+ Deep Dive One: Henry Cole +
PART ONE:
INSPIRATION
LISTEN TO
HENRY COLE
Henry Cole is just so damn good. He has taste and ferocity and all of the beautiful things that words can’t do justice, so listen to this playlist instead of reading this. You’ll understand. Last, I especially love his latest album, “Buscando La Vida.” It kicks ass.
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PART TWO:
IMITATION
Transcription: “TIPICO”
This is something I’m really proud of. I transcribed a portion of Henry’s solo in Miguel Zenon’s "Tipico.” There are so many things I gained from copying this solo: phrasing, flow, pyrotechnics, coordination, comfort with odd time, playing over a vamp, and on and on.
His playing is just so powerfully musical, and I want to try to pull a shred of that into my own playing. It’s about picking something you love the sound of and just persisting until you can imitate to the best of your ability.
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PART THREE:
INNOVATION
It feels weird calling these innovations because they’re more like flailing around, exploring, looking for new things. And though they may be new to me, they’re not really new at all. Not all are “good.” But my aim is to play with them enough until they become something unique I can use in the moment, playing with other people. The goal isn’t to parrot other drummers forever, it’s to make something personal and keep myself open to new ways.
In this case, I pulled out one phrase from Henry’s solo that I thought was cool. Then, as you’ll see below, I tried to use it in different ways.
This is the phrase I really love:
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One:
OG PHRASE
This is the original phrase that I pulled from my transcription of Henry’s solo. It’s toward the end, right before the rolls.
Two:
SIMPLIFYING
Here, I lop off a few notes and find a four note phrase. Played as triplets, the bass drum has a half note triplet pulse underlying the whole cycle.
Three:
TRIPLETS
Next, here’s that triplet phrase around the drums played as a cycle. Just getting comfortable phrasing it and trying to find interesting melodies.
Four:
HAYNES-ish
When in doubt, go Haynes. Disclaimer: Haynes didn’t use doubles (or so we’ve heard) in this trademark lick but the stick shots sound a bit like him.
Five:
RATE SHIFTS
Here, I start to introduce other rhythms with that same sticking- triplets, sixteenths, and dotted quarter pulse. This starts to make it really interesting and quite different from the original phrase.
Six:
6/8 BEAT
I felt like I could expand this idea into a beat context vs. just solo jazz vocabulary. This creates a cool layer of rhythms that could work in a 6/8 context.
Seven:
AFROBEAT
This is another attempt at trying to make the sticking work in a different context, more like a repeating thing that changes rates. Something you might hear Tony Allen play (but his would be way better, of course).
Eight:
COORDINATION
I thought it would be cool to have a different phrase going with the hi-hat as I’m playing triplets with the hands. For some reason, this is hard and I don’t have much control over it. I’m not yet in a place where I can play it musically. So, I may just abandon it forever in the middle of the night.
Nine:
HALF NOTE TRIPLETS
Here is the phrase back in a trading context, spaced out and played as half note triplets. This stretches the time out and seems cool to mix in as a motif. It also contrasts the quicker sixteenths and four-stroke ruffs.
Ten:
PHRASING OVER FORM
The whole point of this part of the process is to be able to use this phrase creatively as I’m improvising. I think a good judge of that is to solo with it over a song form. In this case, I’m singing “Nardis” to myself as I use the phrase, and let that medody dictate where I’m accenting notes or using space. Here is one of three different solos over that tune.
