I spent quite a bit of time playing in big bands, otherwise known as stage bands. Like most young students, my first big band experiences were in high school. I played in my college big band as well, and eventually ended up in the U.S. Army Band. You’d think by that time, I’d have really known what I was doing, but that wasn’t the case.
After basic training the Army sent me to the Armed Forces School Of Music, at Little Creek Amphibious Base, Virginia Beach, VA. When I was there, the school was a tri-service training facility, run by the U.S. Navy. Although I was in the Army Band, my percussion instructor was a U.S. Marine, and most of the jazz ensemble directors were Navy petty officers.
It was at the Armed Forces School Of Music that I learned my first lesson in big band drumming. We were playing a funk chart for the first time, and it wasn’t going well. The petty officer stopped the band. He explained to me that the horn players were sight-reading really difficult, syncopated parts. He said that what he wanted me to do was play a simple beat that they could lock onto, kind of like a metronome. Once they had the tune down, I could start adding fills, section figures, etc. That worked very well.
This learning experience was repeated again while performing and rehearsing with the 10th Mountain Division Band, in Upstate New York. When I wasn’t playing with the jazz ensemble, I was watching and learning from watching Herman Brandon and Chuck McKissik play. Both of these were great players, and they really understood what the musicians in the jazz ensemble needed much quicker than I did.
I grew up listening to Buddy Rich, so that was my idea of what a big band drummer was supposed to sound like. When I watched Brandon and McKissik play with the jazz ensemble, they played very simple grooves and very simple fills. This wasn’t because this was all they were capable of playing, but rather because they knew that this was exactly what the musicians in the band needed. I learned that what worked for Buddy Rich’s big band, usually didn’t work very well for most big bands. Most of the time playing with a big band calls for straight-forward grooves and simple fills that are easy to follow. That’s how you get a large ensemble of musicians to swing and groove together.
Another thing I experienced along the way was that I was constantly presented with challenging grooves, new ostinatos, etc. The mistake I made early in my career was thinking I needed to go into the practice room, and practice all these new ostinatos and grooves for 50 hours before I could perform the tune with the ensemble. When you’re playing with a big band, there’s not a lot of time for this. The important thing is to play something on the drums immediately, that fits the style and that the band can follow. That’s really all that matters. No one really cares if you play exactly what’s written on the page. They don’t know what you have written anyway. However, they do care if you’re not grooving and they can’t play along with you. If the chart is extremely detailed, and has a really complicated groove and fills explicitly written out, trying to sight read it verbatim will usually cause you to tighten up, and groove less, which is exactly the opposite of what you want.
Following these simple tips should make your big band drumming much more effective. Your band mates will thank you too!
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