Caz
Senior Member
Hi all. I have a bit of a specific question to anyone who plays latin tunes in a jazz context... songs like Caravan, Night in Tunisia, Manteca etc. It seems everyone has their patterns for these tunes - mambo, cascara, mozambique etc or some variations of these. I read about/figured out a few of these and practiced them, now that it's a couple of years later I've been ok improvising over them at gigs or jam sessions when latin tunes are called. However one sore spot is whenever the volume has to go right down, particularly on a bass solo (or even piano solo). Unless it's quite a fusion'y feel, for a bass solo it seems natural for the volume of the drums to come right down as low as possible. I often go down in volume and do some kind of songo variation (with right hand on the floor tom, floor tom rim or snare rim etc).. it's a habbit I just seem to have fallen into, not for any particular reason.
First of all, it's hard to keep the tempo from slowing down.. but that's not the end of the world, I could just practice it with a click and get used to it. The problem is I'm not really happy with what I default to playing. The hi hat change from normally being on 2&4 for the majority of the tune to 1&3 for a songo feel is quite uncomfortable for the music, and can confuse other players. But most importantly it's very hard not to play songo, or cascara of these latin rhythms without it feeling too busy for under a bass solo. Can I ask some of the players here how you approach these situations going from a busy latin tune into a lower volume and more spacious feel behind a bass solo without losing energy? Are there any specific patterns that you practice? Or are there any examples you can think of on CDs where drummers do this transition really well?
As always, many thanks
Caroline
First of all, it's hard to keep the tempo from slowing down.. but that's not the end of the world, I could just practice it with a click and get used to it. The problem is I'm not really happy with what I default to playing. The hi hat change from normally being on 2&4 for the majority of the tune to 1&3 for a songo feel is quite uncomfortable for the music, and can confuse other players. But most importantly it's very hard not to play songo, or cascara of these latin rhythms without it feeling too busy for under a bass solo. Can I ask some of the players here how you approach these situations going from a busy latin tune into a lower volume and more spacious feel behind a bass solo without losing energy? Are there any specific patterns that you practice? Or are there any examples you can think of on CDs where drummers do this transition really well?
As always, many thanks
Caroline
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