My High School Jazz Group playing Nutville at Ryles in Boston

[appledrummer]

Hey guys,

This is my freshman group playing Horace Silver's Nutville at Ryles in Boston. For those of you unfamiliar with Ryles, it's a well established jazz venue in Boston, that also provides some playing opportunities for younger groups. Hopefully some of you will appreciate the younger generation's interest in jazz, as I see mostly young drummers on this forum playing rock. (nothing against rock, I split my practive time 50/50 jazz/rock) I played this gig very conservatively, as it was one of my first in a distinguished venue. I'd rather keep it solid for the group and have a decent groove than show to the audience how great of a drummer I am while compromising the sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsbVVnysr7Q

[brittc89]

Its a hard thing for a lot of drummers to switch from latin to swing in a tune, what often happens is the swing feel drags, and thats exactly what happened here. Especially in a larger ensemble dont be scared to push the band. Theres some strange fills going on that make me uncomfortable throughtout. Not really sure whats going on at 2:18, maybe Im missing something, but the groove just drops out on that fill. Same at 3:27, and the majority of the fills going into the swing actually. Really work with a metronome and make sure youre not dragging this feel, it never feels locked in. Like I dont wanna tap my foot. Also, Im not sure if its just the recording but I cant hear your ride cymbal nearly well enough in the swing sections. Keep working man and hammering stuff out, I think youve got the makings of a good jazz player it just takes a looooot of work. Who are you listening to?

[appledrummer]

Its a hard thing for a lot of drummers to switch from latin to swing in a tune, what often happens is the swing feel drags, and thats exactly what happened here. Especially in a larger ensemble dont be scared to push the band. Theres some strange fills going on that make me uncomfortable throughtout. Not really sure whats going on at 2:18, maybe Im missing something, but the groove just drops out on that fill. Same at 3:27, and the majority of the fills going into the swing actually. Really work with a metronome and make sure youre not dragging this feel, it never feels locked in. Like I dont wanna tap my foot. Also, Im not sure if its just the recording but I cant hear your ride cymbal nearly well enough in the swing sections. Keep working man and hammering stuff out, I think youve got the makings of a good jazz player it just takes a looooot of work. Who are you listening to?

Thanks for the criticism. In the time we had been practicing it it, I had been strugling to keep up the tempo, esp. in the transitions. What happened was chaning the pulse from 1 and 3 to 2 and 4. Less than a week before the performance my ensemble teacher told me that i should be playing the latin with the pulse on 2 and 4 as well. This made me feel as though I was dragging, as I generally play latin with the pulse on 1 and 3... makes it feel more urgent. In terms of the fills, they were mainly failed press rolls. I've been playing for a while but never have managed to get the press roll really happening. Thats one of my goals for the summer. I listen to a lot of williams, blakey, and gadd.

[appledrummer]

so I was looking through my old posts and wanted to share a video showing some personal growth (or at least I think it's growth!). This is two years after the first video in the thread, but it shares the Latin/Swing transitions. Any feedback?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdm4dHKRms0&feature=channel_video_title