Monday, December 23, 2013

Groove o' the day: Ed Blackwell — Tarik

Here's something from I think the first record with Ed Blackwell I ever bought: Tarik, by Dewey Redman. It's sort of Blackwell's tom tom thing boiled down to it's smallest essence:




It will be up to you to find a sticking that works. Though it would be very difficult for most of us, I wouldn't be shocked if his right hand were playing all of the tom notes, plus the accent on the snare drum. Or there could be a LR on the low tom; probably that's the way you and I will have to play it. The flam is pretty “flat”, almost a unison, with the right hand louder than the left. As the piece develops, Blackwell begins playing the hihat with his foot in unison with the bass drum. One day I'll transcribe the solo.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

You know... could be he's olding one or two extra sticks...

Todd Bishop said...

I hadn't considered that-- I'd have to think about the mechanics of that-- he would have to be holding two sticks in his left hand, but only hitting the drum with both of them part of the time. In doingt the full transcription, I didn't hear anything obviously impossible to explain through normal (though very agile) playing.

Anonymous said...

It seems relatively straight forward if the LH plays the 1E on the snare and the 2E on the tom, and the RH plays the _E_A2 on the snare the last two semiquavers on the floor tom. if that makes sense. no crazy hand movement required.

Todd Bishop said...

For a sticking of LF R BLRR. I like it-- we have a winner.