And...we're back.  Thanks for taking some out of your day to read what I have to share. Here is the January 2025 edition of the Monday Morning Paradiddle, my monthly jazz drumming variety column. Hey, I'm no longer posting on Twitter (or X or whatever it is called now...) however you can now follow Four on the Floor on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/fouronthefloorblog.bsky.social Subscribe to Four on the Floor today! Please consider entering your e.mail address on the right side of the page to subscribe to my mailing list. Don't miss out, subscribe today a ..read more

And...we're back.  Happy New Year everyone and I hope you all enjoyed your holiday break. Now we are back to work, back to school and it's time to get focused, challenge ourselves, get inside the music and hit some drums. And what better way to get inspired, motivated, organized and productive by joining my friend Quincy Davis' new Jazz Drumset Q/munity. Check it out here: https://www.skool.com/jazzdrumming Quincy has done a great job creating a very cool on-line community that has the potential to be something really special. Come join the fun and....let's go! Here's a few words from th ..read more

And here it is! Once again, Four on the Floor correspondent Tim Mah offers his generous and extensive annual year-end curated list of music released by Canadian jazz artists over the course of the past year 2024.  As you will read and hear below, there continues to be lots of great music coming out of Canada these days. Thankfully, Tim has a taken a great deal of time and effort to give us a perspective on the current state of jazz music happening today across our country. Tim's weekly radio program Jazz Today can be heard on CJSW Radio 90.9 fm (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) on Thursday ..read more

Thanks to Jake Reed for sharing this wonderful interview with Peter Erskine. Lots of great lessons in life and music to be found here. Just over a year ago I heard Erksine play and speak on numerous occasions at the Jazz Education Network's annual JEN Conference in New Orleans (unfortunately I'll be missing this year's conference in Atlanta...) His early morning drumming with Charles Pillows' electric Miles Davis large ensemble project was brilliant as was his inspiring masterclass on how to support a band with musical taste, dynamics, groove and a relaxed feel. I was also reminded ..read more

A wonderful new jazz drumming book showed up in my inbox the other day. Argentinian jazz drummer Pedro Ahets has compiled an impressive collection of drum transcriptions, featuring solos by great drummers such as Art Blakey, Art Taylor, Billy Higgins, Louis Hayes, Max Roach and many more. Pedro was nice enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions about his new book. Pedro Ahets - Diggin' Into the Source 1. Tell us all about your new book! What is it all about and what are the goals of your text? "Diggin' Into the Source" is a compilation of drum solos that ..read more

Thanks to frequent Four on the Floor contributor and CJSW Jazz Today radio program host Tim Mah for sharing this great interview with Herlin Riley. I've borrowed the title of today's blog post Jazz Truth from pianist George Colligan's wonderful blog of the same name which, unfortunately, hasn't been updated in some time. However, I used this as so because I think it's really important to acknowledge the wisdom that Masters such as Herlin Riley share with us. Check out this insightful interview with Herlin Riley and Stanton Moore: I'm also reminded of something I once heard Kenny Washin ..read more

Thanks to Paul Wells and Jess Birch of the Good Hands Drum Shop in New York City for sharing this wonderful piece featuring Mel Lewis' custom made maple Pearl drum set: I've been playing a lot of big band drums lately this Fall, rehearsing and performing regularly with Calgary's 9th Avenue Big Band, the new edition of the former Prime Time Big Band, that was directed by the late Dave Jones. I've played with a lot of big bands over the years, basically since I even started playing the drum set and jazz music, going way back to high school and all the way through universit ..read more

A recent Facebook exchange with drummers Brooke Sofferman and Eric McKinley Thompson regarding the recent release of certain Miles Davis recordings from his performances in France 1963-64 prompted me to revisit another track that caught my attention some time ago. I look forward to checking out these new discoveries, however it seems some of them might have appeared on an earlier collection that Columbia re-released around 2007-2008 as well. I remember this as I was studying with Terry Clarke in Toronto at the time and he played me this particularly interesting and previously unreleased ve ..read more

A few days late here with this blog post as I've been preoccupied lately, finishing up an impending grant application due imminently (fun times...) The great Roy Haynes passed away last week at the age of 99 and I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the legacy of this great musician. Roy Haynes was a prolific jazz drummer who's career spanned decades, playing with the likes of Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Sarah Vaughn, John Coltrane, Chick Corea, Stan Getz, Pat Metheny and so many, many more. Haynes, affectionately know as "Snap ..read more

And...we're back. Thanks for checking in and there's lots of interesting and compelling things to check out in this instalment of The Monday Morning Paradiddle, my more-or-less monthly jazz drumming variety column. But first I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to a few amazing drummers I heard in Calgary last week during the JazzYYC Canadian Jazz Festival including Fabio Ragnelli with guitarist Jocelyn Gould, Louis-Vincent Hamel with the No Codes quartet and local Andy Ericson with Chris Tauchner's piano trio. The Monday Morning Paradiddle - November 2024 1. Sherrie Mari ..read more