Playing Jazz Tips

I was just wondering if any of you had any tips on playing jazz. My whole next year for college will involve playing jazz gigs, having a improvisation exam etc, and I can only play the very basics of jazz. Is there any tips, rudiments, and especially, is there any really important jazz albums I should be listening to and playing to? I listen to jazz like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, but I should really be Listening to more!
Thanks
 
Wow.. this is sure to generate a ton of ideas.

So many potential ways to respond, but so little time to do so.

Listen to these.... http://www.pas.org/experience/oralhistory/mellewis.aspx

Listen to as much music as you can from the 1920's to today. Start with Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong's Hot 5's & Hot 7's and go forward.

Listen to and study the masters in Danny Gottlieb's book - The Evolution of Jazz Drumming

Study the John Riley Library of books and his DVD - The Master Drummer.

Also check out the endless ideas in Syncopation in tandem with The Drummer's Complete Vocabulary As Taught by Alan Dawson. I'll also mention the wonderful books "The Essence of Jazz Drumming" (Jim Blackley) and Systems 1 (Ari Hoenig).

It's really all about listening and playing it. You have to listen, listen, listen. Then play, play, play.......

The books help to provide independence and ideas. None of it come to fruition though without understanding context which come from listening and playing.
 
Get appropiate gear, the right heads, sticks, brushes and cymbal go a long way in shaping your sound. Use the search function on the forum to browse many topics with great recommendations.

Focus on the ride cymbal, as a beginner jazz drummer this should be your first priority, your ride cymbal pattern has to be steady and swinging before anything else can really happen.

Get these records and listen to them a lot:

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Moanin
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
John Coltrane - Blue Train
Oscar Peterson - Night Train
Thelonious Monk - Monk's Dream

Get the books Dmacc suggested, but if you could only have one (assuming all drummers have Stick Control and Syncopation as they should) then check out John Riley's Art of Bop, he really does a great job of explaining what's it's all about.
 
It seems a thread like this comes along every few weeks.

I can't add much to the other recommendations other than maybe look into getting a teacher. Jazz is a little foreign to a lot of folks so having someone guide you through the process can save a lot of time.

Actually, the other guys didn't mention brushes. (As you can tell from the avatar, I'm quite a fan of playing brushes). Brushes are probably the most personal from of expression we get to do. There are a few excellent sources out there to develop your brush playing as well:

The Art of Playing Brushes DVD - with Steve Smith and Adam Nussbaum

The Sound of Brushes book - Ed Thigpen

The Essesnce of Brushes DVD - Ed Thigpen

Burshworks book/DVD - Clayton Cameron



Oh, and check out our "for the jazz cats" thread for tons of priceless info...

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91887
 
listen, emulate, assimilate, innovate .... rinse and repeat for years

listen , listen , listen......not just to drummers

listen, listen, listen.......not just to yourself while playing with others

work to acquire the triple Ts.....time, touch, and taste,

it is the most lovely and challenging of journeys to the center of your ultimate expression .......enjoy it

we are all here for you when you need us
 
Time to do an immersion in jazz. Start exploring all the jazz you can find, and of course, a teacher is a great step to take. Relax and stay loose, nothing sounds worse than a tense guy trying to play jazz =) Best of luck!
 
Thanks a lot guys, I'm getting myself to the Drum Cabin next week to get some skins and brushes, and see if they have any books on jazz drumming. I'll ask for any help they can give me!
 
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