PERCUSSIVE NOTES 16 FEBRUARY 2007

In recent years, jazz drumming has be-come very sophisticated. Today’s suc-cessful drummers know it is not just

about chops or keeping time, it is alsoabout achieving a great level of under-standing about music. In fact, many con-temporary jazz drummers havetranscended the role of accompanists, be-coming writers, arrangers, and fine solo-ists. Jeff Hamilton is an excellentexample of this new breed of player. He isan accomplished musician with a very im-pressive career, and with great taste forplaying drums in the jazz idiom.

Hamilton is committed to jazz. Hiswhole career hasevolved around thisgenre, covering awide variety ofsubgenres withinthis style, from bigband playing tosmall groups.Hamilton has playedfor a wide variety ofjazz artists, includ-ing Tommy Dorsey,Count Basie, WoodyHerman, MontyAlexander, the L.A.Four, Ray Brown,Ella Fitzgerald,Diana Krall, and Os-car Peterson.

In this article, Iam presenting ananalysis of JeffHamilton’s solo in “ANight in Tunisia”from the album JeffHamilton Trio Live(Mons Records, MR 874-777) because itclearly represents the new trend in me-lodic drumming that many contemporaryjazz drummers are using. This perfor-mance is a well-conceived piece of music,with unique features such as the use oftime, sound colors, dynamics, motifs, andmelodic formulas. The use of these struc-tural elements makes for a well-designedsolo work, with good balance betweenunity and variety.

The most innovative element of this

Jeff Hamilton’s Melodic ApproachBY RODRIGO VILLANUEVA

performance is Hamilton’s use of melodyon the drumset. By pressing the drum-head of the high tom, in combination withthe rest of the kit, Hamilton is able to re-produce most of the pitches from theoriginal melody, resulting in a unique in-terpretation of “A Night in Tunisia.” Inthis solo, this great soloist performs, allby himself, the introduction, head in, solo,head out, and coda, just as any other in-strumentalist would do in a solo situa-tion.

During the process of transcribing thissolo, many complex elements appearedthat led me to choose a compound system

of notation. I have basically used threedifferent systems of notation dependingupon Hamilton’s approach during thesolo. For instance, you will see traditionalnotation that covers the introduction, theB section in the head, and most of the ma-terial of the first chorus of solo. A secondnotation system is used for the melodicareas, where Hamilton is playing actualpitches from the original tune. In thesesections the notation is more like that of atimpani part, incorporating bass clef in

order to indicate the approximate pitchesthat are produced by the different drums.I use the term “approximate” due to thefact that standard drums are unable toproduce a definite pitch. Their soundwave is very irregular, so a given soundcan be an A or an A-flat, depending onacoustics, stroke velocity, placement ofthe stroke, etc. However, the sound pro-duced is still identifiable within a certainrange, which means that it is not a defi-nite pitch, but it is an approximation toit. In the transcription I use notationsymbols like l and j to indicate a change ofthe drum’s pitch.

The third nota-tion scheme is usedfor the last part ofthe solo, whereHamilton plays thesecond chorus withhis hands. A morecomplex system ofnotation is re-quired, as handplaying creates amuch wider rangeof sounds and ef-fects. This is due inpart to the fact thatthe hands are, bythemselves, a col-lection of percussivedevices that can beused for playing inmany differentways. Each fingercan produce an in-dependent sound,as in North Indiantabla playing. The

palm of the hand produces a differentsound than the fist, and so on. Therefore,for the last section of the solo I strived toconvey the most essential types of stroke,but it is necessary to listen to the actualrecording to hear the wide variety ofsounds that Hamilton gets from thedrums with his hands.

The solo has a symmetrical structure,divided in six sections. Each section in-volves a specific playing technique, butsometimes a given section involves a com-

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 17 FEBRUARY 2007

bination of different techniques. The firstsection is the Intro, which consists of sixbars with a double time feel (quarter note= 100). Tempo plays a very important roleat the beginning of this solo. In fact thereare some time shifts in the first stages ofthis improvisation. The second section isthe head of the tune, primarily playedmelodically. The melody is especially per-ceptible in the A sections of the form. Thissection starts with a slow rubato tempo,for nine bars (quarter note = 118). At thispoint, Hamilton adds one bar to the origi-nal form to create tension, and also toprepare a rhythmic modulation, with theshift rate of dotted eighth = quarter andwith a new tempo of quarter note = 160that remains for the rest of the solo.

In the third section, which is the firstchorus of the actual 32-bar solo, Hamiltonuses a more standard approach to play-ing. The fourth section is the last solochorus. This is where Hamilton playswith his hands, providing a new dimen-sion to the solo, with a wider palette ofsounds, effects, and dynamic levels.

The fifth section, which is not includedin this transcription, is the head out,where Hamilton again uses his melodicapproach, but this time playing thedrums with his hands, as he did on thelast chorus of the improvisation. This ele-ment creates a completely different soundto the melodic section, with the new nu-ances and colors that his hand playing al-lows.

The final section, also not included inthis transcription, is a fading out ex-tended tag that works as the coda. It isparticularly interesting that, while it mayseem awkward that Hamilton chose to be-gin with sticks, switch to hands in themiddle of the performance, and play thehead out with hands, this approach cre-ates an unexpected bi-dimensional con-tour to the overall shape of the solo,developing an improvisation that, while itgrows in intensity, fades out in dynamiclevel.

The introduction of this performanceincorporates one of the fundamental ele-ments in this solo, the pitch bending. This

technique is used throughout the solo torecreate the acoustic image of various me-lodic patterns from the theme. Pitchbending has been a common technique forseveral decades. In fact, it was one of ArtBlakey’s favorite solo techniques, and canbe heard in several of his recordings, suchas “Three Blind Mice” (The History of ArtBlakey and the Jazz Messengers, BlueNote CDP 7971902).

In the introductory section the six barsare divided in two phrases of three bars,using repetition with a variation and in-corporating a ritardando at the end ofeach three-bar phrase. In the second sec-tion, at bar 7, the melody starts.Hamilton approaches this first statementin a very lyrical way, allowing time be-tween each melodic idea. In this section,as in the original tune, the eighth notesare played evenly, implying a Latin feel.The way the drums are tuned (bass drum G; low tom C, high tom E, and snare

drum G) helps convey the overall shapeof “A Night in Tunisia,” but it is in the up-per part of the melodic shape where

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 18 FEBRUARY 2007

Hamilton achieves the best portrait of theoriginal shape of the tune by bending thepitch of the high tom at different levels.Note the use of bass clef in the notation ofthe A sections, to express the actual use ofthe melodic capabilities of the drumset.(See mm. 7–15.)

In the second A (m. 16), Hamilton es-tablishes the actual tempo and incorpo-rates the hi-hat with the foot on beats twoand four. This time the melody flows witha more rhythmic feel. In bar 22 Hamiltonplays a motif from the melody that consti-tutes one of the most important motifs inthe solo, using it to end some of the eight-bar phrases and to provide a logical clo-sure to his musical statements. In the Bsection, his approach is more in MaxRoach’s school, conveying a melodic lineby using high and low sounds. (See mm.24–31.)

I shifted to standard drum notation inthis section due to the fact that it isplayed in a traditional way. The last A ofthe head is played with the melodic ap-proach that I mentioned before, so it isnotated like a timpani part, with bass clefagain.

In the interlude, which is an added sec-tion to the 32-bar form, it is very interest-ing how the melody is reflected, again in amore standard approach, using low andhigh sounds. This last section of themelody incorporates a new sound, thesplashed hi-hat, adding a nice forwardflow to finish the head. As listeners wehave the tendency to “fill in the blanks”;in other words, we tend to use our own ex-perience with a given melody, such as thisjazz standard, and hear the actual themeeven when it is played by a typically non-melodic instrument. (See mm. 40–49.)

The interlude section ends with a four-bar break in which Hamilton played withconviction and energy, setting up a swingfeel for the beginning of his solo. (See mm.52–55.)

In the beginning of the improvised solo,Hamilton plays a one-bar motif and turnsit into the cohesive element of the firstchorus by reusing its rhythmic content.(See m. 56.)

He develops this one-bar motif by usingrhythmic repetition with melodic varia-tion (mm. 58, 64, 66, and 68), that out-lines four-bar phrases. He adds variety byusing other elements such as the Afro-Cu-ban triplet Naningo or Bemb , played onthe high tom. (See mm. 60–63.)

On the second A of the solo, Hamilton

starts with the same motif that he used atthe beginning of the solo, but this time heorchestrates it differently, substitutingthe snare drum for the bass drum andcymbal used in the original motif, and in-corporating a double-time figure as an an-swer to this pattern. (See mm. 64–65.)

He then answers this two-bar phrasewith repetition, changing the sound of thetom at the beginning of the second bar,but playing for the first time essentiallythe same idea back-to-back. (See mm. 66–67.)

In bar 68, he again plays the same mo-tif, but he changes the last note from thetom to the snare, and this time he an-swers this one-bar idea with a triplet fig-ure that sets up the melodically basedmotif used to finish the phrase. (See m.70.)

At the beginning of the B section of thischorus, Hamilton uses another elementtaken from the head, this time from hisinterpretation of the melody in the secondhalf of the bridge (m. 28), applying formu-laic and paraphrasing concepts that aremore commonly found in the solos of greatjazz players such as Charlie Parker andJohn Coltrane. (See m. 72.)

In bars 74 and 75 he reuses some of thedouble-time ideas used in bars 65 and 67,and continues with the second half of thisphrase using the same melodic fragmentin augmentation, anticipating the low tomnote transforming the triplet into a quin-tuplet.

During the last two bars of this B sec-tion (mm. 78–79), Hamilton reuses thematerial from the intro, bending the pitchof the high tom in a straight-eight figure,very similar to the one played in theintro.

In the last A section of this chorus hestarts with the same motif he used at thebeginning of the improvisation, butchanges the placement of the cymbalcrash, playing it one beat later. The use ofrecurring elements such as this motifgives the solo great cohesiveness and al-lows for logical development. (See mm.80–81.)

During measures 82 to 85 Hamilton de-velops the main motif and incorporatessome previous elements, such as thedouble-time lick in measure 83, this timeorchestrated between the two toms. At theend of this closing A section Hamiltonagain uses the motif taken from themelody, but this time he puts the sticksaway and uses his hands to play the lead-

in to the second chorus with the hands inbar 87.

In this new chorus he incorporates awide variety of sounds and ideas, but hekeeps a very consistent approach in theway he develops his ideas. For instance,he starts with a new motif and maintainsit for half the chorus. Yet this time he ma-nipulates the rhythm of the motif moreaggressively by displacing some of the ac-cents. In bar 94 he again plays the motiffrom the A section of the melody, whichsounds a little different this time becauseit is the first time he plays it with thehands.

For the second A of this chorus (m. 96)he plays the first half of the second chorusmotif (m. 88) and incorporates a “wiping”sound produced by rubbing his handagainst the snare drum head. In this wayhe preserves an element played beforeand takes it to another level.

In the B section of this second impro-vised chorus he uses exact repetition, es-pecially at bars 105, 106, and 107, playinga figure in double time that sounds verysimilar to the motif in double time used inthe first chorus. He answers the firstphrase of the B section playing 3/8hemiola (mm. 108–109) in the low tomand answering with the original time feel.

A new element is presented during thelast A section. Hamilton claps to add vari-ety to this closing section, starting with avery simple motif that he answers withthe drums, so it becomes a dialogue be-tween his hand clapping and the sound ofthe drums. (See mm. 112–113.)

He gives the solo musical closure byagain playing the melodic motif.

Hamilton’s solo is a great example ofmelodic drum soloing. It has several ofthe most important elements that we findin any good melodic improvisation, andmanipulates the melodic and rhythmiccells much in the same way that CharileParker used his formulas.

Rodrigo Villanueva holds B.M. and M.M.degrees in Jazz Studies from the Univer-sity of North Texas. He is an AssistantProfessor of Jazz Studies at Northern Illi-nois University, where he teachesdrumset and jazz arranging and coachesthe NIU Jazz Lab Band. He has playedwith Lynn Seaton, Stefan Karlsson,Takayoshi Yoshioka, Eugenio Toussaint,Roberto Aymes, Lucero, AlejandroFernandez, and many other pop and jazzartists. PN

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 19 FEBRUARY 2007

÷

Notation Key

Standard Drum Notation

Melodic Drum Notation

Bass Drum Low Tom Snare Rim Shot (Snare)

High TomRim (H. Tom)

H. Tom (Pitch Bend)

Hi-hat Stick

Hi-hat Foot

Ride Cym. Crash Cym.

China Cym.

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Hi-hat Stick

Hi-hat Foot

Ride Cym.Crash Cym.

Pitch in original melody

Approx. pitch in accidentals

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Low Tom

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Hi-hat Foot

Ride Cym.

Crash Cym.

China Cym.

Hand Playing Notation

Slap Dry

Slap Open

Wipe with hand

Clap

fist on Low Tom

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PERCUSSIVE NOTES 20 FEBRUARY 2007

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Jeff Hamilton's Drum Solo from "A Night in Tunisia"

Transcribed By Rodrigo Villanueva

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 21 FEBRUARY 2007

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PERCUSSIVE NOTES 22 FEBRUARY 2007

÷

74

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