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Big Bass Drum Jazz

I had a chance last weekend to see The Bad Plus play live in a small hall here in Pittsburgh. I've got a couple of their albums and honestly, they can't hold up with the live sound. BP's drummer plays like an animal and nothing they've released has captured it clearly. He’s really quite amazing to see live.

This did get me to thinking about some of my favorite drum recordings. None of them are have drummers as leaders but they are great non-the-less. Among my personal favorite jazz albums with great drumming are:

Duke Ellington - Duke's Big Four
Thelonius Monk - Monk's Music (Art Blakey was the man)
Dave Brubeck - Time Out & Further Out (Cliche but great)

Monk is not a great sounding recording, but the playing is amazing. Brubeck is a really good sound. The Ellington disk is among the best recordings I own and there is some really wonderfully done kick drum here. Great stuff.

Anyone have any other discs/records they'd like to champion?
grimace

Showing 1 response by shadorne

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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
Grimace,

I know what you mean about the drums. This approach to recording is called slap. The drums have a "slap" kind of sound which adds to the rhythm or attack. (Mike placement has a lot to do with it and sometimes a drum reverb machine is used)

You may also enjoy the sound of the drumming on Brick House The Commodores.

You may also enjoy Tower of Power Soul Vaccination (Live) - the dynamic range on this recording is impressive and may capture that "live" effect that you find missing on The Bad Plus studio albums compared to how they sounded live.
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