UnReel

Yesterday, I picked up UnReel, the drum book by Marc Atkinson. It's a companion to the Randy Waldman CD UnReel. The cool thing about it is that it it has transcriptions of Vinnie Colaiuta's drum solos in it. It also has rhythm scale exercises which look to be very time consuming but essential. I haven't had time to start working on it yet, but along with the Gary Chaffee Patterns book, these two should prove to be what I'm looking for in order to become a better player. Check out the Foreword.

The book is really intense, so if you're not up on polyrythms, look out.

Gary Chaffe

I recently began re-looking at some of his work/books for drums. 14 years ago, when I started out playing Time Functioning Patterns is what I started out on. It's been a solid foundation for years. However, recently I've been feeling that I need to re work some things. Jazz Independence, sticking patterns, linear phrasing. Things like that. One of the things I need to do is set up a practice kit in my basement or something.

Check out his books

These books break down every possible beat and ostinato. These books are a neccessity for anyone who plays. The exercises in these books will make you feel retarded when you first try to do them; the jazz independence exercises in particular did it for me.

Vinnie News

check this out, hudson music is releasing a Steve Gadd tribute DVD with Vinnie Colaiuta on it. The link goes to the preview video clips. It's important to note that I found the info at HOD.

10/4/04 Fargo Force

This weekend the band and I played a two night gig at Fargo Sports & Dance Club in Moline, IL. It was a long drive there and back both nights. We had the pleasure of using Advanced Audio for our sound both nights. The sound was incredible. It would've been an awesome show, but hardly anyone was there. Everyone played very well that night, probably due to the fact that we actually had monitors. I usually don't get tired playing, but for some reason, my arms were tired by the end of the night. I really need to work on some technique though, I'm finding it hard to pull off some things I want to. We may play there again next year, hopefully.