+ Deep Dive Five: Philly Joe Jones +
PART ONE:
INSPIRATION
PHILLY’S
PHRASINGS
Philly Joe Jones’ mastery of rudimental phrasing is mind-blowing. He clearly spent years getting his hands fast, clean, even, and powerful. But the true genius is in how he phrased the rudiments. Many of the rudiments lack any kind of soul on their own, but Philly was able to figure out to twist them into slick phrasing that had lyricism and style. All of his classic solos were built around this amazing abilty to blend up rudiments into lyrical gold. If you could sound this cool, you would.
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PART TWO:
IMITATION
Transcription:
“SIPPIN’ AT BELLS”
This transcription is the sixteen-bar intro to “Sippin’ At Bells,” which is from Sonny Clark’s 1958 hard bop masterpiece, “Cool Struttin’.” It’s full of Philly phrasing and his hallmark accents with stick shots. The solo itself is mainly all hands, with a few bass drum accents woven in that seem to serve the purpose of connecting phrases. And, of course, true to the era, the hi-hat is chugging away on 2 and 4.
The phrasing has a combination of rudiments: 4-stroke ruffs, drags, and various rolls. There is a slick section that displaces a 4-stroke ruff rough by a quarter note, and it creates more musicality with repetition and variance.
Speaking of repetition, there is one phrase that pops up many times in this solo. It pops up in many of his other solos, too. It is a variation of a paradiddlediddle, taking that traditional sticking and adding another RLL triplet before it. The beauty of it is that it’s cool when you play it slow or fast, and its feel changes with just a displacement of an eighth note or quarter note. Again, he takes the old and creates new with very little effort. He hears the rudiments in a swinging and original way, and that’s what he plays in so many of his solos. It’s instantly identifiable since there was only one Philly Joe Jones.
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PART THREE:
INNOVATION
This might be THE Philly Phrase. It’s the one I hear many times in this intro, and it’s all over his many other solos. He plays it in many ways, but this skeleton sticking is the basis of LOTS of his vocabulary. He managed to make it sound good every time:
Some of the ways that I explore the possibilities of this phrase below include: displacing where the phrase begins, orchestration, taking it out of a swing genre all together, playing it as time, or playing it over an ostinato. Pretty endless, and some are better than others. This is a phrase that feels good in your hands the more you play it.
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One:
PLAYING
TIME
Starting out with the sticking and just keeping it on the ride and playing it as time. It's a three-beat phrase, so there are some cool rhythmic cycles that take shape. Mixing in some bass drum and hihat to help break it up a bit, as well.
Two:
PHRASING AS
DOWNBEATS
Now taking the sticking to the drums and phrasing it starting on the downbeat. This has a less swung and more straightforward rudimental vibe. It still works as a piece of vocabulary though...
Three:
MOVING TO
UPBEATS
Here is where the phrase starts to get cool and slicker. Philly would take this sticking and move it to the & of 4, so it starts on an anticipated upbeat. That makes it cool and gives the phrasing forward momentum and elasticity.
Four:
ORCHESTRATED
UPBEATS
The Sippin' At Bells intro is mainly on the snare, but this anticipated upbeat version of the phrase works nicely with some toms mixed in. Here, I'm working it around a descending melodic tom movement.
Five:
WEAVING IN
BASS DRUM
Same phrase, still starting on an upbeat. That's where the coolness is in terms of how I hear it. But, here mixing in some bass drum to break up the phrase a little more and add some variation.
Six:
MIXIN’ UP
THE RATE
Same phrase but mixing it around some by playing it at a triplet rate and then a 16th-note rate. That gives even more options and adds a little bit more urgency to the phrase within a solo.
Seven:
MALLETS AND
AN OSTINATO
The phrase is played as triplets in the hands, with mallets. Why? No idea. But it's all over top of a semi-repetitive bass drum ostinato. This could work with brushes, too, possibly as a different kind of time feel or maybe a song intro section.
Eight:
USING IT IN A
GROOVE CONTEXT
Taking that same Philly sticking and phrasing it in the context of a beat. Then coming out of the beat into a fill, using the same sticking. Just trying to get lots of mileage and different vibes out of that same sticking pattern that Philly played so many years ago...
Nine:
OVER A FORM
Squeezing the last little bit out of the original phrase here. Now that I've been working on different variations and vibes, I try to forget all of that and use it over a form. In this case, over "Straight No Chaser." Funny how the phrase pops up in certain places where it works really naturally and it feels like it doesn't really belong in others.