Blog

BEN BYNUM
Drummer/Percussionist/Producer

drummer/percussionist/educator

Blog

June 1st, 2010

Well it's 1:30 am Memorial Day Evening. The two week residency with Nellie McKay at Feinstein's starts tomorrow (technically today) and I couldn't be more excited. We're blessed to have an exceptional lineup, almost identical to the personnel from the Lincoln Center gig in Febrary. Belinda Whitney on violin, Jay Berliner on guitar (week one), Howard Fishman on guitar (week two), Glenn Drewes on trumpet, and Lonnie Plaxico on bass. There will be lots of fun and lots of great music. Hope to see some of you out there.

And for the few of you who are disappointed to see my tribute to Rod Blagojevich finally disappear, my sincere apologies. It just wasn't really funny anymore... and possibly never was.

November 5th, 2009

Things have been hectic recently, but extremely positive. I just got back from a west coast tour with the one and only Nellie McKay. For those of you who aren't familiar with her, she is a phenomenal singer and pianist who boasts an astounding repertoire of eclectic originals and old school jazz standards. Her most recent album "Normal As Blueberry Pie: A Tribute to Doris Day" was just released on Verve, and we've been performing many of these wonderful arrangements.

I've been a fan of Nellie's music since 2005, so to be touring with her now is a dream come true. If you haven't heard her music yet, please check out her website at www.NellieMcKay.com

I will try to be a little more regular with blog posts, as opposed to the once-every-ten-months-approach.

And a big thanks to JS for everything. You know who you are!

January 10th, 2009

Greetings everybody. Hope you all enjoyed the holidays and had a happy new year. I'm psyched to take on some new projects in '09 and figured I'd start with the addition of a blog to my website. Here goes Blog-oyavich #1 in honor of the recently disgraced Governor of Illinois:

Max Roach Drum Solo: Daa Houd
For those of you who aren't too familiar with Max's playing, his recordings with Clifford Brown are next to Godliness. This particular excerpt is off the record Clifford Brown & Max Roach (1954). I roughly sketched out Max's musingly melodic and technically dexterous solo a few years back as part of an independent study with trombonist Ray Anderson. Although Max actually plays a 5-piece kit in this recording, I adapted it for a 4-piece. It hasn't been proofed by anybody and I'd love get feedback and corrections on some of the licks, but this is in the ballpark of 90% accurate (I don't know where I got that figure).

For the past few weeks, I've been using the bridge as a technical exercise. Try playing it hand-to-hand, and memorizing it. After you've got that, here are some fun things to add:
1) BD on all 4 and HH in half-note triplets starting from the second triplet of beat 1
2) HH on all 4 and BD in half-note triplets starting from the second triplet of beat 1
3) HH on 2 and 4, rhythm of the bridge melody in the BD

I look forward to hearing your ideas.
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