Cissy Strut drum part

[AndrewMeronek]

OK, so I've asked a couple of drummers and gotten back fairly vague responses about how to notate this. Here is the first page of score and some of the drum part for reference:

cissy.png

Cissydrums1.png

After the feedback, one thing that strikes me as perhaps being better than what I wrote above is adding these accents (and similar for the "B" pattern with the bass drum/hi-hat smashes):

Cissydrums2.png

But it may also be or may not be a good idea to strip out detail too, replacing the snippet above with this:

Cissydrums3.png

Fellow arrangers, what do you think? I'm wondering in some sense why I'm not getting very clear or opinionated answers from drummers, and maybe you might have some insight. My goal here is to have the drum part be a good reference, not just for a drummer who knows this tune well, but for someone (maybe in high school or a community band) who is not familiar, that my written part should be a good starting point (assuming the drummer cares enough to also go look for the recording).

[Joebone]

Zigaboo Modeleste's drumming on Cissy Strut is probably a life-long study. I could not now find it on the web, but swear I read something by an engineer who digitally analyzed the playing and concluded that certain drums/cymbals were played ahead of the beat, while others were dragging behind. This seems consistent with Modeleste's own description of the patterns, when he talks about it having a certain swing:

https://www.drumforum.org/threads/zigab ... at.179552/

Just now listening to this thread, I'm struck by the sense of each quarter note being divided into swingy sextuplets...

Anyhow, good on you for disseminating the Zigaboo magic!

[AndrewMeronek]

Zigaboo Modeleste's drumming on Cissy Strut is probably a life-long study. I could not now find it on the web, but swear I read something by an engineer who digitally analyzed the playing and concluded that certain drums/cymbals were played ahead of the beat, while others were dragging behind. This seems consistent with Modeleste's own description of the patterns, when he talks about it having a certain swing:

https://www.drumforum.org/threads/zigab ... at.179552/

Just now listening to this thread, I'm struck by the sense of each quarter note being divided into swingy sextuplets...

Anyhow, good on you for disseminating the Zigaboo magic!

Thanks! I agree, there is way too much to dig into with Zigaboo's patterns to try to get onto two pages. After letting it stew in my mind for a bit, I think this is part of my concern. Now I think that my alterations I describe above are good for the chart. And the actual "feel" is kind of impossible to really notate. But that's part of the fun!

I'll note that the ensemble featured in that drumforum link (really, another Youtube video) actually play their version slightly differently than in the original recording. That's a whole different layer of investigation: how different people perform what still amounts to the same version of the same tune. To me, that adds another argument that stripping out detail and adding slashes is a legit way to write the chart. Thus, my general approach in the drum part to give a couple bars of example patterns, then slashes; and then just indicating the "major" phrase change with the snare hits vs. bass drum+open hi-hat hits on beat 4 (in this meter, obviously if I wrote it as a 2-bar phrase the hits start on beat 3 of the 2nd bar; I see either way to notate the meter as legit).

For the curious, the original recording, which is fantastic:

[Joebone]

Going back to your original question, it seems best to include as much notation/expression as possible for establishing the basic patterns, and the drummers will make of it as they will on the repeat measures. They also probably are already all over working this tune, in the course of their own learning process!

It is interesting how this tune mutates. On the supplied clip I don't recognize the guitarist but that's Greg Mathieson on keys and Jimmy Earl on bass - both long-time leading players in the LA studio and fusion scene. I've seen a version with Oz Noy (guitar) and Will Lee (bass) - both amazing players, but they supplemented the end of the basic lick in a way that annoys me. That said, I dig it when folks can recast a classic tune in way that's original, yet consistent with the spirit of the source. It happens all the time in Brazilian music, where standards are re-conceived with alternate changes or rhythms, yet also pay homage to the original.

[AndrewMeronek]

That said, I dig it when folks can recast a classic tune in way that's original, yet consistent with the spirit of the source. It happens all the time in Brazilian music, where standards are re-conceived with alternate changes or rhythms, yet also pay homage to the original.

That was my goal with this chart. The "re-cast"ing is really just a re-orchestration where I took what the organ, bass, and guitar were doing and passed it around and adding some layering that grows and contracts throughout the chart.

I did a quick Google and saw that there are some "made for educational big band" versions of this out there already, but all of them seemed to go with "everyone plays all the time" which I don't like in big band writing. IMHO - there is lots of orchestral coloring to be found in big bands; use it!

[Joebone]

Looking forward to your ultimate realization - Onward!