That Was FAST!

[donelk]

Just want to share...

Last weekend I had a great jazz gig with a quartet. We played a standard ("Whirybird," Basie/Hefti) that is really quick. I use brushes on this one.

Our leader counted it off MUCH faster than usual (I guess her adrenaline was pumping)... anyway I struggled.

Rather quickly I stopped stirring... then I lost any sweeps. I kept simplifying.  Whew!

Eventually I was just playing a "polka beat."

I gotta practice playing at warp speed so this doesn't happen again.

Thanks for listening... I feel better now!  ;D

[Bart Elliott]

Good job, Don!

I've been in situations where the tune is counted off by someone (not me) and the tempo is way too fast or too slow to play the signature groove ... and make it feel good. Some patterns have a tempo range at which they fit nicely, but once you get out of that zone, it just doesn't feel right, may be too difficult to play, etc. Chances are that if the original tune was that brisk or slow, the groove that is commonly used would never have been used. Make sense?

So you did well to find something that worked for the music, as opposed to holding fast to the part that is normally played. Whether it's because you can't play that particular groove pattern at the faster/slower tempo, or that it just doesn't groove ... in either case, it doesn't matter ... do whatever you need to do to make your part fit with the music in that moment. You did it!