“Got My Mojo Working” Larry Fuller w Lewis Nash 2019

#11. “Rojo” Steve Khan “Backlog”

w Mark Walker, Marc Quinones, Bobby Allende

#12. “Monk’s Dream” Mike Clark “Carnival of Soul”

“Let’s Roll” George Duke “Face The Music” w Little John Roberts
“Just Kidung” Dewa Budjana “Hasta Karma” w Antonio Sanchez
“Ja Era” Kenny Barron & The Brazilian Knights w Rafael Barata

#13 “Aún Así” Giraldo Piloto Klimax

“Freddie Freeloader” & “Petits Machin (Little Stuff)” Conrad Herwig
“Another Kind of Blue- The Music of Miles Davis” w Robby Ameen
“Latin Genetics” Steve Khan “Backlog”
w Mark Walker, Marc Quinones, Bobby Allende
“Hackensack” Steve Khan “Subtext”
w Dennis Chambers, Marc Quinones, Bobby Allende
“De La Habana a Nueva York” Bobby Carasses “Invitation”
Oliver Valdes: Bateria – Alejando Aparicio: congas 1999
 “De La Habana a Nueva York” Roberto Carsasses w Dafnis Prieto 2010
“Criss Cross Ray Obiedo “Perfect Crime”
Karl Perazzo/Paul Van Wageningen 1989

#14. “Bemsha Swing” Caribbean Jazz Project “The Gathering”

w Dafnis Prieto
“Catta” & “Rojo” Steve Khan “Backlog”
w Mark Walker, Marc Quinones, Bobby Allende
“Tani” Los Papines “Papin Y Sus Rumberos” – Guaguanco
“Repuesta A Maria” Clavé e Guaguanco La Rumba Que No Termina

#15. “Bemsha Swing” Bomba Fusion Beat – 4-2

Contra Viento Y marea “Against All Odds”

#16. In Development
The Funky Beat David Garibaldi 1996
David Garibaldi: Lessons

1 PAGE ONE

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David Garibaldi: Lessons

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David Garibaldi: Lessons

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David Garibaldi: Lessons

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David Garibaldi: Lessons

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David Garibaldi: Lessons

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 David Garibaldi: Lessons

PAGE ONE
(J. Tamelier, S. Kupka, E. Castillo)

This piece is in the style of an earlier Tower of Power composition, “Soul Vaccination.” “Soul Vaccination” was
the first song we put together that was based on a non-traditional rhythmic structure… no 2 & 4 drum grooves!
The success of this concept opened the floodgates for us, in that we were no longer limited to typical R&B beats
as the rhythmic base for our material.

Tower of Power music is based in tradition, but also experimentation. Much of our music was inspired by the music
of James Brown, Motown, Stax/Volt, etc., but also with a significant infusion of jazz and Latin music concepts. We
use the R&B idea of rhythm section parts: everyone in the section has a role to play; a composed part that in a
performance will have some improvisation. Adhering to a part gives the music structure and organization.

As far as the drum parts go, anything will work, at least in theory. I approach the music with this mindset, and
then edit as we develop ideas. The concept for this piece was very wide open: my instruction was to “do your
thing,” but with very little, if any, 2 & 4 snare drum.

Ex. 1A is the main groove of the song: a long pattern (4 bars). The right hand plays the right hi-hat, and the left
hand plays the snare drum and left hi-hat.

1A

Ex. 1B is a shorter 2 bar pattern.

1B

Ex. 1C is the keyboard solo groove, which stays within the rhythmic framework established in the chorus and
verse.

1C

10
 David Garibaldi: Lessons

Ex.1D is the ending section…here I use the 2 & 4 snare drum to release the tension created in the previous sections.

1D

11
 Video Grooves
by David Garibaldi

This study is a collection of some of the

grooves featured in two of the videos I've
recently completed for DCI Music
Video/CPP Media Group. The videos apply
many of the concepts found in my first book,
Future Sounds. As in the book, the focus is
on groove playing.
The first video, Tower Of Groove, is done with a live band and
covers rhythm-section playing. Video number two, titled David
This next groove is in the hip-hop/fusion style. It's sort of up-
Garibaldi Featuring Talking Drums, is done with a
tempo, and even though the exercise is written in 16th notes, it is
percussion/drumset trio called Talking Drums that plays original
interpreted as 16th-note triplets, which will give the pattern its
music in the Afro-Caribbean style. All of the Future Sounds con-
correct swing.
cepts apply here as well, but in a different rhythmic setting. Video
number three, Tower Of Groove, Part 2, is more rhythm section
playing and is due out in the fall of this year. There will also be
book/CD packages to accompany all of the videos.

Soca
You may not be familiar with some of the rhythms and terms
this month, so I've bold-faced these words. The first example
we'll look at is a version of the rhythm from Trinidad called soca.
Soca and calypso are very closely related and are the primary
dance rhythms of that country.

The Caribbean, Africa, and Brazil are possibly the most rhyth-
mically rich areas of the world. The musics of these regions offer
an incredible number of drumming styles, most of which originat-
ed in Africa. All of these drum styles are based on traditional hand
drumming and can be interpreted on the drumset in many interest-
ing and exciting ways.
Talking Drums is a drum trio that interprets many of these tra-
ditional styles and adapts them to an original music format that
The following two examples are variations of example 1. The combines contemporary drumset, hand percussion, and vocals.
main difference is the rhythm that outlines the snare drum part. The following "exercises" are small composite scores of the actu-
The hi-hat part can be played on a bell, as in example 3, or on a al rhythms that each of us plays in some of our original pieces.
cymbal bell, rim, or side of a floor tom. Keep in mind that this entire style has a very improvisational
quality that the written parts don't show. Here are three rhythms
we play and what they look like.

Guiro
Guiro is not only the name of a percussion instrument, it is also
the name of a style. Guiro is a way of accompanying traditional
Afro-Cuban songs where instead of using bata drums, the instru-
mentation consists of shekeres (or guiros), bell, and a conga drum
soloing.
The conga part written here (on the second staff) is on three
drums and is a basic part that is more or less adhered to and
played in a very "soloistic" style. The drumset part (top staff) includes the traditional bell part, plus tom-tom, hi-hat (played with the left
hand), and bass drum. It is in "3-2" clave. The shekere part is written on the third staff. (The symbols appearing in the hand percussion
examples indicate: H = heel, T = toe or touch, O = open tone, S = slap, M = muted or muffled note.)

Pilon
Pilon is the Talking Drums version of a rhythm invented in Cuba many years ago by Pacho Alonso. It is in "2-3" clave.

Nongo
Nongo, sometimes spelled Yongo, is one of many bata rhythms. Bata are the two-headed drums of the Yoruba people of Nigeria.
These drums and their traditions came to Cuba many years ago and accompany traditional Afro-Cuban songs.
The art of bata drumming is highly sophisticated, complex, and powerful. Bata are played traditionally in sets of three. The largest
drum is called iya and is the lead drum in the ensemble. The middle drum is called itotele and responds to the rhythmic calls of the iya.
They have "conversations." The smallest drum is called okonkolo and is generally the timekeeper that maintains a steady part for the
ensemble.
The drumset part (top staff) is based upon the traditional okonkolo part, which here is played on two bells with the addition of left-foot
hi-hat and bass drum. In the actual performance of this rhythm, the drumset maintains its ostinato part while the iya (bottom staff) and
itotele (second staff) call and respond. The left foot/hi-hat is playing the "3-2" clave.
LINEAR TIME FEELS & PHRASING Number 8 on next page 5/3 phrase length
can be construed as RLRRLRRL STICKING
The 8 Steps for Development

1. Accents
2. Embellishments
3. Other Sound Sources (other than snare, bass and hihat)
4. Steppin’ In (Hihat inplace of bass drum)
5. Stacking (of phrases) 33/55 etc.
6. Combinations of Phrases 8/3/5, 5/3/8, 3/8/5 etc.
7. Altered Stickings (paradidles, Inverted Paradiddles, open roll, etc)
8. Displacement (ex. tack last note of phrase onto first note of phrase)
 Linear Phrasing

> > > > > > > > >

yœy y y y y y y y y y y
ã c .. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ .. .. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ..

> > > > > > > > >

3
y œ y y y y œ y y y y y
œ œ œ œ œ .. .. œ œ œ
œœ œ
ã .. œœœ .
œ œ œ œ œœ.

5
yy y y y y y y yy y y y y
ã .. œ œ œ œ œ œ .. .. œœ œ œ œ œ œ .
œœ œœ œœ œœ.

.
ã .
> o >
y œy œy œ
œœ
>
y y y
œ œ
>
œ . .
œœ. .
>
y y
œ œ
œ
>
œ
>
yœ yœy
œ
œ
>
yœ
.
œ.
•
> > > > > > >> > >
9
y y y œ y œy y œ y y yœ yœy yœ
.
ã . œ œ
œ œ
œ
œ
. .
œ. . œ œ
œ œ œ
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> > > > >>
11
y y y œ y œy y œ yy y y y y y
.
ã . œ œ
œ œ
œ
œ
. .
œ. . œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ
œ ..
œ

13
y yy y y y y yy y y y y yy
.
ã . œœ œ œ œ œ œ . . œ œ œ œ œ x x ..
œ œ œ œ. . œ œ œ œ
> > > > > > >
15
y œ y y y y y y y y y y y
ã .. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ x œ .. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

From Gary Chaffee Drum Stuff Part 1 Percussioner International Vol. 1, 1984

Skip Hadden Clinic 2008

 Linear Phrasing 2

1
y y y y y y y yy y yy y yy
ãc œ œ œ œ œ œ œ .. .. œœ œ œœ œ œœ œ ..
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

3
y y y y y y y y y y y yy yy y yy yy
.
. œ œ .
. .
. œ œ .
ã œ œ œ œ M M M M .

5
y y y y y y y y y y y y
.
ã . œ œ œ œ œ œ . . œ œ œ œ œ .
œ œ œ œ . . œ œ œ œ œ .

7
yy yy yy yy yy yy yy y y y y y y
.
ã . œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ . . œ œ œ œ œ œ ..
œ œ œ œ œ œ . . œ y œ y

9
y y y y y y yy yy yy yy yy yy yy
.
ã . œ œ œ œ œ . . œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ .
y y y y y . . y y y y y y .

11
y yy yy y yy yy y yy yy y yy yy
.
ã . œœ œ œœ œœ œ œœ . . œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ ..
œ œ œ œ. . y y y y

13
y y y y y y y y y y
ã .. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ..
œ y œ y

Skip Hadden Clinic 2008

by Duduka Da Fonseca
Baiao Patterns For The Drumset
Transcribed by Michael Lauren

Baiao is a popular form of music and dance On examples 6 and 7, the left hand moves to the hi-hat. The
from northeastern Brazil. It actually may right hand moves between the ride cymbal, snare, and floor tom.
have its origins in Arabic culture, since Make sure you open and close your hi-hat.
Islam expanded from North Africa to the
Iberian Peninsula in the seventh century.
Portugal, which colonized Brazil, was extra-
ordinarily affected by Islamic culture.
Baiao, in its traditional form, is played on a zabumba drum (a
wide, thin, double-headed drum), triangle, and accordion. Other
percussion instruments such as pandeiro, caxixi (small shakers),
agogo bells, and snare are also often used. The patterns played by
these individual instruments within baiao adapt well to the drum- Examples 8 and 9 have the left hand moving around the drums.
set. Example 8 alternates between the snare and high tom, while
Baiao was introduced to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo by Luiz example 9 alternates between the snare, high tom, and floor tom.
Gonzaga in the 1940s. The infectious rhythm of baiao has had a
big effect on many different types of music, and can be found in
such styles as jazz, rock, fusion, and of course the samba hybrid
"sambaiao."
The basic drumset pattern for Baiao is based on a paradiddle
combination sticking (RLLR LLRL), and played on the snare
drum. The bass drum and hi-hat play a basic baiao rhythmic osti-
nato.
Here are four more drumset patterns for Baiao. The left hand
plays a cross-stick on the snare drum.

Once this pattern is mastered, try the following orchestrations.

In example 2, the right hand moves to the cymbal while the left
hand stays on the snare.

Example 3 has the right hand moving between the ride cymbal,
snare, and floor tom.

Example 4 has the right hand moving between the ride cymbal, Example 14 mixes the right hand of example 12 with the left
snare, middle tom, and floor tom. hand of example 1.

In example 5, the right hand is broken up between the ride cym- Now mix the right hand of example 10 with the left hand of
bal, snare, and the three toms, ascending in pitch. example 1.
 Here's another sticking pattern (RRLR RLRL) for baiao. Try it
on the hi-hat first.

Now move your left hand onto the snare drum.

You can also keep the hi-hat closed in examples 16 and 17.
On example 18, the right hand moves from the hi-hat to the ride
cymbal. (Both examples 17 and 18 can be played on the snare with
a cross-stick.)

On examples 19 and 20 the sticking moves between the ride

cymbal, snare, and three toms. Example 19 has a descending tom
melody, while example 20 has an ascending tom melody. (Try
combining the two into a four-bar phrase once you're comfortable
with them individually.)

Be sure to experiment with dynamics with all of these examples:

All accents can be played at a variety of dynamic levels, including
not playing the accents at all.
These patterns are my personal interpretations of baiao. I
encourage you to listen to Brazilian music and experiment with
your own orchestrations.

Special thanks to Jose Barros for his historical insights.

Duduka Da Fonseca and Michael Lauren are both on the faculty

of Drummers Collective, New York City. Duduka is the author of
Brazilian Rhythms For The Drumset (Manhattan Music
Publishing), and Michael is the author of Welcome To Odd Times
(Why Not Music) and Understanding Rhythm (Manhattan Music
Publishing).
 AROUND THE WORLD

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#BJBØ
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#ÏEBSE

Over the years, Chick Corea’s bands have featured a lot of

÷ 44 œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œ ..
great drumming talent. Steve Gadd, Dave Weckl, Roy Haynes,

‹ ‹ ‹ ‹
Jeff Ballard—all of these players brought exciting rhythms to
the drumming world. We’re going to focus on a song from
Corea’s Time Warp record featuring Gary Novak on drums.
More precisely, we’ll take a look at the groove he played on the

÷ 44 œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ ..
song “Discovery.”

The Baiaó
Novak’s groove is based on the Brazilian baiaó rhythm, which
‹ ‹ ‹ ‹
can be described as a cousin to the samba. Baiaó is mostly

÷ 44 œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ ..
defined by its ostinato foot pattern, which differs from samba.
Here is the main foot pattern.

‹ ‹ ‹ ‹
÷ 44 œ
1
‰ ‰ ..
‹ œ œ‹ œ ‹ œ œ‹
J J
÷ 44 œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ ..
At 0:51, Novak plays alternating 16th notes on the snare, ‹ ‹ ‹ ‹
doubling the second 16th with his left hand. This pattern
Diddling with 3s, 5s, and 7s
reminds me of a percussionist playing the tamborim, a small
I then used the same concept and started playing diddles in
tambourine-shaped instrument from Brazil. Try playing the
groups of three, five, and seven. This created quite a coordina-
notes softly to create a nice flow.
tion challenge, as it takes longer for the pattern to resolve.
Here are two-bar examples of each grouping.

÷ 44 œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ ..
‹ ‹ ‹ ‹
Groups of Three

÷ 44 œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ
1
‹ ‹ ‹ ‹
The Variations
While working on this groove, I came up with some variations
based on diddles. These helped me get comfortable and
creative with the original pattern.

q
÷ 44 œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ .. ÷ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ
=

‹ ‹ ‹ ‹ ‹ ‹ ‹ ‹
q
Groups of Five

÷ 44 œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ ..
=

÷ 44 œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ
11
‹ ‹ ‹ ‹
‹ ‹ ‹ ‹
q =

÷ 44 œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ q.. =
‹ ‹ ‹ ‹ ÷ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ
Now we’ll play two consecutive diddles, which creates a
‹ ‹ ‹ ‹ q=
six-stroke roll.

64 Modern Drummer February 2016

q =
 Groups of Seven

÷ 44 œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ
1
‹ ‹ ‹ ‹

÷ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ
‹ ‹ ‹ ‹
Bass Drum Variation
Gary also plays some bass drum variations throughout the
track. Here’s one you can use while playing the patterns we just
discussed.

÷ 44 œ œ œ ‰ œ œ œ œ ‰ œ ..
1
‹ ‹ ‹ ‹
J J
The most effective pad for complete hand development.
Builds speed endurance, and strength with every stroke.
• Low-bounce portable practicing solution
• Reduced stick rebound builds wrist muscles
I strongly recommend that you pick up a copy of Time Warp, • 7” pad has casing for table top practice
as there are a lot of other amazing tracks with Novak’s fiery • 14” pad fits snug on snare drum
drumming. He’s one of the best drummers out there. Have fun
with these exercises, and happy practicing!

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February 2016 Modern Drummer 65

 TOM
BRECHT LEIN DRUM KEY 31 • (•) •
• • ®
FAT< FUSION Snare Ghost High Floor Bass Open
Note on Tom Tom Hat
snare w/foot
Tom Brechtlein has played with
Robben Ford & the Blue Line, Chick Corea,
Joe Farrell, 'Wayne Shorter, Al DiMeola, jean- Anyway, I looked over to my left and saw the beats that I'm now going to show you.
Luc Ponty and Eric Johnson. five kangaroos hopping around. They were They're basically riding the hi-hat with your
about 20 feet away from us. It was pretty foot, making your left and right hand free
Tales of Dancing Kangaroos incredible. This was not in a zoo, folks. This to play different patterns, along with your
was just down the street! bass drum. Notice Ex. 3. It has a flam in it
I just got back from Australia where I was What does this have to do with drums? that is played between the floor tom and
touring with Robben Ford. We had a lot of Absolutely nothing! But I was staying at a the high tom - the flam starts with the
fun . While I was over there, I saw a family drummer's house. Actually, I was over at his floor tom.
of kangaroos. No kidding. I was staying school doing some clinics. His name is Hope you can use these. The kangaroos
over at a friend's house in Melbourne. We Frank Corniolla, and he runs a very fine. told me they were really cool. They had a
took a walk one morning to a stretch of drum school and shop called Drum Tech. hopping good time! (Yuk! Bad joke.) Talk to
land that was some sort of wildlife preserve. While doing these clinics I came up with you soon.

1 > >

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1 1 6 D R UM
Page 2 Julio Cesar Samba Patterns
Modern Drummer Brasil January 2016


Clinic Topics
Traditional Approach
The most common traditional Second-line groove is usually based off of the RLRL-RLRL sticking.

One of the key elements to remember when playing this music is to accent the big FOUR. The big four is the
last beat in the second measure of the groove. It is also the last note of the underlying 2-3 clave. Notice the
clave and the big four in these next variations.

Modern Approach
This approach is based on different stickings. This is the RRLR-RLRL sticking.

When you alter the accents and/or change the sound sources that the stickings are played on you can come up
with an infinite amount of grooves and variations. Here’s one that could work in a Latin context.

The next examples are based off the sticking RLRR-LRRL-RRLR-RLRL. Notice that the second two beats of
this groove are just the RRLR-RLRL sticking.

© 2005 Carl Fischer, LLC

 

This next groove works well with the previous grooves. I’ll often use one of the previous grooves as the main
part of a tune and use this groove as a fill. Again notice that the second half of the groove is the RRLR RLRL
sticking.

This groove is comprised of a two beat sticking that can emphasize a four beat clave. The sticking is LLRL-
RLRR-LLRL-RLRR. Notice how the 3-2 clave is split up between the hands.

Here is a variation I use.

With all of these grooves it is important to play with a feel that is in between straight and swung. Also don’t
forget to accent the big four (the and of 4 if you’re dealing with 16th notes). It is very important to check out
the masters of this style of drumming—Zigaboo Modeliste (The Meters), Russell Batiste (The Funky Meters),
John Vidacovich (Professor Longhair, John Scofield, Astral Project), Herlin Riley (Wynton Marsalis), Willie
Green (The Neville Brothers), Herman Ernest (The Neville Brothers, Doctor John), James Black (Eddie Bo,
Ellis Marsalis), Freddie Staehle (Doctor John), Idris Muhammad (Grant Green, Lou Donaldson, John Scofield),
Jenell Marshal and Lionel Batiste (Dirty Dozen Brass Band), and Ajay Mallery and Keith Frazier (Rebirth Brass
Band). Have fun and Stay Funky!

© 2005 Carl Fischer, LLC

 

Bonus Grooves!
Groove 1

Groove 2

Groove 3

Groove 4

Groove 5

Groove 6

© 2005 Carl Fischer, LLC

 Street Beats

Stanton Moore currently plays with the New Orleans fank band Galactic. They've released three albums,
including their latest Late for the Future. Moore also has released a solo album called All Kooked Out on Fog
City R ecords.

DRUM KEY
The New Orleans
Shuffle

These are a couple of snare Hi-Hat nare Buzz Stroke Bas

drum shuffles that were shown to me by Johnny Vidacovich. They w/stick on snare
work great in a variety of situations, namely on a shuffle tune, as a
variation on a street beat, on a New Orleans rock and roll tune like sticking. Once you get comfortable with these, try stringing them
Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'," or in a gospel, Cajun or zydeco Uam- together. Also try playing a street beat using one of these as a vari-
balaya) situation. The first one is based off of the RRL RRLRL ation or fill. {}

> > > > > > > >

R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L

> > > >

R R RL L R R RL L R R RL L R R RL L

> > > > > > > L>

L R L

_,,,_
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 Second-Line Applications
Funkify Your Beats N'awlins-Style
by John Riley

N
ew Orleans "second-line" drumming is the cracks" spacing. These variations will generate grooves remi-
parade drumming done by a two-man niscent of some of the things that Idris Muhammad, Bill Stewart,
drum "section." One man plays the snare Jeff Watts, and Billy Martin have been doing lately.
drum while the other plays the bass drum and
cymbal. These duos create hip, funky marches
by building ideas in two-measure phrases.
Their conversational syncopations are played in a fashion where
they toss accents back and forth, rarely playing them in unison.
A typical second-line phrase is very balanced, containing the
same number of accents on the snare drum as on the bass drum. If
you've ever heard jazz drummers Billy Higgins, Ed Blackwell,
Vernel Fournier, James Black, or Herlin Riley, then you've heard
modern drumset applications of second-line ideas.
Here's a familiar second-line phrase written for snare drum,
bass drum, and hi-hat. Play the snare drum part using alternating
sticking. You can phrase this in single strokes as straight 8ths,
swung 8ths, or as the Louisianians often do, "in the cracks"
between straight and swung 8ths. You can also play the phrase as
all buzz strokes (at the 8th-note rate). Listen for the counterpoint
between the snare drum accents and the bass drum part.

This accent scheme sounds really hip if you play the jazz beat
on the ride cymbal and use the second line phrase as a comping
idea.

Here's the same phrase displaced by an 8th note. This one

sounds great too—balanced, funky, hip, and swinging.

Following are the sixteen transpositions of this fundamental

New Orleans phrase. Practice them street-beat style, jazz style
with ride cymbal, with the shuffle on the cymbal, in straight 8ths
with 8ths on a closed hi-hat or ride cymbal, and finally, with "in
 For more information on second-line drumming, check out these
videos: Baby Dodds New Orleans Drumming, Herlin Riley
Ragtime And Beyond: Evolution Of A Style, and Johnny
Vidacovich Street Beats: Modern Applications. And also check
out Chris Lacinak's book, A Modern Approach To New Orleans
"Second-Line" Drumming.
John Riley's career includes work with such artists as John
Scofield, Mike Stern, Woody Herman, and Stan Getz. He has also
written two critically acclaimed books, The Art Of Bop Drumming
and Beyond Bop Drumming, published by Manhattan Music.
Stanton Moore DrumHead Magazine #55 June 2016 Article
 Buddy Gilmore 1914 w James Reese Europe

from Theodore Brown "History and Analysis of Jazz Drumming to 1942

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
 IN THE POCKET

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I n part one of this series (May 2013 MD), we
talked about the importance of developing
a tight, solid, feel-good groove. Things you can
work on to tighten up your playing include
gaining an intimate knowledge of the feel of every 16th-note
subdivision, improving your coordination, having a strong
internal clock, using dynamics, and practicing concepts that
take you outside your comfort zone and expand your bound-
aries. This month we’ll continue developing these ideas by
expanding on the exercises from the previous installment.
As in part one, the basis of this lesson is the paradiddle and
its three inversions, broken up between the hi-hat and snare.
However, this time the bass drum patterns are more musical
and groove oriented. Practice these patterns with a metro-
nome and also with recorded music. It doesn’t matter if the Here’s the first set of bass drum patterns. Letters A–H are a
drummer on the recording is playing a different pattern from little more basic and contain various 8th-note-based rhythms.
the one you’re practicing. Work on picking up the feel, swing, To practice these, start by playing example A with the first
groove, pocket, and vibe of the drumming on the recording, paradiddle example. Once you can do that comfortably
and apply it to the exercise you’re practicing. twenty times in a row, move on to example B, and so on. After
You can also practice this lesson in conjunction with you’ve mastered A–H with paradiddle 1, move on to the next
the Click Track Loops from pages 162–173 of my book, The paradiddle variation and repeat the entire process.
Breakbeat Bible. Practice at a variety of tempos (40–180 bpm
is a good range). Don’t forget to start slowly, and be sure to get
comfortable with the patterns before you increase the tempo.
Also make sure your playing is tight and all the limbs are per-
fectly aligned. This is why it’s beneficial to start slowly—you
can really home in on how tight you’re playing and not just
simply go over the exercise at a quicker tempo.
It’s also beneficial to record your practice sessions, as
well as live performances. Often, the things we play sound
different while we’re playing them. In the moment we tend
to observe our playing very subjectively, meaning we listen
to it based on our emotional inner experience rather than
pure fact, whereas a recording device observes our playing
objectively. If you listen back to recorded versions of your
practicing and playing, you can get a clearer understanding
of your strengths and weaknesses. The more you do this,
the more you can close the gap between subjectively and
objectively observing your drumming. You can then use this
increased listening skill to make any necessary adjustments to
your groove and feel while you’re playing.
Here are the paradiddle variations for this lesson. Pay care- Here’s the second set of bass drum patterns. These are a
ful attention to the accents and ghost notes within the snare little more intricate. Practice them exactly as before, until
and hi-hat patterns. They will help you develop the dynamic you can play each of them twenty times in a row with all four
aspect of your grooves, while adding more depth and flavor to paradiddle variations.
the exercises.

60 Modern Drummer June 2013

 Here’s the bass drum pattern from “Love Slip Up on Ya” by
the Meters, with Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste on drums.

Incorporate the patterns and concepts from this lesson into

your practice routine for a few weeks, and you’ll start to notice
an improvement in your groove, timing, feel, and pocket.
Even if you’re playing a basic funk beat, your awareness of the
16th-note subdivisions will be heightened. Until next time!

Here’s the third set of bass drum patterns. These also focus
on 16th-note subdivisions, but they include many instances Mike Adamo currently plays with 13 Kings, the Truth Cartel,
the King Tide, and several other Northern California–based
where two 16th notes are played in a row. Practice them in the bands. He’s also an active producer and educator, and he’s
same manner as before. the author of the critically acclaimed instructional book
The Breakbeat Bible (Hudson Music). For more info, visit
mikeadamo.com and thebreakbeatbible.com.

You can get a great bass drum workout by practicing

patterns that feature three or four 16th notes in a row. Here
are two examples.

You can also analyze the bass drum patterns from some
of your favorite grooves and play them with the paradiddle
exercises from this lesson. For example, here’s the bass drum
pattern from “Ain’t Sayin Nothin’ New” by the Roots, with
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson on drums.

June 2013 Modern Drummer 61

Selected Discography
“There Goes That” - Ray Obiedo Paul van Wageningen
“Four Square” - Ray Obiedo Paul van Wageningen
“St.Thomas” - Ray Obiedo Paul van Wageningen
“Let’s Roll” – George Duke Little John Roberts
“The Way” - Me’shell N’degeOcello Gene Lake
“I’m Diggin’ You” - Me’shell N’degeOcello Gene Lake

“Prehistoric Rhythm” – RedBone Pete de Poe

“Bomba a Pales” – Atabal
“Vera Cruz” - Trio da Paz Duduka de Fonseca
“Fire on the Bayou” - Meters Zigaboo Modleiste
“Ain’t It Funky Now” - Grant Green Idres Mohammad
“Family”- Alto Manhattan Steve Slagle w Bill Stewart

Videos/DVD’s/Links for Reference

Gary Chaffee
“Sticking Time, Linear Time, Rhythm and Meter”

Mike Clark
“Funk, Blues, & Straight Ahead Jazz”
“Funky Drummers” DCI Video

David Garibaldi
“Breaking The Code,”
“Tower of Groove,”
“Funky Drummers” DCI Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIemsK_0lXc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsiYKOTmv1I

Zigaboo Modeliste
“The Originator of New Orleans Funky Drumming.”

Stanton Moore
“Groove Alchemy,”
Variations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BepHqJJZSI&list=RD4BepHqJJZSI

Clyde Stubblefield and Jabo Starks

“Soul of Funk Drummers” DCI Video
Books for Reference
Gary Chaffee –
“Fat Back” from Time Functioning Vol.3 pages 11-15
“Sticking Patterns”
“Linear Time Playing”
“Linear Time Feels” - Percussioner International magazine 1985 pages 42-48

Mike Clark -
“Funk Drumming: Innovative Grooves & Advanced Concepts”
& Straight Ahead Jazz”
“The Post-Bop Drum Book

Dave DiCenso –
“Universal Rhythms for Drumset:
The Keys to Unlock a World of Creativity” pages 14-43

David Garibaldi –
“Future Sounds,”
“Funky Beat,” pages 11-17
“TimbaFunk,” pages 19-21
”Tiempo,”
“Code of Funk,” Book/DVD
“Off The Record.” pages 68-70

Stanton Moore -
“Groove Alchemy” Book/DVD
“Taking It To The Street: Traditional Approach to New Orleans” Book /DVD
“Taking It To The Street: Modern Approach to New Orleans” Book/DVD

Calixto Oviedo –
Beyond Salsa Percussion Vol. 3

Kim Plainfield – “Advanced Concepts” Linear Funk & Linear Phrasing pages

Herlin Riley and John Vidacovich

“New Orleans Jazz and Second Line Drumming.”

Zoro
“The Commandments of R&B Drumming”
And other reference materials

Ned Sublette –
“Cuba and it’s Music”
“The World That Made New Orleans”

Marc Myers

“Why Jazz Happened” University of California Press 2013 Chapter 10 'Lights, Volume and
Fusion’

Airto Moreira -
“Spirit of Percussion”

Eduardo Uribe -
“Brazilian Rhythms for Drumset”
“Afro-Cuban Rhythms for Drumset”

Duduka de Fonseca / Bob Weiner -

“Brazilian Rhythms for Drumset”

Alberto Netto -
“Brazilian Rhythms for Drumset and Percussion”

Henrique De Almeida -
“Brazilian Rhythms for the Drumset: Bossa Nova and Samba”

Cliff Korman –
“Inside the Brazilian Rhythm Section”

Skip Hadden –
“World Fusion Drumming”
“Broken Eighth Note Feel”
The Evolution of Cuban Popular
Percussion: From Danz6n to Timba
By Michael Spiro and Mike Mixtacki

hough most people probably tend to think of Latin dance music in the context of

T a large horn band (with lots of percussion, of course!), we contend that the musi,
cal forms and percussion techniques of contemporary Cuban music are rooted
more in the string and flute charanga styles of the mid,20rh century than the horn,based
conjuntos and mambo orchestras. Obviously the importance of the horn bands from the
1940s through the 1960s cannot be overstated, but the percussion movements of modern
Cuban dance music such as songo and timba come more from the timbal/ conga/guiro mod,
el than the bongo/ conga/ maraca sound. In this article, we will trace this lineage from its
beginnings in the 19rh century and show how popular Cuban percussion and the rhythm
section as a whole have developed over the past 150 years.

View a complete video of Michael Spiro and Mike Mixtacki's PASIC 201 3 clinic at https://vimeo.com/ 87687514

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 4 MARCH 2014

DANZON Example 1B: Paseo
In 1879, the C uban composer Miguel Failde wrote a piece of music
named after his neighborhood in Matanzas, C uba, ca lled "Las Alturas de

Jl• •
I .rjJ nR J I F ~in
Simpson ." It is considered the first danz6n ever written, and one could
argue that with this compos iti on, Failde gave birth to all C uban popular 31 'l 'l •P F
dance music based on the concept of clave. Music structured around the
tresil!o

nJ nR j 1 J I ..B F l nr II
rr r II
II ¥ l

It is important to note that the o riginal danzones were strictly instru-

had existed throughout Latin Am erica in the 19th century, as well as the mental pi eces , generally played outd oors by large wind ensembles with
cinquillo, only timpani and giiiro in the percussion section. When the music left
the outd oor band shells fo r the salones (indoor parlors, ho mes, and social
clubs), the winds gave way to strings, piano, and bass, and the flute was
in corporated as tl1e lead vo ice. The timba! (also kn own as the paila and/ or
II the timbales) was then created to match this smaller, quieter sou nd , while
the giiiro remained the percussive constant. One will also noti ce there was
no conga drum or bongo in this traditional danzon style; the percussion was
which was soon to follow, and these one-bar patterns remain the root of solely timba! and giiiro. Furthermore, there were no cowbells on the timbal
a number of cu rrent popular dance fo rms th roughout the hemisphere; setup; the player used only the sounds ava ilable on the low drum or hem-
the baido from Brazil and the bomba from Puerto Rico are but two of the bra, and the high drum known as the macho (including rim clicks, dead
more fa mous of those fo rms. Bur with the creatio n of the danz6n, Cubans strokes, rimshots, and open tones) to create the desired sound.
put their signature sta mp on the music of Latin America. By employing
the cinqui!lo as on ly half of the rhythmic phrase, and then contrasting it DANZON.CHA
with a less syncopated second hal f, the phrase became twice as long and a At the rum of the ce ntury the style of music known as son migrated
three side/ two side clave-based fo rm was created fo r all of Cuban society from tl1e eastern part of C uba to the capi tal of La Habana. It soon began
to dance. to displace the danzon as the dance form of cho ice, as the post-slavery
The rhythm of the danzon was carried originally by the timpani (later creole society searched fo r new for ms of music that would combine botl1
to be replaced by the timbales) and the giiiro, and is called the baqueteo European and Afri ca n elements. Th ough deep-seeded racism was still
(Example lA). What today we call son clave is completely integral to its manifest throughout the island, tl1e in stitution of slavery had nevertheless
structure. ended . As painful and difficult as the process may have been, Cuba was
beginning to integrate, and so was its music.
Timbale Notation Key Separate from its entirely different instrumenta tion (guitars, bongo,
bass, maracas, and trumpet) the son further distinguished itself from the
danzon by its use of voca ls and an ostin ato secti on that was built into the
Rimshot L.H. cross-stick middle of the song. After the singer completed the verses, the band would
Cha bell on "Hembra"
on "Macho'" move to the call-a nd-response section of the pi ece (known as the monttmo
or estribil!o), bringing thi s African musica l component directly into Cuban
popular dance music. This required the instrumentalists to play repetitive
Woodblock Open tone Open tone
on "Hembra" patterns ("in clave" of course, since obviously the son clave was the fo un da-
on "Macho"
t io n of all son music), which provided a much stronger rhythmic groove
and fo undation fo r tl1e dancers than the danz6n:
Example lA: Oanzon baqueteo with guiro

Clave (for reference)

l"'I v l"'I v
Guiro
rrrr :11

Muted
Tim bales

+ \+ + + 0 + + 0
R L R R L R R\ L R L R R
L.H . Cross-stick Open

The juxtapos iti on of the baqueteo with the fou r-bar paseo pattern (Ex-
ample 1B) made the danzon the national dance of C uba fo r th e next 50
years, and it is where we must start in expos ing the roots of current C u-
ban dance mus ic. An early Cuban orchestra with t impan i

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 5 MARCH 2014

 Example 2: Traditional Son Montuno estribil/o

RLRL RLRL RLRL RLRL

0 0 Michael Spiro and Mike Mixtacki's PASIC 2013 clinic

The son thus began to replace th e dan z6n as the music of cho ice by the contemporary pattern. These additions helped suppo rt the new rhythmic/
dancing community, and the result was a clear loss of employment for syncopated feel of the overall sound , and quire literally saved the orquescas
the danz6neros, or orquesta players. By the 1930s, the orquestas were facin g a fro m extincti on. (See Example 3.)
serious economic crisis. The remedy to this situatio n came from Orestes This new fo rm became known as the danz6n-cha and soon replaced the
and Israel "Cachao" Lopez, two brothers who played pi ano and bass danz6n as the popular style of the day. The da ncers were thrilled with thi s
respectively in the seminal gro up Arcano y sus Maravillas. (C achao went new sound , and the orquestas regain ed their populari ty and now rivaled
on to become arguably the most important bass player in C uban music the conjuntos (the groups that played son) in status and reputation.
history, as he again transformed mu ch o f the island 's music through his
creation of the "Descargas Cubanas" in the late 1950s.) At the end of the CHA.CHA.CHA
final melody sectio n of the danz6n, the brothers added what they called By the end the 1940s, the orquestas began to shi ft their repertoire aga in ,
the mambo sectio n to the piece. This req uired ostinato patterns fro m all this rime with the elimination of the danz6n section altogether. Spearhead-
the instruments: a montuno fro m the piano , a tumbao pattern fro m the ed by the great C uban gui ta r player Arsenio Rodriguez, the conjuntos had
bass, and guajeos fro m the strings (the o nly exceptio n was the flute, whose been in full swing fo r some rime now. Their sound had been augmented
fun ction was to improvise o n top of this osrinato). Furthermore, one with the additio n of pi ano, bass, and conga to th e rhythm section , and
conga drum was added to the percussion section, a smaU cowbell was there were full trumpet sections backing up the vocalists in every conj1mto.
added to the rimbales, and the gJ;iro shifted closer to its more fa miliar To counter the rhythmic power of such a full ensemble, the danz6n-cha

Example 3: Traditional Danz6n-Cha mambo

Violins
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PERCUSSIVE NOTES 6 MARCH 2014
 eventu ally gave way to the cha.cha.cha. The vio linist Enriqu e Jo rrin is cred-
ited with writing the first cha.cha.cha, entitled "La Engaftado ra," whi ch
beca me a hit in C uba in the mid-1950s. The additio n of vocals to the
orquestas was a primary compo nent of thi s change, as the call-and-respo nse
estribillo sectio n now took place between the singers (the coro), and the
flute player. The tempos picked up, the tumbaos becam e mo re aggressive,
the cha.cha bell ended up being played o n all the quarter notes , and the
giiiro played its now universally recognized figure . (See Example 4.)

LACHARANGA
Like all dance music of th e Americas, the tempos of Cuban music
started to increase as the decad es passed. By the mid-1950s, altho ugh the
orquestas certainly continued to play their signature cha.cha.chas and an
occas ional danzon.cha, they also started to play the son montuno tempos

Michael Spiro Mike Mixtacki

Example 4: Traditional Cha-cha-cha estribillo

~::h:J4:11 4 l
Violins r:m:: :n: :]4:11: :
u
-11.Jl _J.. j,._ _1_ -1
~· :
~
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_._ _._ _._ _t _ _._ _._
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Bass ~=ira:~: ="-= :a= :

:n:::=u
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Timbales =n: :;14:: QK

~ . LH . fingers
+ Mute with o
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Open tone
.
w1 (Ii LJI. fingers
I I

Conga Drum
_4_.
4 .[
H
l
T
l
s
J
T
t
H
rT
I
0
r r r
0 H T
l
s
T r r r
T H T 0
rT
L L R L L L R R L L R L L L R R

Guiro -ff- t=t t::t t _;,_

c::J
_;,_
t _;,_
c:J
_;,_
t _;,_
c:J
_;,_ :

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 7 MARCH 2014

 Example 5: "Presente y Pasado ," Gonzalo Rubalcaba Sr.

Bass

Timbales

Conga Drums

TSTHTO TSTHTO TSTHTOO

LRLLLR LRLLLR LRLLLRR

Guiro

and forms of the conjuntos. Instead of a lead singer, they still employed a woodblock and a cowbell (the Havana-style guaguanc6 conga drum pat-
the flute as the lead voice to call the coro to respond, but with the faster tern is included for reference):
tempos, the rhythms in the piano, bass, and strings became even more
syncopated and rhythmically interesting. (See Example 5.) Example 68: Gua-Gua pattern re-voiced and Guaguanc6 conga
It is from this new development in the charanga style that we begin drum part
to formulate our hypothesis of the progression of contemporary Cuban
dance music. Although the music had become faster and the other instru-
mental parts more complex, the timbal player's function was to simply play
half notes, which along with the giiiro anchored the ensemble. Although
µe might have occasionally added the two eighth notes before beats I and
3, he was basically functioning in a half-note paradigm.
We suggest that just as swing drumming eventually gave way to the
more complex form of bebop, charanga rimbal playing began to move be-
yond its basic half-note responsibility. It seems logical that the timbaleros
became bored with playing only half notes, and thus began to look for
ways to embellish their part while still maintaining the foundation and s S S B sos 0 so sos
L R LR LRL R LR LRL
swing of the music. Since it is reasonable to assume that many of them
were also rumberos (drummers who played the folkloric style of music
known as rumba), they would have been very familiar with the following Note that the half notes are already in the pattern, and that it really is
stick pattern played on a piece of bamboo known as the gua-gua: just an embellishment of playing rumba clave with one hand while main-
taining the pulse with the other:
Example 6A: Gua-Gua and Rumba clave
Example 6C: Downbeats on bell with Rumba clave

Clave

Gua gua

From the perspective of a rumbero, the first logical musical development

of the pattern would be to move the note on the bombo (the "and" of beat
To adapt this rhythm to the timbales, it would have made sense to com- 2 on the three-side) to the hembra or the low drum of the cimbal (see Exam-
bine the sounds of the wood and metal by re-voicing the pattern between ple 7A). This was indeed the basic movimiento that Jesus Abreu used when

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 8 MARCH 2014

 Example 78

T~:~:: 1:: ·~::::::: ::: HTSTHSTO HTSTOOOT

LLRLLRLR LRLLRLRL

Example ?C

Los Papines

he played his cajita musical i 1 r It t ,uw 1 1 !flt c. 1

or "musical box" in the fa.
mous rumba group Los Pap-
ines, and it cou ld be argued HTSTHTOO HSHTO 0
LLRLLLRR LRLLR R
that perhaps Abreu was
©
one of the originators of
the modern style of playing
Example 7D
timbales, even though he
played in a strictly fo lkloric
ensemble! Certainly it was
from this rhythmic foun-
dation that so meone Like
Daniel Diaz developed his
brilliant and unparalleled
playing style that helped de- La Orq uesta Ritmo Oriental
fine the unique sound of La
Orquesta Ritmo Oriental. HTSTHOTO HTSTBOOT
LLRLLRLR LLRLRLRL
In any case, here is a possible exposition of how timbal playing might
have evolved when a n<mbero was playing the instrument in a charanga
Example ?E
band in the late 1960s/early 1970s. As you ca n see, we have also come
up with a number of conga drum patterns to accompany this exposi ti on.
The conga player would sound pretty mundane if he did not respond to
the movements of the timbalero, and so we have also included examples of Timba les
what he might have played when inspired by these changes.

Charanga Timbal "Exposition"

(Note that the clave and gui ro remain consta nt throughou t examples Congas
7A-F)
Tc H S T B S 0 0 H 0 T B H T 0 0
Example ?A RLRLRLRR LRLRLLRL

Example ?F
Timbal

Timba les
Congas

HTSTHTOO HOTO HTOT

LLRLLLRR LRLR LLRL
Congas

HTSTHTBO 0 SOOOOT
LLRLLLRR L LRLRLR

The rhythm section is now playing within a very sophisticated rhythmi c

matrix, yet still based on maintaining the half note swing, and this is what
wou ld lay the groundwork for today's modern sound.

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 9 MARCH 2014

SONGO
As No rth Americans, we are keenly aware that musicians from the
United rates borrowed extensively from C uban music, but we frequ ently
fa il to recognize that the opposite has also been the case. Since the begin·
ning of the 20th century, C uban musicians have always bee n listening to
music fro m the United States. C uban trumpet players were paying close
attention to Louis Armstrong and his successors. C uban pi ano players
studied not o nly classical music bur all the jazz pi ano greats as well, and
the island 's drummers were cogni za nt of their o rrh American coun-
terparts, such as Max Roach and Buddy Rich. So it should come as no
surprise that when rock and pop music exploded worldwide in the 1960s,
C uban percussionists listened to everyone fro m Ringo Starr in the Beatles
to Bobby Colomby in Blood, Sweat and Tears, fro m Charlie Watts in the
Ro lling Stones to Danny Seraphine in Chi cago, and so forth . lt was really
o nly a matter of time then before the drumset wo uld eventually enter the
popular dance music of the island , which occurred with the creation of
songo in the !are 1960s.
The first songo pattern was created by Blas Egues, the brother of the Los Van Van
great Richard EgOes (who played flute in arguably th e most fam o us charan·
ga group in history, La Orquesta Aragon), which was played o n a drumset o n to transform C uban music with its utter-
with no cymbals and a large pi ece o f bamboo called cana brava, id enti cal ly modern approach. C hanguito is a uniqu e
to the gua-gua1 percuss ionist in that he is equ ally gifted on
timbales, congas, and drumset. As such, he
Drumset Notation Key composed a seri es of songo movements in
which the congas and drumset play specific
interlocking rhythms, all glu ed togetl1er
Bongo bell with the giiiro, and predicated o n the half-
"shoulder" Snare drum note-based cowbell pattern. Exa mples 9A-C
/ Hi-hat Rack tom ghost stroke
Kick drum illustrate a few of those patterns fro m both
/ I
the drumset and congas.

Bongo beJJ
" mouth"
\ Hi-hat Changuito
Snare drum Snare drum with foot
cross-stick
C hangui to's songo movimientos
Example 9A: Embellished version of Blas Egi.ies
Example 8: Blas Egi.ies songo

Clave
Clave :~
I ¢11
rr
"Cana Brava ,"
~ Ir· (( ~=II
or woodblock
"Cana Brava ,"
I
,..or Woodblock
Drum set
Drumset

Congas
Congas
H T s T 0 0 0 0 H 0 T s H T s s
L L R L R L R R L R L R L L R R

Guiro Guiro I ¢11

= F ur tJ IF U F LJ =ll
Fro m this original songo pattern , the brilliant Jose Luis Quintana (better
known as "C hanguito") developed the style and changed C uban music
forever. Tho ugh songo is a word that defin es an entire genre, it was origi-
nally a set of specific rhythms or movimientos created by C hanguito in the
1970s and '80s to accompany the songs written primarily by the bass ist
and bandleader Juan Formell and the great piano player Cesar Ped roso
("Pu py"}. These three giants of contemporary C uban music were the pri-
mary fo rces in tl1e intern ationally renowned C uba n dance group Los Van
Van, whi ch had developed out of the charanga movement, but then went

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 10 MARCH 2014

Example 98: Changuito's "Primordial Rhythm" (sic) These patterns were created to interlock with the increasingly complex
bass and piano patterns that Formell and Pupy were creating respectively
for their signature sound.

Clave
Example 10: Montuno from "Guarare de Pastora," played by Los
Van Van

Drums et

Congas

Sample Bass Line

Guiro
Bass

With the inclusion of the drumset, C hanguito's songo patterns began

Drumset
to sound very much like America n R&B drumming, and here is o ne ex-
ample of such a movimiento:

Example 9C: Changuito's "funk"-like songo on hi-hat, snare, and

kick drum Congas ¢11= a:u IIJJ I r r r r· j J J J =II
Tu T S T H T 0 0 H 0 T S H T 0 0
R L R L L L R R L R L R L L R L

Clave I ¢11:~ rr >0

~ =II
>
Drum set Changuito later used a setup focused on the timbales, but he incorpo-
rated a kick drum and floor to m and played stand ing up. It was from this
configuration that he pioneered the idea of the "double bell " with one
player playing both the traditional mambo bell and bongo bell together,
Cong<1s along with a variety of different bass drum patterns:

Example l lA: Changuito's "double bell" and kick drum patterns

Guiro
n n n
Congas

Example 118

H T S T H 0 T 0 H S S 0 0 S 0 0
L L R L L R L R L R L R R L R R

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 11 MARCH 2014

 Example 12 is a sco re of what the entire rhythm section played in Los Example l 3A: Timba drumset with "double bell"
Van Van with this percussion sound, taken from their tune "Encima del
Nivel" (better known as "Sandunguera").
In essence, regardless of his particu lar setup of the moment, Jose Luis
Quintana can be credited with bringing the drumset to prominence in Clave
Cuban dance music, and all current Cuban drummers owe a debt to him
for their contemporary musical voice.

TIMBA Drumset
Cuban music continued to grow and maintain its status with both
dancers and musicians worldwid e when the style known as timba ca me to
the fo reground in the late 1990s. From the percussion perspective, the in-
strumentation of each current band may differ somewhat, as some grou ps
employ the drumser/congas/ giiiro configuration (with the timbal generally Example 138
integrated into the drumset), whi le others have a designated timbal player
as well. But after Changuito laid the groundwork with Los Van Van dur-
ing the songo era, alm ost all timba bands now "requ ire" a dru mset as part
of their instrumentation.
One identifying feature of timba is its driving and syncopated piano
and bass parts. What was once a one-clave-long piano monnmo and bass
tumbao became a several-clave-long, highly-developed pattern with freedom
to improvise. The bass lines can sound more like Paul Jackson-inspired
phrases from Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters band than a "Lati n" bass
line, and may take severa l claves to resolve; the era of a simple bass tumbao
is long gone! In turn, the piano may seem to flip or "cross" the clave as
it develops through a two- or even fou r-clave phrase, again with great op- This approach is basically a re-voicing of one of Changu ito's songo pat-
portunity for the player to improvise and embellish. Th e drumset players terns. But players today sometimes "abandon" the cowbell entirely and
have developed a variety of ways to accompany these grooves, even though play free ly around their setup, much like American funk or R&B drum-
the music is sti ll "half-note on the belVgiiiro" driven. They certai nly might mers. They leave the bell part to someone else (generally the timbal player)
keep the half note feel with their right hand as they start to employ the kit and just play the kit. So the drummers in Cuban dance music today can
into their patterns: sou nd very much like Dave Garibaldi with Tower of Power as much as
they might resemble Changu ito with Los Van Van.

Example 12: Los Van Van's "Encima de! Nivel," also known as "Sandunguera"

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 12 MARCH 2014

 Example 14A: Timba pattern s on hi-hat, kick, and snare "Bo mbo n" in Pu py y Los Qu e Son Son, Riveron's licks in "Manolito y
Su T rabuco" from those of Jimmy Branly or Calixto Oviedo with NG La
Band a.
Clave Finally, it is important to note that in order to accommodate this
drumset-based music, the conga players frequently play their mmbaos with
a more trad itio nal son-monnino approach than the "interlocking melody"
method that wa so much a part of songo. They will however replace many
Drwnset of their toe-strokes witl1 slaps, which fills o ut the sound and contributes
much mo re drive to the music.

Example 15: Common timba conga drum pattern

Example 14B

HSSTHSOO HS S OOSOO
L L RLL L RR LRLR RLRR

Although the conga parts do not necessari ly create combined melod ies
with the drumset, they insistently push the music fo rwa rd and enable the
d rummer to improvise more as he fl ows in and ollt of d iffe rent phrases.
0
> Examples 16 and 17 are two fu ll score example of modern timba montu-
>
nos. Both are essentially transcriptions, but have been arranged, especially
in th e percussion, to help display the po ints we have been d iscuss ing
througho ut this article.

CONCLUSION
In th is case, each player develops his own style and phrasing, so one Today's C uba n dance music is as "hard driving" and rhythm ically
can quickly d istingu ish G iraldo Piloto's playing in his ba nd Klimax from complex as one could possibly find . The sonic textures of the music are

Example 16: Excerpt from "Como Yo Gozo Y Retozo" by Maikel Blanco y su Salsa Mayor, Arr. Mixtacki and Spiro; Piano Transcription
by Bob Karty.

Bass

Drumset
n > n n n
(R) >

Congas I «I' ll; r

H
tE tE
s s
r C rs C r 1J ,ls Js J J ,Js J J le s s r C s C r 1J Js Js J J ,ls J J •II
T H 0 0 H 0 0 0 0 H
tE tE
T H
tE
0 0 H 0 0 0 0
L L R L L L R R L R L R R L R R L L R L L L R L R L R R L R R

GUiro

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 14 MARCH 2014

 extremely thick because the groups are very large: They generally consist of DANZ6 : Miguel Failde, Jose Urfe, Antonio Maria Ro meu
multi ple keyboards, numerous singers, multi ple percussion ists, and large DAN Z6 -C HA: Arcano y Sus Maravillas, O rquesta de eno Go nzalez,
horn sections. In add itio n, the degree of sophi stication in the arrange- Israel ("Cachao") Lopez
ments and the individual parts is very challenging fo r eve n the mo t mod- C HA-C HA-C HA: O rquesta Arago n, O rquesta Ameri ca, Melod ias d el 40
ern player, dancer, o r afi cio nado. It would be nearly impossible to imagine C HARANGA: Estrell as C ubanas , Fajardo y Sus Estrellas, O rquesta Broad-
that this style could have emerged from a string-based music of the ea rly way, Pacheco y Su C haranga
20th century, especially for anyone not inti mately fa miliar with C uba n SO GO: Los Van Van, and to some degree, G ru po lrakere. Also listen to
music history. T he relatively qui et textu re of the danz6n with its reserved their contemporaries fro m the 1980s: La O rquesta Rinno Ori ental, La
and understated pe rcussio n section certainly seems a fa r cry from the cur- O rq uesta T ipica Juventud , and O rquesta Reve, even though they did
rent sound of today. not literally play what we would defin e as songo.
Yet our thesis is exactly that! It would of course be impossible to d iscuss TIMBA: Pupy y Los Que Son Son, Manolito y su Trabuco, Maikel Blanco,
the roots of the modern music without an exposition of the son and the Klimax
development of the conjuntos , and then later of the mambo o rchestras of RU M BA: Los Munequi tos de Matanzas, Los Papines, C lavey Guaguanc6,
the greats such as Beny More, Machi to, and Tito Puente. Yet what we have Yoru ba Andabo, Los Rum beros de C uba.
outlined in this paper is our concept that the danz6n and the percussion
instrumentation of the timbal and gi'iiro is precisely what gave birth to the Michael Spiro is an internatio nally recogni zed educa tor, recording artist,
feel and percussive mo11imientos of modern C uba n dance music. and producer, known specifically fo r his work in the Latin music field. He
Fundamentally, to be a contempo rary timba player requires famili ari ty is an eight-time Grammy no minee (including 2014), and has co-prod uced
and knowledge of the charanga fo rms dating back to the 19th century. En- such seminal recordings as BataKetu and BataMbira. He was appointed
tonces... Associate Professor of Percussion at Indi ana University in 2011, and trav-
A estudiar, y a gozar 1 els extensively as an internati onal clin icia n and artist. He has authored
several books on Afro-Cuban music and percussion, and produced a num-
IMPORTANT NAMES ber o f critically acclaimed instructio nal videos and DVDs.
Below are a few of the most important names o f tl1e groups or individu-
als within each genre that we have d iscussed in th is article. T h is is by no Mike Mixtacki is a perfo rmer and educator teach ing percussion at
means a complete or exhaustive list. Rather, our intent is to give you a orthern lll ino is U niversity. He is tl1e lead singer, drummer, and percus·
starting point to begi n your listening/studying/research. Furthermore, sio nist fo r the Caribbea n jazz group Ritmos Unid os, which perfo rms and
since recordings can now be fo und in so many different and va rying records regularly th roughout the Midwest. Mike is an act ive Brazilian
fo rmats, we have chose n to give you the names of the artist(s) instead of percuss ionist and singer, and has appeared at PAS IC and the Jazz
specific examples that could be d iffi cult if not imposs ible to find. Educatio n Netwo rk OE ) conference o n mu lt iple occas io ns. PN

Example 17: Excerpt from "La Loca" by Cesar Pedroso, recorded by Pupy y Los Que Son Son, Arr. Mixtacki and Spiro; Piano
Transcription by Bob Karty.

Clave

Piooo l S7

Bass

Timbal
n n n n n j n
0 0
> >
Drumset

Giiiro

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 15 MARCH 2014

 Chapter 2/4 Pages 76-80 from Scott Kettner
"Maracatu for Drumset and Percussion"

Baque de Luanda/Baque de Marca,;ao

This chapter will cover the most common maracatu groove, Baque de Marca1;ao, which translates literally to "Marking Beat." You will
hear almost every traditional maracatu group from Recife play this groove or some variation of it. Most groups actually call this groove
Baque de Luanda (Beat of Luanda), referring to the capital of Angola. It's essential that you have a strong understanding of marca1;ao
or luanda before moving on to any of the following chapters, since most of the other maracatu grooves are variations on this one.

Despite the disagreement over the name of this rhythm, the actual groove is the same, and these examples will provide you with a
foundation and the vocabulary necessary for understanding and playing with any traditional maracatu group from Recife. Here's a list
of a few of the traditional maracatu nations who play this groove:

• Maracatu Na1;ao Estrela Brill1a.nte

• Maracatu a1;ao Leao da Can1pina
• Maracatu Na1;ao Porto Rico
• Maracatu Na1;ao Aurora Africana
• Maracatu Na1;ao Rafzes de Pai Adao

Caixa Pattern for Baque de Marca�ao: RRLR-RLRL

The caixa examples below are some of the basic patterns for playing Baque de Marca1;ao with a1;ao Estrela Brilhante. You'll notice a
striking similarity in this sticking pattern with a lot of the New Orleans second-line snare patterns that Stanton Moore talks about in his
book Take It to the Street. We will explore some of these similarities in more depth later in this book in the drumset sections, but for
now let's start off by working on the sticking patterns, feel, accents, and the roll variations for the caixa.

Try practicing these caixa grooves with varying degrees of swing, from a straight feel all the way to a hard swing feel, similar to samba.
Some traditional rnaracatu groups play their caixa patterns with more Wt than others. You '11 want to be able to play all of the caixa parts
between each extreme of straight and swung in order to develop an understanding of each maracatu group and their swing feel. Make
sure to practice these examples with a metronome. Start off very slow, take your time, and focus on your feel.

Caixa Variation 1: This is a very basic foundation for starting to learn the maracatu caixa groove. Once you're comfortable with this
one, move on to the following caixa grooves with rolls.

All caixa examples 107 bpm.

TRACK 5
0:00-0:11

=====> > =====>===== =i:::::::::=>> =>i:::::::::= >> >> >

□□□ □ □ J J □ □ J J J J J J J J J =II
>

iJJJJJJJJJ J □ □
>> >> >> >>
i:::::::::=i:::::::::= = =

II J� IJ
R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L R R L R R L R L

39
Try Quintuplet-based, stretched-
phrasing, versions of all these
coordination exercises! Page o' coordination: Cinquillo
Basic Latin bell rhythm Todd Bishop
www.cruiseshipdrummer.com
1 j 2 j 3 j
bell
snare
4
ã 4 ..
x x x
‰
x x
..
x x x x x
.. œ œ ‰ œ .. ..
x x x x x
œ ‰ œ ..
bass
hihat/foot

4 j 5 j 6 j
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
ã .. œ ‰ œ .. .. œ ‰ œ .. .. œ ‰ œ œ ..

7 j 8 j 9
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
ã .. œ œ ‰ œ œ .. .. œ ‰ œ œ .. .. œ œ œ œ ..

10 11 12
x x x x x x x x x x x xx x x
ã .. œ œ œ .. .. œ œ œ œ œ .. .. œ œ œ œ ..

13 j 14 j 15 j
x x x x x x x x x x x x x xx
ã .. œ œ ‰ œ œ .. .. œ ‰ œ .. .. œ ‰ œ ..

16 j j
xœ x œx x œx x œx x œ x x xœ x œx x x œ x œx x œ x x
ã .. ‰ .. .. ‰ ..

17 j j
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
ã .. œ ‰ œ œ œ ‰ œ œ œ œ ..

Add LF/RF parts individually, and in all combinations:

18 j 19 20
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
ã .. x
‰
x
.. ..
x x
.. .. œ œ ..

21 j 22 j 23 j
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
ã .. œ ‰ .. .. œ ‰ œ .. .. œ œ ‰ œ ..
©2019 Todd Bishop — www.pdxdrummer.com
LATIN JAZZ

While prepping for his latest recording, saxophonist-composer Miguel Zenón had plenty of time to
research the history and development of music throughout the American continent, including his native
Puerto Rico. His reading list during COVID lockdown in 2020 included such historical tomes as Sebastian
Robiou Lamarche’s Tainos y Caribes, Laurent Dubois’ Avengers of the New World, Daniel Immerwahr’s How
to Build an Empire and Andy Robinson’s Gold, Oil and Avocados.

T
he resulting music heard on Música de while also examining their encounters with sprung from me thinking about what it
Las Américas, a byproduct of Zenón’s European colonists. Along the way, he also means to be American,” Zenón said by phone
pandemic history lesson, pays trib- challenges modern notions about who and in August during a break in his weeklong
ute to the diverse indigenous cultures what America is. residency at the Village Vanguard. “And
found throughout the American continent “The idea of putting together this project for the longest time, for most people, that

44 DOWNBEAT NOVEMBER 2022

meant being from the United States. But rations,” Zenón said. “As a musician, as a
thinking about it from a broader perspec- saxophonist, I drew heavily on a lot of his
tive, it’s more about this idea of America ideas. I know him personally, and I’ve talk-
as this massive piece of land that eventual- ed to him many, many times about his pro-
ly found its way to connect with this other cess. He’s been incredibly influential, not
massive piece of land on the other side of only to me, but also to a lot of folks’ imagi-
the ocean. And I wanted to write music that nations. He’s probably one of the most influ-
symbolized the idea of what that meant ential musicians of the last 20, 30 years.”
and how that translated in my head. Am I “Opresíon And Revolucíon,” about the
Puerto Rican? Am I American? Am I Latin post-colonial uprising in Haiti, is dense
American? There’s all these different lines and dissonant while drawing on Haitian
that you could draw.” Voodoo music for a mesmerizing under-
Joined by his longtime working quartet current, courtesy of master percussionist
of Venezuelan pianist Luis Perdomo, Paoli Mejías. “I was going for something
Austrian bassist Hans Glawischnig and that was more atonal, more tense,” Zenón
Puerto Rican drummer Henry Cole, Zenón said. “I was thinking about the Haitian rev-
also recruited the renowned Puerto Rican olution and what that symbolized for all the
ensemble Los Pleneros de La Cresta along Americas, historically, musically, cultural-
with master percussionists Paoli Mejías, ly. But I was also thinking about what caus-
Daniel Díaz and Victor Emmanuelli for this es those revolutions, which in most cases is
ambitious project, his 12th as a leader. oppression and inequality.”
Known for mixing a modernist jazz sen- “Navagando (Las Estrellas Nos Guían),”
sibility with folkloric elements, as he did underscored by churning polyrhythms and
on 2005’s Jibaro, 2009’s Esta Plena and featuring vocal call-and-response by Los
2017’s Grammy-nominated Tipico, Zenón Pleneros De La Cresta, tells the story of how
has been forging a collective identity with indigenous groups in the early Americas
his core group since coming together 17 were able to travel great distances in hand-
years ago. “It’s kind of amazing,” he said made wooden vessels by observing the con-
of the group’s longevity. “We’re comfort- stellations at night.
able together and they’re comfortable being “That song came together from looking
around the music, so I consider myself into how this civilization, around the 1500s,
lucky because I found something that works traveled from place to place,” explained
for me and apparently works for them, too.” Zenón. “And it was amazing for me to think
Zenón and his like-minded crew expert- that they were traveling these ridiculously
ly wed backstory and music on Música de long distances in these very rudimentary
Las Americas. The driving opener, “Taínos vessels, basically just using the stars as road
y Caribes,” captures the clashing of cul- maps. And that opens up this whole conver-
tures between two predominant groups in sation about what it means to be scientifi-
the Caribbean prior to European coloni- cally advanced, so-called civilized societies.
zation in its interlocking rhythms. “They So in writing that song, I looked specifical-
were very different societies in nature,” ly at some of the star formations that they
Zenón explained. “The Taínos, from the were dealing with and what they symbol-
Greater Antilles islands of Puerto Rico, ized, and I went through this long process
the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba and of trying to use some of those star forma-
Jamaica, were an agricultural-based, very tions to connect to a specific group of notes,
peaceful society, while the Caribes, in the a specific group of chords, then build an
Lesser Antilles islands of Trinidad and intro and a melody using that.”
Tobago off the coast of Venezuela, were “Imperios” addresses the achievements
warriors and conquerors. This difference in astronomy, mathematics, agriculture,
in character has always attracted me. I’ve architecture and urban planning made by
known about Taínos and Caribes for a long advanced and powerful empires like the
time, but I got deeper into it by reading and Aztecas, Mayas and Incas that ruled vast
finding more about the societies and how parts of pre-colonized America.
they lived at the time. So this tune was try- “Venas Abiertas,” inspired by the 1971
ing to portray that type of dynamic of these book by Uruguayan writer Eduardo
two societies — coexisting but always rub- Galeano, Las Venas Abiertas de América
bing against each other.” Latina (The Open Veins of Latin America),
“Taínos y Caribes,” like many of Zenón’s examines the dark relationship between
pieces over his career, also deftly obscures Latin American countries and the cor-
the “one” in a manner that recalls the porations that have been exploiting their
rhythmic experiments of alto saxophon- resources for generations. It’s also a rare
ist-composer Steve Coleman with his Five instance where Zenón actually wrote lyrics,
Elements. “Steve is one of my biggest inspi- not intended to be sung but rather to inspire

NOVEMBER 2022 DOWNBEAT 45

 via Africa, into the Americas, first in Haiti
before spreading to Puerto Rican bomba,
Cuban tumba and Central American gar-
ifuna. It later spread to New Orleans, first
in the drumming of enslaved Africans at
Congo Square and later appearing in clas-
sical composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s
1848 Louisiana Creole-flavored composition
“Bamboula, Op. 2.”
That same rhythmic quality is evident
throughout the New Orleans brass band tra-
dition and Jelly Roll Morton’s syncopated
“Spanish tinge” music as well as Professor
Longhair’s vivacious “rhumba boogie” style
emulated by the likes of Allen Toussaint, Dr.
John and Henry Butler.
“This idea of a Bámbula cell, or what peo-
ple think of as a ‘habanera’ rhythm, that con-
nects all these different places and cultures
and musics and then can be traced back that
far is, for me, one of the greatest things in
music you can find,” Zenón said. “So, I was
Zenón (left) and his longtime working quartet of Hans Glawischnig, Luis Perdomo and Henry Cole. really enamored with the idea of this ancient
cell having all these ramifications.”
his own instrumental phrasing. phone is coming out of this process.” While Zenón is shining a light on ancient
“Sometimes I will write lyrics that proba- Another intriguing number on Música de cells and timeless wisdom on Música de Las
bly won’t ever be heard but they help me to Las Americas had Zenón once again going Americas, he is quick to point out, “For me,
write melodies that are more on the lyrical to the history books for source materi- it’s not really about discovery. It just feels
side,” he explained. “And in this case, the al. “Bámbula” utilizes an ancient rhyth- good to be able to organize this information
melody that I wrote that I play on the saxo- mic cell (a 3-3-2 pattern) that found its way, and verbalize it musically.”  DB

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Dave DiCenso Universal Rhythms for Drumset Alfred Pub.