+ Deep Dive Six: Tony Williams Comping +

PART ONE:
INSPIRATION

NOBODY CAN
TOUCH TONY.

Someone once described Tony Williams as sounding like it’s his first time sitting at the drums. There’s a sense of wonder and daring; he sounds like he’s trying things that have never been done before. That’s why he’s so exciting to listen to. But, as an master of rhythm, he knows how to shift his time to a different feel at the drop of a dime. He has dynamics, phrasing, and the ability to have 5-note groups of eighth notes blast straight out of his hands and into the world. Tony’s always driving forward and always creative, which is the ultimate goal of this artform.

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PART TWO:
IMITATION

Transcription:
“ONE FINGER SNAP”

This transcription features three choruses of the Herbie Hancock tune entitled, “One Finger Snap.” Tony’s time playing is so dynamic and exciting and there are many lessons to draw from this nugget from 1965. Taste, fire, and creativity at a brisk tempo that hovers around 280 BPM.

Of the many things that are awe-inspiring here, I especially love Tony’s phrasing. Of course, there are many ride cymbal variations from the typical repetitive pattern. You could honestly just play what he’s playing with his right hand at gigs and keep people very happy. Additionally, his comping is so fluid and varied. He places accents and creates phrases with downbeats and upbeats between the snare and bass drum in such interesting ways that make the music move forward and feel exciting.

That energy and creativity is amplified even more when he plays around with the quarter note pulse, delving into dotted quarter note phrases, and even flipping the pulse into a new world where the dotted quarter note becomes the quarter note. A nerdy way to say it is metric modulation, but it’s less about a concept and more about where he’s taking the feeling of the music. Pushing, unexpected, solid, textural, and beautiful.

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PART THREE:
INNOVATION

This transcription offers a lot to work on between the cymbals and drums. Yes, he plays his infamous five-note ride cymbal grouping, but his phrasing as a concept overall is what I’m trying to get a piece of here. He uses lots of flashy things – hihat splashes, modulating time, fast hands, but his phrasing with placement of downbeats and upbeats are really something that make it all so lyrical. One example of this is this phrase he plays at the beginning of the third chorus:


As usual, I explore the possibilities of this phrase via orchestration, mixing in unison eighth notes with both hands, breaking the phrase into different stickings, and then delving into his modulation of time. This is more about grasping his concept broadly than working through different spins on a single lick. Since it’s pretty uptempo, that felt like a better place to listen from since the info is going by quickly, and I wanted a set of small chunks I could mix together to keep the vibe pushing and feeling fresh for a longer period of time.

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One:
UNISONS IN
THE HANDS

I start with varying the ride pattern and then weave in some unisons on the snare, so the snare plays two eighth notes that line up with two eighth notes on the ride cymbal. Sometimes, this is followed up with some bass drum quarter notes. This is too busy to play throughout an entire tune but it could work to build energy or to push through the end of a section. Grouping the two hands makes phrasing one unified thing to think about vs. lots of independence.

Two:
DOWNBEAT
QUARTERS

Tony put sections of repetition into his time where sometimes he would play deliberate downbeats on the snare, sometimes only on the 1 and 3. With those phrases, he would also weave in upbeats on the bass drum, creating a kind of inverted feel from his other syncopated stuff. Sometimes by itself it sounds almost like a punk rock sort of thing, pushing hard and contrasting the 2 and 4.

Three:
TONY’S
DOWNBEAT
PHRASE

Tony built phrases around downbeats, and one example in “One Finger Snap” is a four-bar phrase that focuses on the "4" on each of the first 2 bars, then through to the fourth bar where he comes down hard on the "1." Moving back and forth between 2's and 4's and 1's and 3's at a fast tempo is so brilliant. He's just using quarter notes to break up his rhythms into cool phrasings, just like you could do with eighth notes or triplets at a slower tempo.

Four:
ORCHESTRATING
TONY’S PHRASE

Again, taking quarter notes: the "4" in the first and second bar, and the "1" in the fourth bar of a four bar phrase, and orchestrating them around the toms and with some hi-hat splashes.

Five:
LINEAR
DOWNBEAT
PHRASE

Here's a cool linear phrase between different voices that targets on various downbeats (4, 4, and 1) of a four-bar phrase. The same downbeats Tony pulls out in his phrase, but I'm just changing it out a bit and sticking it differently.

Six:
HIHAT
SPLASHES

Using the HH to splash on upbeats. Sometimes on the “&” of 1 and 3, even. Sounds chaotic and drives the music forward with some excitement.

Seven:
UPBEAT
PHRASING

Now I’m mixing in a couple of Tony phrases that were more focused on upbeats between the hands and feet. Mix these in with some downbeat-led phrases and you have a lot of variety rhythmically.

Eight:
THREE-NOTE
PHRASING

Here's using a 3-note group that repeats, phrased as 3/4 time on the ride, and then moving it around the toms for a cool melodic phrase.

Nine:
DOTTED
QUARTER
PHRASING

Mixing in dotted quarter rhythms between the hands and feet makes the time push and pull in a unique way. A little of this goes a long way.

Ten:
DOTTED
QUARTERS AS
PARADIDDLES

Here's a stab at playing a dotted quarter rhythm but breaking it up as a paradiddle phrase between the bass and snare: BSBB, SBSS (phrased as dotted quarters).

Eleven:
DOTTED
QUARTER
MODULATION

Here's where Tony was the master: taking one pulse, and then turning that into a completely new time feel. In One Finger Snap, he turns the dotted quarter note into the "new" time feel, and he does it with snare and hihat splashes as comping voices. This can be really hard to make feel good, and that is why Tony is/was/will always be, THE MAN.

Twelve:
ALL TOGETHER OVER FORM

Mixing some uptempo phrases and ideas together over form. Here, I’m singing “Cherokee,” and just trying to have some freedom and access some of these phrases as I play along to what I’m singing.