Evolution of a Drummer’s Bossanova Groove

I was listening to this video from an outdoor restaurant gig the other night and thinking about all the things that have influenced my approach to the Bossanova over the years. The playing on this video of vocalist Mike Winkle’s tune “This Dance”, especially the spaces that the bassist (Craig Snazelle) and pianist (Ray Hardiman) and I leave for each other, and the subtle…

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Making a Comeback

This last year of playing with the Prankster’s Big Band is really helping me recover my lost reading chops. I’ve played so many gigs over the years where there was either no chart for the drummer, or I memorized the arrangement during rehearsals, that the sight-reading chops I had in my 20s had really gotten weak. Hearing this video below after the gig a…

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Brush T(r)aps

Recorded live December 22, 2017 with the Pranksters Big Band

I think this may have only been the third time I had performed this chart. It is deceptively easy when listening to it, and much harder to perform. There is a lot of unison figures to catch while improvising. At some point in the future, I hope to do a better…

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When There’s No Time to Switch

At some point, you’ve probably heard this recording of Vince Guaraldi’s Trio playing Linus and Lucy. That recording served as some inspiration for a little special technique that I’ve been working on for a few years now.

Some year’s ago a trio I was performing in decided to add Linus and Lucy to our book and I immediately started working on that steady brush pattern…

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Losing the 1 and the 3

Live at Classic Pianos in Portland Oregon Saturday, September 10, 2016

Nancy Curtin - Vocal Tom Grant - Piano Dave Captein - Bass Kurt Deutscher - Drums

When I was hitting my teens, the popular music of the day was disco, and nearly all of the rock and roll influenced music on the radio (and much of it to follow in this country) had one non-negotiable…

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