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John Riley-Jazz Ensemble Playing-Workbook

John Riley is a renowned American jazz drummer who has worked with leading jazz musicians for over 40 years. He started playing drums at age 8 and had his first professional gig at age 14. Riley studied jazz drumming extensively in school and with teachers. He moved to New York City in 1976 and began freelancing with many top jazz artists. Riley currently teaches drumming and is considered a master drummer. This jazz drumming course focuses on playing comfortably in an ensemble while maintaining song form, transitioning between feels like latin and jazz, and techniques for uptempo playing and using brushes.

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815 views7 pages

John Riley-Jazz Ensemble Playing-Workbook

John Riley is a renowned American jazz drummer who has worked with leading jazz musicians for over 40 years. He started playing drums at age 8 and had his first professional gig at age 14. Riley studied jazz drumming extensively in school and with teachers. He moved to New York City in 1976 and began freelancing with many top jazz artists. Riley currently teaches drumming and is considered a master drummer. This jazz drumming course focuses on playing comfortably in an ensemble while maintaining song form, transitioning between feels like latin and jazz, and techniques for uptempo playing and using brushes.

Uploaded by

John Dawis
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Jazz Ensemble Playing

JOHN RILEY
ABOUT
JOHN RILEY
John Riley is a renowned American Jazz drummer, a four-time Grammy award
winner and 14-time nominee, and has worked with the world's leading Jazz
musicians for over 40 years. Born in 1954 in Aberdeen/Maryland, he started
playing drums at the age of eight after receiving a snare drum as a gift. With the
support and backing of his parents, he began studying percussion privately and
worked on rudiments, reading and coordination. At age twelve, John played in
rock bands, heard his first jazz recordings and played his first professional gig
only two years later. After having met the famous jazz drummer Joe Morello in a
drum symposium in 1971, John became a student of him.

He studied at the University of North Texas College of Music in Denton and


played, toured and recorded with the famous One O'clock Lab Band, the
ensemble of the Jazz Studies Division of the UNT. Their “Lab 76” was nominated
for a Grammy Award for "Best Jazz Performance by a Big Band“. Jazz drummer
Paul Guerrero had been one of his influential teachers there.

In 1976 John moved to New York City, joined the Woody Herman Band and
began freelancing with a wide range of world-class musicians such as Stan
Getz, Milt Jackson, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Scofield, Bob Mintzer, Gary
Peacock, Mike Stern, Joe Lovano, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Carnegie
Hall Jazz Band, John Patitucci, Bob Berg, and many others.

John has a Bachelor of Music degree in jazz education from the University of
North Texas and a Master of Music in jazz studies from Manhattan School of
Music.

Nowadays he teaches at the Manhattan School of Music, the Kutztown University


of Pennsylvania and is “Artist in Residence” at the Conservatorium van
Amsterdam. He is the author of four workbooks: The Art of Bop
Drumming, Beyond Bop Drumming, The Jazz Drummer's Workshop, The Master
Drummer DVD, and has taught master classes around the world.

JAZZ ENSEMBLE PLAYING 2


DESCRIPTION
JAZZ ENSEMBLE PLAYING
One of the challenges of playing in a jazz ensemble is to provide a comfortable
steady flow for your fellow musicians, while at the same time maintaining the
form of the song. In this course you deal with different aspects of playing in an
ensemble. Learn how to transition between latin and jazz feeling, discover
different ways of playing a jazz waltz and get familiar with changing from sticks to
brushes. Up-tempo playing and cymbal technique knowledge are also part of
this course. Make sure you have mastered the first three courses of this workout,
as their contents build the basis for this last course. The more comfortable you
are, the better you will be as a player and the more valuable you will become to
other band mates. Or as John puts it: “That’s what we want – we want people to
request our services. So if you cultivate these skills, you will become a bigger
asset to your band mates.”

CURRICULUM
LESSONS
1) Playing a Ballad 4
2) Uptempo Playing - no material provided -
3) Transitioning Between Jazz And Latin -
4) 3/4 Jazz Waltz 7
5) Transitioning Between Sticks And Brushes -

PART OF WORKOUT: Jazz Drumming

JAZZ ENSEMBLE PLAYING 3


Jazz Ensemble Playing
LESSON 1 Playing A Ballad
PLAYING A BALLAD 


1, 2, 3, 4 +

1, 2, 3, 4

with brushes
even 8ths

© 2019 Seite 1 von 3


JAZZ ENSEMBLE PLAYING 4
1, 2, 3, 4 a

1, 2, 3, 4

with brushes
Swing 8th-Notes

© 2019 Seite 2 von 3

JAZZ ENSEMBLE PLAYING 5


1, 2 a, 3, 4 a

2, 4

1, 3

with brushes
Double-Time-Feel in 2

with brushes
Double-Time in 4

© 2019 Seite 3 von 3

JAZZ ENSEMBLE PLAYING 6


LESSON 4
Jazz Ensemble Playing
3/4 JAZZ WALTZ
3/4 Jazz Waltz
Jazz Waltz Swing Pattern

Comping Rhythm 1

Comping Rhythm 2

Latin

JAZZ ENSEMBLE PLAYING 7

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