Hi, my name is Justin, and I'm a Jazz Drummer

Justinvarnes

Junior Member
Let's see, I don't know all the steps but one is take inventory:

Yamaha Custom Absolute: 12/14/18
Rogers Holiday '63: 12/14/20
DW (from 2000): 10/12/15/20
Pearl BLX (First kit...refuse to let it go): 8/10/12/13/14/16/18/22/22
Grover: 10/12/14/20

Snares:
Acrolyte
DW (from 1990)
DW (from 2000)
Gretsch Round Badge (8 lugs)
Gretsch Round Badge (6 lugs)
Slingerland Radio King
Tama SLP 13X7
Crush 14X7

Cymbals:
Eh. Too many to list. Half of them I don't even remember how I got them.


I suppose step 1 is admitting you have a problem, but I'm pretty sure that's apparent from the above step.



I am based in Atlanta, GA and travel around the East Coast with a set of drums and a radar detector trying to make sound checks up and down the Interstate. I also teach at Georgia State University.

In addition to playing and teaching in front of real human beings, I also do some internet teaching:

One is a teaching website: jazzdrummersresource.com

And the other is on YouTube, where I did a series called "52 Licks"

Glad to be here.
 
Welcome to the forum!

You have alot of kits! That BLX doesnt sound to jazzy lol

yes most of us have the same problem
 
Welcome to the forum, Justin!

I've enjoyed your videos for quite a while. Thanks for contributing that series.

I also liked your playing on Matthew Kaminski's record. I picked that up a couple months ago. Tasty stuff.

BTW, that's a pretty impressive snare arsenal. Which one(s) did you use on that record?

Again, welcome. I'm looking forward to seeing you around the forum.
 
Thanks guys!

Brady, I used the Gretsch round badge (8 lug) on Matthew's record. We did that in about 3 hours. It was in between a rehearsal and concert I had with the symphony that night. One of the most stressful music days in my life...
 
A big welcome to the forum! I just checked out some of your videos :) Superb stuff. Although I'm about as far away from a jazz player as it's possible to get (both in skill set & genres), I'm sure there's something I can steal & translate ;)
 
Hi Justin!

You might just be the man I'm looking for :D

Basically, I'm in an environment where I am unlikely to have any exposure to performing with jazz ensembles, but this is an area in which I really want to develop and explore. I'm just wondering if you would happen to know of any free transcription/playalong charts, or if there are any good books that come with good drumless playalong tracks?

I 'understand' jazz, but I never play it, if you get my meaning :) As in, I understand the dynamics, I know how to play it, but knowing is not the same as doing. I consider myself a fairly advanced drummer, but if I was going to start playing jazz I'd want to start around a sort of intermediate level so I can get accustomed to it.

Any advice you can give me would be most welcome :)

(I probably would have asked on here prior to this, but this actually come about due to my Dad asking me to record some jazz instead of all the metal drum covers I keep doing :D)
 
Welcome Justin! Love your site and look forward to sharing.
 
Hahaha Bo it aint far from the truth.....

iwearnohats: you're asking a great question, and the answer is something I feel strongly about.

You mentioned metal drumming. When I was learning metal (please reference said BLX kit from original post), I didn't use drumless playalongs. I just played along to Ride the Lightning and Peace Sells and Prong's first record.


When I got into James Brown later, I didn't use a drumless playalong. Or learn those grooves out of a book. I just played along and figured the grooves out. Sometimes correctly, sometimes not. But I wasn't too worried about it.

Then when I got into jazz....I started buying books. And drumless playlaongs. And I felt like I was moving along very slowly. And it felt like SCHOOL. Then one day, just for the fun of it, I put on Wes Montgomery's Smokin at the Half Note and just played along like it was Prong. Or Signals. Or Temple of the Dog.


And I loved it. It didn't feel like work. It was fun. And then I did it the next day. And I started stealing little phrases. Simple phrases. Easy phrases. I BS'ed the parts I didn't know (like the Mambo part on Unit 7) but I wasn't too worried about it. And then I wanted to do it with other CDs.

By the end of that summer, I jumped from the 3rd (IE worst) band, to the 1st band and everyone asked me what happened! I told them I finally started learning to play jazz the way I learned all the other music I've learned on drums.

I then used the books as SUPPLEMENTAL material. What the Mother Fing F is Jimmy Cobb playing on Unit 7?? Oh it's called a Mambo. And there's a Mambo in the back of John Riley's book. How the hell do you comp that cool triplet thing Elvin does on Fee Fi Fo Fum? Oh, I need independence for that. OK, let me work through the Chapin book so I can play that Elvin thing. Then all of a sudden I found renewed purpose behind the books.


So my advice is to get some CDs WITH drummers. GREAT drummers. And play along. And when you can't figure something out, gimme a holler and I'll try and help.


Some suggestions to get you started:


Count Basie and Frank Sinatra: It Might as Well be Swing
Wes Montgomery: Smokin at the Half Note
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
Dave Brubeck: Time Out
Joshua Redman: Mood Swing
Cannonball Adderley and Nancy Wilson
Ahmad Jamal: Cross Country Tour
Oscar Peterson Plays the Cole Porter Songbook



Hope this helps!
Justin
 
Thanks Justin! That does make sense, seeing as I do 99% of my practise to regular album tracks and not drumless ones. In fact, the only drumless ones I have are from Virgil Donati's book or from DrumScene Magazine.

I'll start checking out those albums :).
 
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