Splang, splang-a-lang, splang, splang-a-lang

Armstrong Park, New Orleans -- July 4, 1982 -- photo by Mark Weber

Armstrong Park, New Orleans — July 4, 1982 — photo by Mark Weber

The Thursday Jazz Radio Show

July 10, 2o16 Jazz @ Noon every Thursday (starts at 12:07 after the satellite news) Host MARK WEBER KUNM Albuquerque, USA 89.9 FM (Mountain Standard Time) also streaming on the web KUNM.org Current time zone offset: UTC*/GMT -6 hours (*Coordinated Universal Time)/Greenwich Mean Time)

 

Splang, splang-a-lang, splang, splang-a-lang

What is the essence of drumming O Grasshopper?
Drumming is the sky proportioned into a beat.
Drumming is the catapult of the spirit.
Drumming is the voice of the trees.
Drumming is that Chevy V8 crossing the Great Plains at night
full of sleeping jazz musicians wrapped in long coats.

Pulse.
Pulse is related to the heart.
Tempo is the pace at which we live in the modern world.
Rhythm is how we interact with others.
Time is the ladder.

In the early days of jazz the pattern of 2 prevailed. By the early 30s swingsters like Davey Tough and Gene Krupa and Big Sid were moving into 4. The histories tell us that along about 1934 when Jo Jones joined Basie the patterns smoothed out into a floating 4 under his vision. This new 4/4 time has a feeling of the infinite, whereas, signatures of 3, 5, 7, etc always cycle back around. 4 just goes on and on and on, you can get lost in it, I’ve been lost in it for years.

Max said what jazz got from Africa wasn’t so much rhythms as it was intensity. He also pointed out how much was absorbed from the First Americans who had knowledge of the 1. Which I grabbed and think of as an influence on the free-floating 4/4 that I understand. Now, be forewarned, when I have voiced my idea of what 4/4 is all about I’ve had many drummers look at me perplexed. I gather, that they feel 3, 5, 7, etc (exempting multiples of 2) is just as open. Add a little displacement (syncopation) and you get fire. Swing is probably the defining characteristic of jazz. Mixing up the accents in your triplets, moving them around, as Bradford points out.

Michael Vlatkovich simply puts it that swing comes from 3 against 2.

Jazz people are linear thinkers. Everything is always moving forward. Maybe it’s a byproduct of the speeded-up 20th century. Three against two. Multiples of two. Five-four. Six-eight.

Philosophical concepts like Free Jazz of the Sixties has always been implied in the music, especially since the mondernist Bebop Era, so it was an eventuality that was waiting to be gotten into.

I have a huge hunger for that foundational ride pattern: ting, ting-a-ling, ting-a-ling /ting, ting-a-ling, ting-a-ling / ad infinitum. (Think Kenny Clarke and his adherents Bill Chattin and Carol Tristano.)
Or, as Cal Haines voices it: Splang, splang-a-lang, splang-a-lang . . . .
Or, as Bradford vocalizes it: Ting tick-ta ting tick-ta (one measure of 4/4).

Today on the Thursday Splang-a-Lang Jazz Radio Show we’ll have master drummer Cal Haines in the studio with us bringing along his snare and will give us some insight into the mystery of rhythm. He’ll bring along his saxophonist Sam Reid (Masters program, UNM Class of 2o15, under the guidance of maestro Glenn Kostur) and they’ll play alto saxophone + snare duets.

Charley Wilcoxon kept a studio in the Euclid Arcade in Cleveland -- the very same Euclid Arcade that Jim Lowell's legendary Asphodel Bookshop was located those same years, where poets d.a. levy, Kent Taylor, d.r. wagner, Tom Kryss, Steve Ferguson, and (possibly) Joyce Shipley (I think she told me this) hung out -- Cal, as a youngster took the bus from his hometown Canton, Ohio, for the 2-hour ride up to Cleveland every Saturday for his lesson -- Charley Wilcoxon (1894-1978) was also the drum teacher to Joe Morello -- I asked Cal what was the essence of Wilcoxon's pedagogy. Cal said: "His essence was to develop the best technique by coordinating the control of the forearm, wrist, and finger. His method book WRIST & FINGER STROKE was and is the Bible for developing technique. I studied out of this book and still use it. He stressed swing while playing these exercises in the book. He wrote many books using the original 26 rudiments in different combinations."

Charley Wilcoxon kept a studio in the Euclid Arcade in Cleveland — the very same Euclid Arcade that Jim Lowell’s legendary Asphodel Bookshop was located those same years, where poets d.a. levy, Kent Taylor, d.r. wagner, Tom Kryss, Steve Ferguson, and (possibly) Joyce Shipley (I think she told me this) hung out — Cal, as a youngster took the bus from his hometown Canton, Ohio, for the 2-hour ride up to Cleveland every Saturday for his lesson — Charley Wilcoxon (1894-1978) was also the drum teacher to Joe Morello — I asked Cal what was the essence of Wilcoxon’s pedagogy. Cal said: “His essence was to develop the best technique by coordinating the control of the forearm, wrist, and finger. His method book WRIST & FINGER STROKE was and is the Bible for developing technique. I studied out of this book and still use it. He stressed swing while playing these exercises in the book. He wrote many books using the original 26 rudiments in different combinations.”

Bob Moses (on a borrowed kit from Dave Wayne) Outpost Performance Space -- November 14, 2o15 -- photo by Mark Weber

Bob Moses (on a borrowed kit from Dave Wayne) Outpost Performance Space — November 14, 2o15 — photo by Mark Weber

Tootie Heath drum clinic at Grandma’s Music Shop, Albuquerque — April 25, 2o15 — photo by Mark Weber ---- Tootie has lived in Santa Fe since around 2013

Tootie Heath drum clinic at Grandma’s Music Shop, Albuquerque — April 25, 2o15 — photo by Mark Weber —- Tootie has lived in Santa Fe since around 2013 — photo by Mark Weber

Master of the brushes: Bill Chattin w/ Kazzrie Jaxen Quartet -- May 5, 2o16 -- Outpost Performance Space -- Bill lives north of NYC in New Rochelle, so, he used the Outpost drumkit and borrowed Cal's cymbals and and DW hihat set-up-- photo by Mark Weber

Master of the brushes: Bill Chattin w/ Kazzrie Jaxen Quartet — May 5, 2o16 — Outpost Performance Space — Bill lives north of NYC in New Rochelle, so, he used the Outpost drumkit and borrowed Cal’s cymbals and and DW hihat set-up– photo by Mark Weber

Tina Raymond, drums with Bobby Bradford's Tete-a-Tete at Los Angeles County Museum of Art -- August 14, 2o15

Tina Raymond, drums with Bobby Bradford’s Tete-a-Tete at Los Angeles County Museum of Art — August 14, 2o15 — photo by Mark Weber

Han Bennink -- May 15, 2o15 -- photo by Mark Weber

Han Bennink — May 15, 2o15 — photo by Mark Weber

Cal Haines -- December 13, 2o15 -- photo by Mark Weber

Cal Haines — December 13, 2o15 — photo by Mark Weber

Jefferson Voorhees, one of the great drummers of New Mexico for the last 3 decades -- May 16, 2o15 -- photo & line drawing by Mark Weber

Jefferson Voorhees, one of the great drummers of New Mexico for the last 3 decades — May 16, 2o15 — photo & line drawing by Mark Weber

Victor Lewis using two snare drums w/ George Cables Trio (Essiet Essiet on the Outpost bass) -- November 21, 2o15 -- photo by Mark Weber -- Victor probably brought his own cymbals and maybe that extra snare (using two snares is not a regular occurrence with his music)

Victor Lewis using two snare drums w/ George Cables Trio (Essiet Essiet on the Outpost bass) — November 21, 2o15 — photo by Mark Weber — Victor probably brought his own cymbals and maybe that extra snare (using two snares is not a regular occurrence with his music)

The Legendary James Black -- Alice's Keyhole Lounge, New Orleans -- July 3, 1982 -- photo by Mark Weber -- Black was session drummer on hundreds of R&B & funk records made in New Orleans, like Eddie Bo's "Hook and Sling" (check it on YouTube), Fats Domino, all that, all the while being a hardcore jazz cat making Ellis Marsalis first album MONKEY PUZZLE (1963) and a gang of Yusef Lateef albums including the immortal LIVE AT PEP'S, and the Nat Adderley record he made IN THE BAG (1962) so you know I had to find James Black (1940-1988) notwithstanding the cabbie who said I was nuts for going into that neighborhood

The Legendary James Black — Alice’s Keyhole Lounge, New Orleans — July 3, 1982 — photo by Mark Weber — Black was session drummer on hundreds of R&B & funk records made in New Orleans, like Eddie Bo’s “Hook and Sling” (check it on YouTube), Fats Domino, all that, all the while being a hardcore jazz cat making Ellis Marsalis first album MONKEY PUZZLE (1963) and a gang of Yusef Lateef albums including the immortal LIVE AT PEP’S, and the Nat Adderley record he made IN THE BAG (1962) so you know I had to find James Black (1940-1988) notwithstanding the cabbie who said I was nuts for going into that neighborhood

Bo Diddley takes over the drum chair for one song -- He lived in Albuquerque back then -- Everything he touched came out Bo Diddley ---- October 18, 1992 -- photo by Mark Weber

Bo Diddley takes over the drum chair for one song — He lived in Albuquerque back then -Everything he touched came out Bo Diddley —- October 18, 1992 — photo by Mark Weber

First Take Trio rehearsing with the Christmas tree in Michael & Kathie Anthony's living room -- Michael Glynn (bass) had just flown in from Seattle where he now lives (he was in Albuquerque up through 2o12 completing his masters at UNM Music) -- He had just finished a Pacific Northwest tour with the Louis Hayes' Cannonball Adderley Legacy Project -- photo by Mark Weber -- December 10, 2o15 -- Cal Haines, drumset; Michael Anthony dusting off his old banjo

First Take Trio rehearsing with the Christmas tree in Michael & Kathie Anthony’s living room – Michael Glynn (bass) had just flown in from Seattle where he now lives (he was in Albuquerque up through 2o12 completing his masters at UNM Music) — He had just finished a Pacific Northwest tour with the Louis Hayes’ Cannonball Adderley Legacy Project — photo by Mark Weber — December 10, 2o15 — Cal Haines, drumset; Michael Anthony dusting off his old banjo

Papa Jo Jones and Joe Farrell -- Watts Towers Festival of the Drum -- September 23, 1984 -- photo by Mark Weber -- Jo Jones was the drummer for Count Basie Orchestra 1934-1948 /////// Cal Haines with Sunny the Cat who loves listening to Cal practice and apparently doesn't mind being a practice pad, either -- photo by Victoria Rogers -- March 30, 2o10 -- Santa Fe

Papa Jo Jones and Joe Farrell — Watts Towers Festival of the Drum — September 23, 1984 — photo by Mark Weber — Jo Jones was the drummer for Count Basie Orchestra 1934-1948 /////// Cal Haines with Sunny the Cat who loves listening to Cal practice and apparently doesn’t mind being a practice pad, either — photo by Victoria Rogers — March 30, 2o10 — Santa Fe

Look at the drummers: John Dentz, Carl Burnett, Nick Ceroli, Roy McCurdy, Dick Berk, Jake Hanna, wow -- Handbill from my main hang in the 70s

Look at the drummers: John Dentz, Carl Burnett, Nick Ceroli, Roy McCurdy, Dick Berk, Jake Hanna, wow — Handbill from my main hang in the 70s

Cal Haines in front of Professional Drum Shop, 854 Vine, in Hollywood, Los Angeles -- January 21, 2o11(directly across the street from Musicians Union Local 47) -- photo by Victoria Rogers

Cal Haines in front of Professional Drum Shop, 854 Vine, in Hollywood, Los Angeles — January 21, 2o11 (directly across the street from Musicians Union Local 47) — photo by Victoria Rogers

20 Comments

  1. Mark Weber

    MW,
    1 2 3 4 . . . . Cheee too/to cheee too/to
    BB

    [email from last night from Bobby Bradford after we were trying to work out over the telephone the onomatopoeic vocalization for this ride pattern as played on the hi-hat]

  2. Mark Sowlakis

    Once again a beautiful and informative post. Thanks for making my day…..

  3. Michael Anthony

    Great photos Mark! Thanks for sharing :-)

    Cheers, Michael

  4. Mark Weber

    Cal Haines Quartet will be at Outpost Performance Space this night (July 7) if you happen to be in Albuquerque. Besides being a jobbing drummer around town working with Bobby Shew, Arlen Asher, Michael Anthony (Mickey Patten’s Charlie Christian Project), he has three bands of his own: Tribute Trio (w/ John Rangel and Michael Glynn) and The Flora Purim Project, and SuperSax New Mexico, but he’s letting those sit out this night and has assembled a Quartet of Sam Reid (alto), Colin Deuble (bass), Jim Ahrend (piano), on a double-bill for the Summer Thursday Jazz Nights at Outpost, with Ben Finberg’s Contrafact Quintet.

    Cal’s set list:
    1. “I Believe in You” (Frank Loesser)
    2. “Bye Ya” (Monk)
    3. “Old Folks” (Willard Robison)
    4. “Dance Cadaverous” (Wayne Shorter)
    5. “Teen Town” (the Matt Wilson version)
    6. “A Flower is a Lovesome Thing” (Strayhorn)
    7. “Agua de Beber” (Jobim)
    8. “Side Car” (Miles/Joe Henderson)
    9. “Squatty Roo” (Johnny Hodges)

    *For the books: Tribute Trio was pianist John Rangel’s concept — They’d do concerts focusing on various pianists, like Oscar Peterson, Bobby Timmons, I think Horace Silver, and I sure wish they had recorded the Lennie Tristano concert they gave, it was phenomenal

  5. Billy the Celloist

    it was Earl Palmer drumming on all those Fats Domino hits

  6. Mark Weber

    Billy the Celloist————————–That’s truer than true————–and I wonder’d when I was reading various Internet citations that said James Black was on some them, which is probably equally true, considering how much Fats recorded, but it’s important to note that the main cat who drummed on Fats Dominos renowned recordings was our man Earl Palmer

  7. mike johnston

    excellent, as always. thank you for putting so much time into these things…..

  8. Ben Daitz

    Wonderful, Mark
    Have a bang-bang high hat hit 4th!

  9. Fred Voss

    fascinating photos, drums a special art, I guess my favorites Art Blakey in jazz and Fred Below in blues
    and then the percussion in Rite of Spring, the tympani in B’s 9th, your photos give me the feel of drums
    and the beat the beat the beat….thanks again

  10. Cal Haines

    Mark
    Thanks for the your creative energy in documenting the stories of all the musicians you have mentioned in your website over the years. I, for one, truly appreciate you.
    The picture at the Professional Drum shop of me staring at Gene Krupa is significant because after seeing the “Gene Krupa Story”, I told my dad that I wanted to play drums. I was reflecting on that while I was looking at him play the floor toms and hearing “Sing Sing Sing”.

  11. Carol Tristano

    Dig your poem – great photos as always. I’m with you on 4/4 – it’s the deeper level behind ding ding de ding! I’ve been into Bird’s Tiny’s Tempo from Savoy – he’s groovin’ so hard on that 4/4 chugging along! The drummer is one of the old timers I think – not sure who it is (shame on me). Will look it up. Kind of you to put me in the same sentence as Kenny Clarke (and Bill too!) – great that you mentioned Kenny in this way. It was Lenny Popkin who hipped me to Kenny being the first to express that ride thing in just that way – revolutionary! Your post is timely because I’ve been taking in extra hard lately the importance of that quarter note feel. And yes – it’s infinite! Ding ding de ding has always been for me on the drums what standards are to jazz improvisation – the foundation – the melody…….so we are lost in infinity – how grounding!
    As others have said, thanks for all the thought and heart you put into these blogs.
    And just have to declare the innovations of Jo Jones and Big Sid – two of my heros. And we mustn’t forget Baby Dodds! Well the list is too long – have you noticed that there are more innovative drummers than any other instrument?

    • Carol Tristano

      It’s Harold “Doc” West! Also, I dig so much Tiny’s guitar strumming along with that great 4/4 thing happening. Bird is so playful and great! At the end of his solo (first take I’m pretty sure), he plays a few notes that remind me of early Louis – the way Louis gestures as a leader in those early films – so adorable and dynamite! Talk about jazz leadership!

  12. Joan Voss

    again, it’s groovy… your splang-a-lang sensational… so glad to see Carol Tristano mentioned. Time is the ladder. So true.

  13. Joan Jobe Smith Voss

    p.s. am beginning to “hear” what your petite musi-grams “say”…

  14. Mark Weber

    ——————————————-playlist————————–
    The Splang A Lang Jazz Radio Show
    July 7, 2o16
    KUNM Albuquerque
    Host MARK WEBER
    Guests: Cal Haines (snare drum) & Sam Reid (alto saxophone)

    1. Benny Goodman Sextet w/Davey Tough (drums), Charlie Christian (guitar), Georgie Auld (tenor), Johnny Guarnieri (piano) “A Smo-o-o-oth One” –13mar41
    2. Cal & Sam “Alone Together” Live
    3. Tiny Grimes Quintet “Tiny’s Tempo” w/Charlie Parker (alto), Clyde Hart (piano), Harold Doc West (drums) –15sept44
    4. Cal & Sam “Subconscious-Lee” (What is this thing) — Live
    5. Benny Goodman Sextet — ibid. — “Air Mail Special”
    6. Eddie Bo “Hook & Sling” 1969 w/ James Black
    7. Yusef Lateef w/James Black (drums) “The Magnolia Triangle” –29june64 cd LIVE AT PEP’s
    8. Baby Dodds solo “Drum Improvisation #2” — 6jan46 NYC — JAZZ A’LA CREOLE (GHB Records)
    9. Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band “You Stepped Out of a Dream” –May 1968 album ALL SMILES
    10. Cal & Sam “You and the night and the music” — Live
    11. Bird w/Max, Miles, Tommy Potter, Duke Jordan “The Hymn” — 28oct47 (Dial)
    12. Cal & Sam “I’ve found a new baby” — Live
    13. Lester Young Trio w/Buddy RIch & Nat King Cole “I’ve found a new baby” — March or April 1946 L.A.

  15. Carol Tristano

    Fantastic show! Cal and Sam were beautiful – I dug Cal’s swingin’ walin’ brushes! Thanks for playing Baby Dodds – I think I know why you asked about the time. I’m talking off the cuff so I may regret this – he’s laying down that wonderful 4/4 (right in the pocket), but he’s inflecting his eighth notes like triplets. Subtle and brilliant. Lenny and I are currently hooked on a Philly Joe track with Wynton Kelly (album is Kelly at Midnight) where he’s doing just that! Unless I have it backwards – maybe it’s triplets inflected like eighth notes! OK so I now have a homework assignment!
    Also, Baby Dodds wrote a great autobiography – wild hearing his stories and experiencing that incredible part of jazz history – he talks about playing with Louis on the river boats.

    Mark, what a pleasure – your show – the way you improvise – great play list – live music – all put together in your original way.

    • Carol Tristano

      So I did have it backwards! The Philly track is “Skatin”. When he takes a solo he starts right in on eighth note triplets against the 4/4. Baby Dodds is doing the same thing – and to my ears – they are playing those triplets so evenly that they have an eighth note feel as well! This makes it sound so mysterious to me. And of course they both just go from there – insane. These are two giants!

  16. Mark Weber

    Hi Carol,

    I wonder what track on the Wynton Kelly album you are referring to? I have the CD right here in front of me and maybe I’ll play the track this week ———- this week’s show is really going to be helter skelter . . . . all over the map
    The track is “Skatin'”! We just listened to that and re-listened to Baby’s Drum Improvisation 2.
    The part I got right is that they are both doing the same thing at certain points — but I did have it backwards! They’re playing eighth note triplets against the 4/4! But — to my subjective ears — they are playing them so evenly that they have an eighth note feel — so for me that is what makes it sound so mysterious. As soon as Philly starts in on his solo he’s doing that. Then they both just go places from there!
    What a groove.

    All over the map sounds great!!
    C

  17. Mark Weber

    —————————————-playlist————————————
    the Thursday Jazz Powwow
    July 14, 2o16
    KUNM Albuquerque
    Host MARK WEBER

    1. Wynton Kelly Trio w/ Sam Jones, bass; Jimmy Cobb, drums “Come Rain or Come Shine” album WYNTON KELLY! (VeeJay) — 21july1961
    2. Wynton Kelly Trio w/ Paul Chambers & Philly Joe Jones “Skatin'” –27april1960 album KELLY AT MIDNIGHT (VeeJay)
    3. Mary Osborne Quintet “I Love Paris” — 1959 album A GIRL AND HER GUITAR
    4. Louis Prima Sextet “Let’s Swing It” — 17may1935 w/ PeeWee Russell, clarinet; Sam Weiss, all-out brushes swinging hard on drums; Frank Pinero, piano; Gerry McAdams, guitar; Jack Ryan, bass; Louis Prima, trumpet & vocal
    5. Ray Bryant Trio “Chicago Serenade” — 1964 w/ Jimmy Rowser, bass; Ben Riley, drums; Big Black, conga
    6. Lewis Winn + Arnaldo Acosta (drums)+Michael Olivola(bass) — “Long Ago and Far Away” — 25jan15 at Studio 725
    7. Ray Bryant Trio “Chicago Serenade” — 1964 as previous minus Big Black
    8. Mark Sowalkis “Sound and Spirit” (Body & Soul) featuring George Young, tenor saxophone w/Mark tracking both clarinets, Bb & bass-clarinet — 2o13 cd UNIVERSAL TRUTHS
    9. John Lewis & Jim Hall “The Bad and the Beautiful” 30july56 album THE JOHN LEWIS PIANO (Atlantic)
    10. Lars Gullin Quartet “All of Me” — 24apr56 Stockholm
    11. Birgitta Flick Quartet “Natt” — November 2o13 in Osnabruck, Germany — cd DALARNA
    12. Michael Levy solo piano “Wrapsody” — 1994 — cd SOUP (New Artists Records)
    13. Lewis Winn solo “Nardis” (Miles) — 28march2o11 session at KUNM
    14. Michael Vlatkovich Quartet w/David Mott, baritone sax; Chris Garcia, drums; Jonathan Golove, electric cello “leave the worrying to the professionals” –21may2o14 cd MYRNOFANT’s KISS (pfMentum)
    15. Mark Weaver’s UFO Ensemble “Perpheral Vision” –13feb2o10 w/Bill Clark, trumpet; Christian Pincock, valve trombone; Jason Aspeslet, drums; Mark Weaver, tuba

  18. Tom Kelley

    ding dinGA-ding dinGA-ding dinGA-ding – Thelonious Monk to Paul Motian

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