Cachila: Uruguay – Tambores del Candombe N° 2 (2009)
Pure vocal percussion, sometimes with actual drums. Can’t help but solo or move on some of these explosive rhythmic drives. Some tracks fuse conversation, sound play, and humour.
Cachila: Uruguay – Tambores del Candombe N° 2 (2009)
Pure vocal percussion, sometimes with actual drums. Can’t help but solo or move on some of these explosive rhythmic drives. Some tracks fuse conversation, sound play, and humour.
Jacob Collier: Fascinating Rhythm
This video is almost ten years old.
melodic phrasing feels vaguely baroque; harmonies make giant steps; solid groovy beat; bought this rigtht away
Sullivan Fortner: Once I Loved
mixing multiple voices, dense crunchy textures, jazz harmonies with quirky extensions, slight atonality, never heard this kind of playing.
Sullivan Fortner: Sunny Side of the Street
non-ironically making an older style feel current.
Brad Mehldau: The Greatest Jazz Pianist of Our Generation
[Written chord changes are an expedient way to quickly coordinate playing together, but they lack precision to specify things like voice-leading even from more popular songs like Blackbird.]
[I like to add a note to so-called ‘stock voicings’ for crunch.]
[The intellectual aspect of improvising happens as you make sense of music. WhT happens in real-time while playing is an natural reflexive response based on everything you’ve learned.]
[Can you tell the same story with just two notes?]
fluid switches between discussion and piano playing
Kenny Garrett and Sounds From The Ancestors: Tiny Desk Concert
simple gospel influenced groove turns into a party; got me out of my seat pretty quick, couldn’t sit still; lots of subtle polyrhythmic goodness in the background.
catchy tune without words; complex drumming and rhythms but flows easy; video and imagery kind of absurd and hilarious with some famous figures doing a cameo.
Nas feat. A Boogie Wit da Hoodie & YG: YKTV
Triplet tension in chorus; lyric flows while never mechanically aligning with the beat’s grid; bass triplets that happen a few times create a feeling of suspension; contrast between silence and full beat avoids monotony,
Bobby McFerrin: Circlesongs - Live in Budapest (2018)
Been appreciating lately how hard it is to sing in tune and so I enjoyed this on a higher level than normal.
27:17: wildly precise abstract tuning, singing, and gibberish without turning into a mess.
31:31: groovy bass-y beatboxing to support instrument-like vocal solos.
43:31: improvised speaking through music and singing, realistic voice-only drum groove; polyrhythmic breaking of Bobby’s voice to create effects.
Berimbaus da Bahia: Camafeu de Oxóssi (1964)
Percussion layer with a few instruments becomes a solid rhythmic foundation for singing. Some tracks of chanting with what I call “vowels of African origin”, followed by some classic songs from the Capoeira tradition.
Adrian Holovaty: Melodic Guitar Music (2023)
Pure instrumental arrangements with guitar and bass. Tasteful improvising over django swing vibes.
Marta Gómez: Canciones de sol (2016)
Sweet simple melodies with complex rhythms and accompaniment, punctuated with a children’s chorus.
Djavan: a voz e o violão (1976)
Perfect fusing of the Brazilian language’s natural rhythm with samba’s flow: 4. Para-raio reminds me of the ‘perfect fit’ between words and percussion I hear in João Donato’s music; 9. Embola Bola (Cateretê) barely has words, almost pure voice percussion; 11. Magia feels like hip-hop; 12. Ventos do Norte like swing jazz.
DRIVER feat Juma Tutu (LASTA’s Afro Disco Remix) | PYRAMID PROJECT feat Contours
Single-bar bass loop probably never changes or stops; contrasted with sections featuring a kind of flute, chorus vocal hook (no idea what language it is), abstract saxophone solo and interjections; bass on each beat, booty-shaking, makes you dance and feel good.
Juke Lockstep | Guedra Guedra كدرة كدرة
Middle eastern oboe/reed/clarinet head banger with body shaking beat.