Max Roach was one of the featured stars in the jazz drumming community. He was considered by many to be one of the pioneers of bebop, a style of jazz music consisting of blistering fast jazz music, where many jazz players could really define their chops on an international scale. Max had his own group […]…
Herlin Riley has brought everything to the table, drumming with famed jazz bandleaders like Wynton Marsalis and Ahmad Jamal. Herlin was born and raised drumming in New Orleans, playing drums in the church and picking up other hand percussion instruments like the tambourine, the woodblock, and the cowbell. Herlin’s also been fortunate to be encouraged […]…
Ralph Peterson is one of those jazz drummers that has established himself as one of the “next generation” players in the jazz community. Even though he’s now in his 50s, he came from a family filled with jazz musicians and was around to learn from some of the best jazz players in the older generation. […]…
As explained by Ralph Peterson, Philly Joe Jones was one of the master drummers of incorporating rudiments into his jazz drumming and tying them together lyrically like nobody else around. Ralph called it rudimentary lyricism, in an interview I’ve shared with you below. Philly Joe’s claim to fame was playing with some of the best […]…
Currently I’m gearing up for a summer full of more popular music with Yardsale the Band. We play hits from all the decades and one of the better songs to come out in the last year or two was Bruno Mars’ hit “Runaway Baby.” I don’t know if you’re familiar with the tune, but it’s […]…
In the early days of rock and roll music, drummers had a big part to play since they were defining the back beats that would take the drumming community by storm for generations to come. One man that was responsible for creating such an iconic drum beat was Earl Palmer. Palmer was an active session […]…
One of the best examples I can possibly think of applying the money beat is DJ Fontana, drummer for Elvis on all those early great hit songs. Fontana played with Elvis for a long time and was right alongside him during the birth of rock and roll music in Memphis, TN. And when you listen […]…
The soul and R&B hits that came out of Stax Records in the 1960s were some of the biggest hit songs to ever hit the airwaves. And the drummer in the Stax Records house band, the MGs, was none other than Al Jackson, Jr. Al played with Booker T. and the MGs, Otis Redding, and […]…
Here at Play Drums By Ear, I love introducing you to drummers you may not have heard of before, and offering videos and lessons from them that you can enjoy and use in your own playing. Playing the drums is like any other instrument, as there is a lot to learn from other drummers’ playing […]…
One of the drummers I’ve come across recently has been Stanton Moore. I’ve seen his videos online quite a bit where he talks about New Orleans playing and other unique styles, plus how he brings them into pop beats for his group, Galactic and other bands. Stanton has a great way of explaining grooves and […]…