I’ve been hearing about this documentary on New Orleans drummers for a while, and it’s finally out! Great work by everyone involved. It’s only $5. Easy decision. Get it here.
Bill Stewart Live Stream on Friday Night
This weekend Bill is playing at Smoke as part of the Coltrane Festival.
They’re streaming it live on Friday night (December 12, 2025).
Bonus: Here’s an old bootleg from 2003 that features Bill Stewart on drums.
Emmet’s Place is Back!
This was an awesome show and the new venue is great. What a treat to have Joshua Redman there. Young trumpeter Skylar Tang sat in as well and was fantastic.
It’s been a busy couple of weeks here, but I’m happy to announce that I have plans to record another podcast interview soon. Hope everyone is having a good start to December.
This isn’t from Al’s live record, but it’s a great video that I keep going back to.
Mel Lewis on the History of Jazz Drums
I was reminded about this on the on a recent episode of Drummer Nation where Michael Vosbein and Adam Nussbaum are joined by Kenny Washington and John Riley to talk about Mel Lewis.
I saw this band a few weeks ago in Minneapolis and just found this great video of them from SF Jazz.
Greg Hutchinson with Pablo Held
This is a very nice concert. I spend so much time listening to Pablo’s podcast that it was nice to hear some more of his music. Very impressive player and composer. I’m inspired to dig deeper.
Allan Mednard @ Stephan’s Basement
This series is so cool and Allan is just fantastic.
Philly Joe Brush Solos
Finally, here’s something fun I found the other day. I’m not sure how complete this is, but it’s inspiring to hear all these solos back to back.
Here’s a collection of what I’ve been checking out lately that I want to share. This is something I’m going to start doing every week or so.
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I’m planning to get back to the podcast soon. If you haven’t heard it yet, check out the Steve Smith interview. He shares some great stories, including one about Max Roach that I can’t stop thinking about.
Dave King Interview
This is a fun one from a fellow Minneapolis drummer. Dave King talks about artistic integrity, creating mystery, questioning assumptions, and The Bad Plus. This is an interview by JP Bouvet.
Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, and Bill Stewart
I saw Bill Stewart this week in Minneapolis, which is always a thrill. Here’s a video from the show. As you can see, I had the perfect seat for the show. I’ll be uploading two more videos from the show to my Instagram Reels over the next week, so follow me there if you don’t already.
I was bummed to hear that this is the final broadcast from Emmet’s Place but was relieved to hear that they’re just moving venues and that the series will continue.
I get so much inspiration watching these and always end up transcribing a thing or two. Great playing here by Joe Farnsworth and Joe Saylor.
David Kikoski – Weekend at Smalls
Billy Hart sounds amazing as always. This one has been on repeat for a couple of weeks. Widely available for streaming and for purchase on Bandcamp.
This one is a rediscovery. I heard about it when it came out in 2024 but didn’t listen more than once or twice at the time. Marcus Gilmore on drums, sounding incredible. As far as I can tell, it’s not on Spotify. You can find it on Bandcamp or Apple Music.
