Improvisation is at the heart of jazz, but knowing how to play stylistically correct in a large jazz ensemble is also a necessity. How to Play Drums in a Big Band offers tips, suggestions, examples, and a play-along CD to help you put it all together. The repertoire covers many jazz styles, from Basie to Latin and African-influenced music to ECM and contemporary jazz (the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Bob Brookmeyer, etc.).

Presents the essential elements of bop drumming demonstrated through concise exercises and containing ideas to help understand what to play and how to play it and why, as well as an explanation of how the drummer functions in a group.

Inside the Big Band Drum Chart is a first of its kind drum method that usestraditional and contemporary arrangements performed by a 17 piece jazzensemble as the vehicle to study beats, musical form, ensemble phrasing, articulation, and interpretation. For each arrangement, there is 'talk through' information explaining how the composition is played as well as transcriptions of key beats and melodic information that connects the 'written drum part' to the music. The 248 page book includes a 2.5 hour audio available online and an hour long video demonstrating every exercise in the text. Also included areanecdotes and interviews with legendary big band drummers and arrangers such as Louie Bellson, Jake Hanna, Phil Wilson, Mark Taylor and Bob Curnow.Includes access to online audio/video

Titles are: Swingin' for the Fences * La Almeja Pequena * Hunting Wabbits * Whodunnit? * Count Bubbas Revenge * Get in Line * Horn of Puente * The Jazz Police * High Maintenance * Cut 'n Run.

Voted second on Modern Drummer's list of 25 Greatest Drum Books in 1993, Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer is one of the most versatile and practical works ever written for drums. Created exclusively to address syncopation, it has earned its place as a standard tool for teaching beginning drummers syncopation and strengthening reading skills. This book includes many accented eighths, dotted eighths and sixteenths, eighth-note triplets and sixteenth notes for extended solos. In addition, teachers can develop many of their own examples from it.

The winner of the Drummies! 2014 Best Drumming Book Award, Big Band Drumming Fill-osophy, offers a comprehensive approach to playing and interpreting fills in a big band setting. With advice on how to interpret section and ensemble figures, Steve Fidyk and Dave Black give detailed information that will strengthen the drummer's ability to recognize one-, two-, and four-bar section/ensemble figures quickly and easily. The companion MP3 CD contains over 75 reference and play-along examples extracted from real drum charts. They have been looped or repeated for thorough study. Big Band Drumming Fill-osophy will prove to be an invaluable tool in helping to interpret and play big band drum fills.

The first book ever published on how to play the conga and bongo drum in jazz. This text is an essential tool for band teachers and drummers playing LatinPercussion in jazz with special emphasis on swing. Includes chapters on history,description, tuning, position/posture, notation, strokes, rhythms, etc. Completewith photos, interviews, music transcriptions and video links. This much-needed text fills a niche in the application of the conga and bongo drum in jazz. Special features include archival photos, a rare interview with legendary jazz guitaristKenny Burrell, online companion video with Candido and Bobby Sanabria and the most comprehensive discography ever complied on the use of conga and bongo drums in jazz with over 100 listings and commentary including Candido, Ray Barretto, Armando Peraza, Willie Bobo, Luis Miranda, Patato Valdez, Willie Rodriguez, Tata Guines and many more