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Steve Smith's Drum
Talk: Two Drum Solos Transcribed
 In
his career, Steve Smith has played nearly every U.S. popular music
style from Top 40 rock with Journey, adventurous fusion with Vital
Information, country with Ray Price and big band and small group
jazz in a variety of settings.
Steve recently
released two CDs with the group Steve Smith and Buddy’s Buddies
-- a group featuring alumni of the Buddy Rich Big Band -- recorded
live at London’s legendary jazz club Ronnie Scott’s.
Each CD
features a version of the chart "Moments Notice," which
finds Smith soloing over the form of the tune along with horn hits
-- an approach that dictates certain characteristics in Smith’s
solo style.
"What I
try to do in these situations is play the form in an obvious
enough way so the band doesn’t get lost but also play in a
sophisticated enough way to keep it interesting." Smith says,
"I’m not counting bars when I do this, but I sing the
melody to myself to keep track of the form."
But while Smith
thinks about the melody during his solo, he doesn’t necessarily
try to mimic it. "When soloing on "Moments Notice"
I don’t usually play off the melody rhythmically," he says,
"however, sometimes I will quote something from the melody to
give shape to the solo and help the band members keep their place.
The ending of the "Moment’s Notice" form can be
roughly approximated on the drums, and I use a little of that to
set up the band."
In fact, the
seasoned pro makes sure to set up the horn hits during his solo on
"Moments Notice." And in the second chorus of this drum
solo (which you will see in the following transcriptions) the hits
all land on syncopated off beats. "One of the secrets of big
band drumming is to end setup phrases just before the hits
so that the horn players know when to come in," Smith
advises. "Let’s say the hit is on the and of 1, I’ll
end my phrase on 4 or 1. That gives the band a nice setup so the
hit will be clear. If I play right up to the hit they can get
confused."
And can you
think of a better vacation? We can’t. Smith spent a week in
London, touring the city with his family in the day and playing at
one of the world’s greatest clubs at night. "Playing Ronnie
Scott’s with Buddy’s Buddies was great," he confirms.
"We played two sets a night, and the set’s at Ronnie’s
are late, the first set is at 11:00pm and the club closes at
3:00am! We also rehearsed details of the arrangements most
afternoons and had a very good time getting inside the music. I
knew that the people coming to see us wanted the drummer to really
go for it. They appreciate the non-subtlety of that approach [laughs].
I’m not trying to play like Buddy but I am trying to give the
music that drive and energy that he had. And it’s always a
pleasure to play with my buddies and Buddy’s Buddies; Steve
Marcus, Andy Fusco, Baron Browne and Mark Soskin."
We thought it
would be interesting to transcribe Smith’s solo from both
versions of "Moments Notice," so that you can compare
Smith’s improvisations from each night. And while you do so, try
to bring some of that Buddy Rich energy to the kit.
-- Phil
Hood, Drum! Magazine
A note from
Steve:
We played for
an entire week at Ronnie Scott’s and recorded the last two
nights -- June 7 & 8, 2002 -- that way we had two versions of
each tune. Both takes of some of the tunes were good so it was a
tough choice as to which would be the "keeper" take.
I ultimately
decided to include some of the outtakes as "bonus
tracks" on each CD so the fans could hear the alternate
takes, which has become a popular feature in re-releasing classic
jazz recordings. When it came to "Moments Notice" both
takes were so good it was impossible to say overall one was better
than the other, so I picked the one I thought had the strongest
intro to be the version in the actual program which left the other
version to be a bonus track.
We experimented
with different set lists all week and by the end of the week we
felt as though "Moments Notice" was a great opener for
Set Two. So on "Very Live at Ronnie Scott’s Set One"
we have a version of the tune that is a bonus track and on
"Very Live at Ronnie Scott’s Set Two" we have another
version as the opening number.
The drum solo
in Lee Musiker’s arrangement for John Coltrane’s composition
"Moments Notice" is over the form of the tune.
"Moments Notice" has an unorthodox form and is broken
down as follows: An 8 bar "A" section, an 8 bar
"B" section, back to the 8 bar "A" section
followed by an abbreviated 6 bar "B" section and then an
8 bar "Tag" which is broken down into 6 bars plus a 2
bar "break" at the end of every chorus. Thus, the first
two bars of my solo starts in the 2 bar "break," this
serves as a pickup into the top of the form. I then play over the
form of the tune and catch the various band hits. The hits serve
to generate excitement and add punctuation and structure to the
solo.
Enjoy!
Taken
from the Tone Center recordings "Steve Smith and Buddy’s
Buddies Very Live at Ronnie Scott’s Set One and Set Two"
Transcription
by Brad Schluter
Introduction by Phil Hood
Solo #1
From the Tone Center recording
Steve Smith and Buddy’s Buddies
Very Live at Ronnie Scott’s Set One
Track #9: Moments Notice (bonus track)
Solo #2
From the Tone Center recording
Steve Smith and Buddy’s Buddies
Very Live at Ronnie Scott’s Set Two
Track #1: Moments Notice
(This article
originally appeared in the November/December 2003 issue of Drum
Magazine) |
