Groove Essentials Play-along Tracks

[Channing Rupnick]

Thisplay-along book with online audio contains over 90 tracks, including every song from the corresponding DVD in their full-length versions, minus the drums; allowing drummers to expand their skills by playing any of the grooves with a band and recording themselves on audio or video (optional) to help facilitate the learning process. These tracks also supply a variety of fill-in and soloing opportunities to challenge advanced players. In addition, the book features Igoe's extended global tours that will test even the most seasoned professional's chops, creativity and stamina. Audio is accessed online using the unique code inside the book and can be streamed or downloaded. The audio files include PLAYBACK+, a multi-functional audio player that allows you to slow down audio without changing pitch, set loop points, change keys, and pan left or right.

Chapter 4 - JAZZ Grooves: In this chapter you get to play-along with 18 charts in Tommy's Trio (piano, bass, and drums). Grooves include comping in 4/4, 3/4 jazz waltz, shuffle patterns, 2-feel, and enough variations to indoctrinate jazz newbies while giving pros lots of practice.

Chapter 6 - Global Tours: Tommy's final chapter consists of three charts along with three audio tracks that you can use to practice your ability to flow (hopefully smoothly!) from style to style. Each 'Tour' contains five styles. The last chart/track in this chapter is a piece that explores three grooves called "Endure," which was written and performed by Tommy at the end of his Groove Essentials DVD.

Bonus Tracks: The included audio CD contains two bonus tracks. The first has Tommy teaching you how to read a drum chart (just like taking a private lesson) while the second is something Tommy calls his "21-minute Jazz Romp." This is a track (Tommy gives to his advanced students) that starts slowly (75 bpm) and increases in tempo (by about 10 bpm) every other chorus until ending up at 350 bpm. Very cool!

Groove Essentials Play-Along: The Bottom Line

The world of drumming has changed radically since I started out in the business. When I was 15 years old, I was already spending my summers gigging 6 days a week at major resort hotels throughout New York's Catskills and Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountain circuit. Not only was I well paid for it but I received free room and board too. And talk about on the job experience? A different act would come in every night with their own charts for a brief rehearsal before showtime. While some acts had good charts, most had very poor charts and some acts had no drum charts at all! But it was all a tremendous learning experience.

Unfortunately, most of these resorts (like Grossingers) no longer exist and those that do, no longer hire live musicians. So a huge opportunity for drummers to gain experience in becoming versatile musicians by playing a variety of musical styles in various bands is gone.

What Tommy Igoe has done with his previous DVD Groove Essentials and now with this companion book/CD, is bring back the 'good old days' to every drummer on the planet. He invites young up-and-coming drummers, as well as seasoned players, to throw a chart up on the music stand, sit in with a band, and play!

I highly recommend this new book/CD as well as the original DVD it is based on. With both of these projects, Tommy has put together practical, worthwhile materials that will help drummers of all experience levels and styles become better, more well-rounded musicians. And that's well worth the small price of admission.

This book/CD, from Hudson Music, is a great value at its suggested retail price of $24.95. It is also available at a discount online where you will find its companion Groove Essentials DVD at a discount as well. Check out the links below.

This book/CD pack features 53 all-new grooves including odd-meters; over 80 new play-along tracks (minus drums) with charts and bonus material; and more than 100 groove variations! The companion to the Groove Essentials 2.0 DVD, the CD in this pack is playable on all MP3-capable CD/DVD players and computers, and is compatible with iTunes and iPod.

Learning Funk grooves from paper is one thing, but once you hear how to apply them in your own playing, they become music. 100 Essential Funk Grooves for Guitar contains 100 supporting audio examples and backing tracks to help you get inside the music and quickly apply each intro in any real musical situation.

The year 1968 saw some of the nation's most confrontational and transcendent moments in the civil rights movement and protests against the Vietnam War. In Memphis for the soul label Stax, it was a disruptive year on the corporate front, ending their relationship with Atlantic. The top soul artist in America, Otis Redding, died in a plane crash shortly before the year began. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 at the Lorraine Motel, which is now the National Civil Rights Museum.

Now, the most enduring soul music of the era takes centerstage in an upcoming Stax '68 compilation promising new reflections on what Stax has meant to Memphis and to music. The five-disc, 134-song box set will include every single, both A- and B-sides, Stax and its sub-labels released in 1968, a year when so much changed.

We spoke with Deanie Parker who in addition to her songwriting talent, started work in 1963 as publicist for the label. From 1999 through 2007 she also supported revitalization of Stax's local presence as president of the Soulsville Foundation.

"During my lifetime here in Memphis, 1968 was one of those years where our expectations and achievements were challenged, and our beliefs were shattered," said Parker. "We didn't have an opportunity to exhale, to regroup." Even the start of the year felt like a challenge. "Between Otis Redding's death and the disappointment that Atlantic caused in our group and development, then to go to 1968, that was like the climax of the worst of times." Things did get worse ahead, but the music that came from the struggles, conflicts and joy of 1968 lives on.

Singer/songwriter William Bell contributed mightily to the Stax sound, cracking Billboard's Hot 100 in 1968 with "Private Number" and "A Tribute To A King," dedicated to the departed Otis Redding. His 2016 comeback This Is Where I Live won Best Americana Album at the 59th GRAMMY Awards, but this is the same artist who co-wrote the 1967 Albert King-classic "Born Under A Bad Sign" with Booker T. Jones. Bell shows up several times on the new Stax box-set, a testament to how prominent a role he plays in the label's legacy.

Booker T. & The M.G.'s were the Stax house band, playing behind countless artists and setting a shining example as a racially integrated group during a time and in a place of considerable racial tension. Keyboard player Booker T. Jones co-founded the crew in the 1960s playing beside Steve Cropper on guitar, among others. The group received the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 and their 1962 recording "Green Onions" has been inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame. Their Hot 100 track in 1968 was titled "Soul-Limbo," reaching No. 17.

Brought on board by David Porter, Isaac Hayes and Porter as a songwriting pair combined composing and arranging with producing, establishing the Stax flair and anticipating the later role that producer-stars play in hip-hop. Their work on Sam & Dave's 1967 "Soul Man" was seminal and contributed to the duo's win at the 10th GRAMMY Awards for Best Rhythm & Blues Group Performance, Vocal Or Instrumental. Hayes also has keyboards credits on Otis Redding's The Dock Of The Bay from 1968. A few years later his 1971 "Theme From Shaft" made Isaac Hayes a household word, on Stax's Enterprise label. The single was inducted in the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 1999.

Blues guitarist Albert King released his masterpiece Born Under A Bad Sign in 1967, inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 1999. As mentioned above, the title track was written by William Bell and Booker T. Jones. It was King's first of many albums on Stax, advantageously pairing his blues with Booker T. & The M.G.'s, staying true to the musical core of King's music but with enhanced crossover appeal. A pair of King '68 singles with their B-sides appear on the new Stax collection.

In March 1968, Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" was No. 1 on the Hot 100. Redding had written the song with guitarist Cropper. Although he had other posthumous hits, no other tracks came close. Redding and his song won at the 11th GRAMMY Awards for Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance, Male and Best Rhythm & Blues Song. The song was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame where it rests beside Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long" and "Try A Little Tenderness." He received his Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. The song kicks off disc one of the new collection just ahead of its B-side, "Sweet Lorene."

The Staple Singers received their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 and received many GRAMMY nominations including Best Soul Gospel Performance for their 1968 album Long Walk To D.C. That same year Soul Folk In Action, with Cropper producing as well as playing, provides a magical viewing port into the dreams and optimism that pushed alongside of 1968's struggles, protests and sorrow. It shows some of why the family's influence extends to songwriters today, writing today's lines to help people speak up and speak out. Their songs in the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame include 1956's "Uncloudy Day" on Vee-Jay, and "Respect Yourself" (1971) and "I'll Take You There" (1972) on Stax.

Johnnie Taylor helped Stax finish the year strong as his "Who's Making Love" reached No. 5 on the Hot 100 in December of 1968. It was nominated for Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance, Male at the 11th GRAMMY Awards, losing to Otis Redding. After 1975, Taylor enjoyed hits and created an impressive body of work away from Stax.

3a8082e126