Description
Release Date: 1995
Publisher: Alfred
ISBN: 9780897249218
Softcover, 119 pages
This book & CD traces the evolution of New Orleans jazz and second-line drumming from the early styles of ragtime and traditional jazz to their modern applications in contemporary jazz.
Reviews
JOSEPH “ZIGABOO” MODELISTE: Even growing up in New Orleans it was difficult to get this information. This book is a solid piece of work and I’m glad to see these influential players getting the recognition they deserve.
STEVE SMITH: New Orleans is the foundation of all drumset playing period! In this well researched and clearly presented book, are the roots of modern day jazz, blues, R&B, and rock drumming (to name a few). Check it out!
ADAM NUSSBAUM: This is not just a book about licks–it’s about people. A great source from a deep well, New Orleans.
CHRIS PARKER: Finally an informal, astute, and insightful look at the global and perennial influence of New Orleans music, especially its feel as originated and expounded on by its drummer/composers/arrangers. These are great men. What’s not to love?
ROYAL HARTIGAN: This work is a major contribution to the study of African-American heritage, New Orleans traditions, and the soul of 20th-century drumming. Through the photographs, conversations, transcriptions, and the CD, you feel the spirit of New Orleans music, from ragtime, brass bands, and gospel, through funerals, street beats, funk, rhythm and blues, to the modern scene.
VAL WILMER: Just as the unsung denizens of Congo Square used the drum to remind them they had a past and a future, New Orleans music continues to be both historic and contemporary at the same time. Ideas of personal liberation that began with a reminiscence of an African homeland still inspire the city’s drummers. Some are featured here. An invaluable and committed book.
JEFF POTTER (Modern Drummer): More than a book/CD of transcriptions and patterns, this is a volume about history. Its two halves are based on videos from DCI’s New orleans Drumming series: Herlin Riley’s Ragtime and Beyond and Johnny Vidacovich’s Street Beats: Modern Applications. Riley guides us through the evolution of New Orleans jazz drumming styles from their riverboat and brass band beginnings to swing, and Vidacovich demonstrates how he blends local traditions into his modern jazz and R&B drumming.
Although writer Dan Thress receives second billing, he deserves equal praise for his knowledgeable interviews and well-researched articles on important Crescent city drummers such as Vernel Fournier, Baby Dodds, Ed Blackwell, James Black, Joseph “Smokey” Johnson, and David Lee.
Also included are discographies and a pullout poster charting the lineage of influential and notable N’awlins drummers from 1873 to the present. Great to play through or just read, this is a cultural mini-encyclopedia.
