Fundamentals of jazz versus rock.

I recently was hired for a six-month contract with a jazz quartet.  Now I’ve played jazz before with trios, quartets and even big bands so I had some knowledge going into the gig, but I had been playing rock and country for the past three years so it felt like I was heading back to my hometown after being away for years.  I mean I still knew the streets, but a lot had changed.

Luckily for me the leader of this band was heavily experienced in the concept of, let’s say, classic jazz.  A former pianist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, child prodigy, and killer big band arranger this guy new what he wanted to make the gig work.  In our first conversation I caught him telling me a story about past experiences with Miller Orchestra drummers.  As the rhythm leader he wanted one thing “give the horn section air conditioning with that hi-hat on 2&4.”

Now Ron’s story reminded me of my lessons with famed drummer Kenwood Dennard.  I had arrived in Dennard’s lab seeking to better my swing and chart reading.  Our first lesson was on the fundamentals of jazz, meaning what went where.  Kenwood passed on a lesson he had learned from Dizzy Gillespie and informed me of one important fact of jazz.  “In jazz you have to make sure the band can hear your hi-hat.”  And so my studying of jazz fundamentals began.

In rock you keep the time with your kick drum and your snare.  With your heavier beat falling on one and three and the backbeat on two and four.  In jazz this concept is almost reversed.  The hi-hat and ride take over, with your hi-hat keeping time on two and four, and the ride providing the swing.  The snare is played a lot lighter and acts as an accent to mimic melody parts, and your bass drum drops the bombs to liven the story up. 

Take a listen to past masters.  A good place to start is Max Roach and Roy Haynes. Kenwood hipped me to “A Study in Brown” by the Clifford Brown and the Max Roach Quintet to open me up to the basics of jazz.  I encourage any new jazz drummer to take a listen to this great album, as Max was one of the most prominent pioneers of our craft.  These cats kept that hi-hat pumping on two and four and swang’ the band with that ride like it was nobodies business.  As jazz drumming history evolved new players like Elvin Jones came along and changed things up.  Elvin pretty much kept his hat around the two and four, but kept time with the entire kit flip flopping the beat with his infectious tom fills and snare drum comping rhythms.  Art Blakey used the snare to reinforce his time so well that I think Swiss watchmakers use him as the source of time for their products.  And then arrived Tony Williams and the concept of jazz evolved to a whole new level for the drummer.  But Tony is a whole other story that I am not ready, or schooled enough, to tell.