Following up my first post regarding bebop drum vocabulary, I thought it would be fun to present an incredibly tasty Roy Haynes transcription. This particular solo is from Thelonious Monk’s 1958 live album Misterioso, and features Thelonious on piano, Johnny Griffin on tenor sax, Ahmed Abdul-Malik on bass, and the incomparable Roy Haynes on drums.
There are several reasons that make this particular drum solo so enjoyable, both as a listener and as a student honing one’s craft.
Bebop Drum Solos
One of the challenges in teaching jazz drumset to younger musicians is connecting the dots between their existing physical technique and a stylistic concept of what it means to play jazz/bebop vocabulary. John Riley has authored three incredible books: The Art of Bop Drumming, Beyond Bop Drumming, and The Jazz Drummer’s Workshop; all of which prove helpful to students over the course of their development.
It also goes without saying that listening to jazz music (or any style of music one is attempting to master) is first and foremost the most vital learning tool. A particular strategy that I have utilized more often in recent years is composing short exercises to introduce classic bebop drum vocabulary. Many of these phrases are common, and are reminiscent of Max Roach or Roy Haynes. That being said, they feel fresh and exciting for a young drummer only beginning to build a toolkit of jazz phrasing/vocabulary.
