Post-bop drumming begins where Tony Williams left it. The standard skip pattern is no longer the default — it is one option among several. The kick is no longer a feathered timekeeper — it is a melodic voice. The snare is no longer a comping accent — it is a conversational partner.
The vocabulary is conversational rather than periodic: each phrase responds to the last, builds toward a peak, and resolves. The Arthur Taylor interview (in Riley) describes the same mindset that Brian Blade brought to the Joshua Redman Trio thirty years later: every event is a response. Nothing is automatic.
Three Skills
- Ride-pattern variations — alternates to the standard skip pattern: triplet ride, dotted-quarter ride, ride with displacement.
- Kick as melodic voice — the bass drum varies bar to bar, becoming part of the comping conversation rather than a foundation.
- Anchor phrases — a recognisable rhythmic figure that recurs every few bars, providing structural reference. (This is paraphrased from the structural device used throughout Brian Blade's recorded work — short returning fragments rather than continuous patterns.)
Exercises
1 — Ride Variation A: Triplet Ride
Variation A: a continuous 8th-note-triplet ride — twelve hits per bar — instead of the skip pattern. The hi-hat foot still marks 2 and 4. This is one of Tony Williams' most-used variations on uptempo tunes (and was directly inherited from Elvin Jones).
2 — Ride Variation B: Dotted-Quarter Displacement
Variation B: dotted-quarter, 8th, dotted-quarter, 8th. The ride hits land on 1, &-of-2, 3, &-of-4 — a long-short-long-short shape. Same total duration as the standard skip pattern but a completely different rhythmic feel. Brian Blade and Bill Stewart both use this device frequently.
3 — Ride Variation C: Skip-Pattern with Displaced Skip
Variation C: the skip-pattern flipped. Two 8ths first, then a quarter — ding-a · ding · ding-a · ding. The skip lands on the & of beat 1 and the & of beat 3 instead of the usual placements. A subtle shift, but the time-feel changes completely.
4 — Kick as Melodic Voice (4-bar variation)
Same ride pattern in all four bars. The kick rotates: bar 1 = 1; bar 2 = 1 + &-of-3; bar 3 = 1 + 2 + 4 (stacked with hi-hat foot); bar 4 = only the &-of-2. The kick is doing the comping — it's the melodic voice. Hi-hat foot keeps 2 and 4 throughout (except where the kick joins it). This is what 'kick as melodic voice' means in practice.
5 — Anchor Phrase Comping (Blade-style 8-bar)
Anchor-phrase comping. The same 1-bar anchor figure (snare on 2 + &-of-3) returns every two bars: bars 1, 3, 5, 7. The bars between (2, 4, 6) are improvised — different snare and kick activity each time. Bar 8 is the resolution. The recurrence of the anchor gives the listener a structural reference; the variation in between provides the conversational content. Paraphrased from the structural device throughout Brian Blade's recorded work — short returning fragments rather than continuous patterns.