Pulse Drummers in the 1960s
A whole new approach to Jazz drumming was developed by a handful of adventurous young players during the 1960s. They discovered that they could place the emphasis of their playing on Pulse and Pattern rather than marking time (Period). This new drum language was instrumental in the development of Free Jazz, or “Free-verse Jazz” as we prefer to call it. We cover these terms, and how the three aspects of rhythm interact, on our page called ‘Rhythm’ (Link).
As crucial as this topic is, it is well outside this websites wheelhouse. We simply offer here a few points of reference for those who would pursue the topic further.
Art Blakey
In 1957 Art Blakey recorded two albums called ‘Orgy in Rhythm’. The band included four drummers and four percussionists! The material drew heavily on West African music (Yoruba from Nigeria, Benin and Ghana) and Afro-Cuban techniques. This music retains Period (meter) for the most part but Additive and Poly-metric rhythms are used throughout.
Ed Blackwell
Ed Blackwell started recording with Ornette Coleman in 1960 on the album ‘This is Our Music’. In 1961 he played with Eric Dolphy, Booker Little and Mal Waldron ‘At the Five Spot’. Blackwell maintains a foundational Period (as does Coleman and Dolphy) but it is often de-emphasized (blurred). He also plays “Pattern” a lot, both in unison with the melodies or in counterpoint to them.
The next five drummers can be considered fully formed “Pulse Drummers”. They are ordered by date of birth.
Rashied Ali
In 1963 Rashied Ali played with both Paul Bley and Bill Dixon. In 1965 he recorded with John Coltrane on ‘Meditations’. ‘Interstellar Space’ recorded in 1967 (the year John Coltrane passed away) is particularly instructive as it is just Coltrane and Ali playing together. You might also like to check out Ali’s playing on Marion Brown’s 1968 recording ‘Why Not?’.
Sunny Murray
Sunny Murray started playing with Cecil Taylor in 1959. Jimmy Lyons, Taylor and Murray would develop a fully formed conversational language of equals over the next three years culminating at the Cafe Montmartre in Denmark. Murray also played on a number of important Albert Ayler recordings, including Ayler’s 1965 album ‘Spiritual Unity’.
Andrew Cyrille
Andrew Cyrille played with Cecil Taylor for 10 years beginning in 1964. He has a very clear, melodic style and he is technically brilliant. We highly recommend the Jimmy Lyons album ‘Other Afternoons’ – it is a great entry point for anyone not quite “getting” this music. Beginning in 1997, Cyrille has frequently recorded with Oliver Lake and Reggie Workman in a group called ‘Trio 3’.
Milford Graves
In 1974 Andrew Cyrille and Milford Graves made a duet recording called ‘Dialogue of the Drums’. They approached this music very differently. Cyrille evolved from drummers like Philly Joe Jones; while Graves grew out of the Afro-Cuban tradition. In 1964 Milford Graves helped form a group with Roswell Rudd and John Tchicai called ‘The New York Art Quartet”. He also played with Paul Bley and Albert Ayler during this time.
Barry Altschul
Barry Altschul started playing with Paul Bley in 1965 and would record a number of important albums with him, including ‘Closer’ for ESP-Disk. Altschul would go on to play with many of the next generation of players – Chick Corea, Anthony Braxton and Dave Holland among others.
Only the beginning…
The introduction of “Pulse Drumming” and “Free-verse Jazz” in the 1960s added to the vocabulary of many new Jazz styles and many pan-cultural genres. The language was adopted with enthusiasm in Europe with drummers like Tony Oxley and Han Bennick. Artists like Jack Bruce and Tony Williams integrated the concepts into Rock and Fusion.