I’m excited to announce the latest edition of the Roots Jam rhythm books series, Roots Jam 4: World Beats – Rhythms Wild! The book compiles fruits of my learning and playing experiences over the last dozen years, since the 2007 release of Roots Jam 3.
These latest adventures in hand drumming bring you rhythms from around the world: Guinea, Mali, India, Canada, Maui, Cuba, Brazil, Belize…
Since 2007 I’ve played with Guinean Alseny Michel Diallo’s traditional and electric band Kikeyambay; the Little Beach drum and dance jams in Maui; Brazilian-style batucada bands in Victoria and Salt Spring Island, BC and Maui; played for African, Brazilian, Haitian and Congolese dance classes in Maui; studied African drumming from Guinea and Mali in Thailand; jammed with the improv groups Strange Moon and Aquarius Victoria; plugged into the hotspots of Garafuna drumming in Belize; played for kirtans in India, Guatemala and Canada; joined drum circles in Guatemala, India, and Canada; created soundscapes for breathwork sessions… and no doubt more than I can list here! (See full discography with links.)
The point is not to tout my own experience or abilities, but to outline the breadth and depth of rhythms and insights you can access in this new resource. Part of the value added in Roots Jam 4 is the consistency of notation from such diverse sources, using the simple box notation grids you’ll find in Roots Jam 2 & 3. Another learning tool is the layout of compiled rhythms of similar structure, to assist in understanding different kinds of feel across rhythm patterns, instruments, and cultural sources (including a new section of Indian tabla patterns for kirtan). Such analysis even extends to melodic scales, showing archetypal similarities between common rhythm and scale interval patterns.
You’ll find full notation for the ballet dunun patterns demonstrated on my free YouTube lessons, and for new digital drum and percussion compositions using Percussion Studio software. You can listen to these tracks (of 2-5 minutes each) for enjoyment, dance, or as raw material for your own looping projects or DJ mixes.
Paperback: 8.5 X 11, 115 pages
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Ebook: (digital replica of printed version)
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While attendance is fluid, the usual mix is drum kit, bass, electric guitars, keyboard, mandolin, congas/djembe and percussion, and vocals. Musical genres range the gamut: ballads, Celtic, reggae, blues, prog rock, acid jazz, funk, hard rock, dance groove… with nothing prearranged, and everything played strictly in the moment. If there is any unwritten rule we abide by, it’s probably, “No cover tunes.” In other words, we’re constitutionally averse to what Frank Zappa lampooned as “strictly commercial.”
