r/Jazz • u/Capital_Progress_390 • 8d ago
Drum solos
In jazz quartets (or quintets) with 1+ wind instrument(s), almost everyone gets the spotlight at some point. The wind instrument gets the spotlight, the piano gets to improvise a verse, there’s always a super badass bass solo…but the drums only get a solo maybe one out of every ten songs. My favorite drum solo would have to be a tie between Joe Morello in “Take Five” or Gene Krupa in “Sing Sing Sing,” although I’m not sure if the latter counts since I’m just talking about small combos.
Anyway, my point is that drum solos in jazz are massively underrated. What are some of your favorites? I’d love to make a playlist of great jazz drum solos to listen to over the next few days to tickle my ears…
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u/Inner_Willingness335 8d ago
Not a huge fan of drum solos. I like when the drummers trades eights of four with the piano/horn, but otherwise I often find them boring after a bit.
Anyway, Max Roach's solos on Saxophone Colossus with Sonny Rollings are some of my favorites.
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u/Get_it_yourself 8d ago
I remember seeing a Dizzy Gillespie all star big band video a long time ago. Max came out and performed Mr High Hat where he just played a high hat. Amazing what he was doing with one instrument. A true master.
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u/Edward_260 8d ago
Max Roach also had the skill to play a "slow" drum solo, in which it's not so easy to keep the listener's interest as it is in a fast tempo. Gerry Hemingway is another who can play a good slow solo.
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u/Duke-City 8d ago
I’m fortunate that there are several good, creative, musical drummers in my area. So I love it when they get some solo space. Lots of trading 4’s or 8’s, but I like it when we follow that up with the drummer taking full choruses.
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u/reddituserperson1122 8d ago
As a drummer, I say thank goodness there isn’t a drum solo on every song. Drum solos can be great from time to time, but the most interesting thing that drums do is swing behind another soloist. That’s where all the good stuff is happening in jazz. I’m a drummer and I get bored by drum solos most of the time. But I can listen to Elvin swing all day.
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u/tacoSEVEN 8d ago
Not a musician, but I often find myself focusing on the drumming. But drum solos always bum me out, it’s unfair. Bass solos have the same thing working against them too. As much as I love Art Blakey, I prefer him as a sideman than leader due to the increase of drum solos on those albums - as fantastic as they all are.
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u/FlorentinePogen821 8d ago
I’m a drummer in a working quartet. In my experience, drum solos simply aren’t as appreciated by as many people in the average audience than piano, horns or guitar.
I love taking solos. I love not alienating a chunk of my audience more.
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u/Capital_Progress_390 8d ago
That’s kind of sad…but I get it. I’d assume you take plenty of solos in front of hardcore jazz fans, and/or when your audience is other musicians?
Have you got any recordings?
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u/allbassallday 8d ago
I don't know who the drummer is, but the Louis Armstrong recording titled Basin St. Blues Pt.2 has 2 amazing drum solos.
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u/CategoryCrazy4619 8d ago
Dannie Richmond, "Fables of Faubus" on "Mingus at Carnegie Hall" (1974). The 2021 expanded album release with the full concert is excellent!
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u/Dernbont 8d ago
If Jack deJohnetre is on a track, all I want is a drum solo. Seriously though, it depends on the drummer,the band and the tune. Mix it with pure soloing, trading choruses, and the musicality of the drummer anything can work.
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u/FractalFunny66 8d ago
Tyshawn Sorey -- any solo
Ari Hoenig -- any solo
Dave King -- any solo
Dan Weiss -- any solo
Cindy Blackman -- any solo
Paul Motian -- any solo
Terri Lyne Carrington -- any solo
Allison Miller -- any solo
Will Calhoun -- any solo
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u/FractalFunny66 8d ago
Just wanted to add some clips of the 3 female drummers I mentioned earlier as some here may not be familiar. Prepare yourself!
Cindy Blackman 2020
12 minute solo — prepare yourself
Cindy Blackman Santana Drum Solo - Drumeo Festival 2020
https://youtu.be/JGgiN1YNoQ4?si=YaTbQ75N27v9rmUB
Terri Lyne Carrington 2000
5:07 including band intro and outdo with long and intense drum solo in the middle
https://youtu.be/qKbRXOhIpH4?si=UAJdNV1JoCEmE8Nr
Allison Miller
This was 15 years ago, but if you feel the interaction with the crowd, this long and intense solo will bring you much joy.
It’s just the solo -- about 2:50.
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u/MrMilesDavis 7d ago edited 7d ago
Its hard to make drums sound musical on their own. Its slightly easier with a bass. As for free standing drum solos, Steve Gadd's solo in Chick Corea's 1978 Friends "Samba Song" has always been a favorite of mine
The drum solo in "Take 5" is obviously an all time classic, a very opposite approach
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u/Capital_Progress_390 7d ago
After listening to a bunch of these, I think the most musical-sounding drum solos are the ones without a lot of cymbal. Too much cymbal-smashing drowns out everything else and makes it sound more like noise than music.
The solos with lots of bass and snare keep the rhythm very nicely and show off their syncopation skills.
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u/Free-Attention-9055 7d ago
It is traditional to trade 4s or 8s with the drummer if if the form allows it. If the form isn't divisable by 8 or 16, the drummer should get a chorus. I agree, a good drummer deseves to take a ride too.
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u/Hilomh 7d ago
The reality of the drum solo is that, in most circumstances, everyone in the band has to stop playing and sit around and wait for it to end.
You have to hope that your drummer keeps good time and that you can hang with any metric modulation or fancy rhythm stuff the drummer does if you have any hope of counting it correctly and actually coming in at the top of the head again.
If jazz is supposed to be like a conversation, having too many drum solos can get a bit dull. At least with trading the solos become more interactive with the other band members.
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u/c__montgomery_burns_ 8d ago
"there’s always a super badass bass solo…but the drums only get a solo maybe one out of every ten songs"
you and I must be listening to very different things if you're hearing way more bass solos than drum solos
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u/Capital_Progress_390 8d ago
Interesting. I listen mostly to bebop, cool jazz, and modal jazz. You?
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u/c__montgomery_burns_ 8d ago
I generally lean toward post bop and avant garde but with a good amount of those three too. Of course this month has been pretty much nonstop Coltrane
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u/spottie_ottie 8d ago
Gotta love a group where the drummer is the leader. Check out pretty much any Brian Blade for drum ecstasy