Billy Hart

Journal #7

I’m in the middle of editing another podcast episode that I’ll put out in the next couple of weeks and have a few more interviews lined up. In the meantime, here are a few things to check out if you have the time.

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to see Billy Hart with The Cookers, and put up a reel on my Instagram of his incredible playing behind a sax solo.

It was a fun night and I was thrilled that I got a chance to say hi to him after the show. I’m not a big autograph guy, but couldn’t resist having him sign my copy of his autobiography. He was so humble and nice.

Here’s a 10 minute (!) drum solo from the show that I put up on YouTube. This was my first time using iMovie and it was pretty painless, so maybe I’ll do more of this sort of thing.

SF Jazz at Home

I recently subscribed to SF Jazz at Home so I could access their streaming archive. It’s only $7.50 per month. There’s lots of great stuff and the quality is incredible.

Highlights so far are the John Scofield shows from a few months ago. One is the Combo 73 quartet with Bill Stewart on drums, but the one that I’ve watched a few times now is a trio set with Nasheet Waits. I’ve been checking him out more lately, so being able to see this was very exciting.

Here’s one of the tunes from that stream that SF Jazz posted on YouTube. This one is great because it shows Nasheet soloing on a slow groove based tune. It really shows off his incredible time and control.

And here’s one from Combo 73 featuring Bill Stewart.

Zildjian 400th Anniversary Concert

Zildjian put up a playlist of some incredible performances from their 400th anniversary concert. Lots of great stuff, but my favorites are Adam Nussbaum and Marcus Gilmore. You can view the full playlist here.

Adam Nussbaum playing one of my favorite songs, “Ralph’s Piano Waltz”:

Marcus Gilmore:

Have a great weekend.

Journal #6

Hope everyone is having a good 2026 so far. In case you missed it, I put out a new podcast episode with Charles Goold a couple of weeks ago. Fun conversation.

Marcus Gilmore streaming tonight

If you see this on January 16, 2026 be sure to check out the livestream from Smoke Jazz Club tonight. Marcus Gilmore is playing with Brad Mehldau! I can hardly wait.

Get your streaming tickets here.

Billy Hart book: Jazz Drumming

I still can’t believe that I didn’t know about this book until reading about it in Billy’s autobiography. Just got it the other day and it’s great.

Billy Hart: Jazz Drumming

This book and CD set includes transcriptions of Billy Hart’s playing on 6 tunes with supportive commentary on each performance. The recording features two mixes of each composition, one mix for listening and one play-along track without drums. Sidemen include John Abercrombie (guitar), Richie Beirach or Bill Dobbins (piano), Jimmy Knepper (trombone), David Liebman (soprano & tenor saxophone), Ron McClure or Rufus Reid (bass), Louis Smith (flügelhorn), and Bobby Watson (alto saxophone).

Ari Hoenig on playing with records

I’ve been meaning to share this video of Ari talking about how to approach playing with records. I really like his idea about listening for a chorus, playing for a chorus, etc.

Frankie Dunlop on Hackensack

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been transcribing (by ear) and working on Frankie Dunlop’s solo on Hackensack from Monk’s live Tokyo recording.

I’ve loved Frankie’s playing for a long time but this is the first time I’ve worked any of it out. Even though I’m only 20 bars in, working on phrases at this medium-slow tempo is already helping my playing.

His solo starts around the 8:53 mark.

Have a good weekend.

Journal #4

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.

New Releases From Smoke

Billy Hart – Multidirectional (live from Smoke)

Al Foster – Live at Smoke

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.

This is a 32(!) video playlist of Mel Lewis on Loren Schoenberg’s radio show in 1989, exploring the history of jazz drumming from Baby Dodds to Elvin Jones.

Bill Stewart with John Scofield

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.