Guest
In NYC I live in an apartment building and am sensitive to my neighbors regarding the volume of my kit. I have my Sonor kit outfitted with Remo SilentStroke heads, Zildjian LowVolume cymbals, and my signature DW BACKSTAGE BD practice pad. Lately I’ve been working on my quarter note swing pulse, in my opinion, the most important aspect of jazz drumming and drumset playing in general. I want my time to be clearly in the pulse, whether playing four-quarter-notes to the bar, an impressionistic concept or soloing. I've found a great way to develop my pulse is to play along with albums recorded by the masters that were in the forefront of developing the feel, language and repertoire of jazz. For the past month I put various Miles Davis CDs on my stereo and play along. Sometimes I play straight time, other times impressionistic time and other times I solo over the entire tune. I record myself on my iPhone I study what I played in relation to the other musicians for time, touch, feel, swing, subdi
