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Jazz Trio Workshop Spotlight: David Robinson

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Here at the studio we strive to prepare our members to perform at a high level. Earlier this month, I brought in two professionals: Jeff Knoettner (Piano) and Rob Swanson (Bass) to perform with some of the studio's members. Total immersion in playing at a professional level - there is no way to simulate it - so we learn by DOING. Education by action.

Here, David Robinson performs the standard "Autumn Leaves", playing some tasteful brush work on the front of the piece.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos from our other members coming soon…

Member Spotlight: Bob Bird

This is going to be a new and regular feature: the Member Spotlight. Today, we have a performance from Bob Bird. Bob came to the studio about a year ago.

As a younger man, Bob played jazz drums in clubs on a regular basis but then stopped playing. After a fifty year hiatus from the instrument, Bob started working with me and his small ensemble playing has really come along quite nicely! Bob is playing along with a track from John Riley's excellent book "Art of Bop Drumming", which is required reading for any one serious about their craft. This is a play along track entitled "Last Week". For more information on studying drums at grooveKSQ with Bryan, please visit https://www.grooveksq.com/lessons.

Audio engineering and video production by Bryan Tuk.

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Experimentation & Repetition

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One of the things that rarely gets adequately discussed in music lessons is the amount of repetition necessary to develop new improvisational ideas. While some musical ideas do happen spontaneously in the moment during a performance, those ideas are the exception rather than the rule.

One valuable use of your time then is to think about the kind of idea you are trying to develop, and then go sit down behind the drum set and work that idea out. Over and over and over again. The larger the sample size of experiments, the more you will discover about your own playing.

Here is an example: I was thinking about developing some licks that incorporated a nine stroke roll into a linear pattern. The video below shows only a handful of reps of that idea which were done during a one hour session on the idea. In a one hour block, you can play a variation on that lick probably 200 or 300 times. That is how you develop soling ideas. It takes work.

Required Viewing: Max Roach

Grace, creativity, composition. One would need many more words to adequately describe Max Roach’s solo playing. One of the absolute all times greats - he would be on drumming’s Mount Rushmore if there as such a thing. To my students - watch this intently, then watch it again. Required viewing that will vastly improve your soloing if you take some pointers from the great Mr. Roach.

ENGINEERING NOTE: This performance was recorded with a single overhead mic.