Volume I · FoundationsStage 1 of 15
1
Rhythm and time
Rhythm first: swing by yourself, the ‘ands’, triplets and six, the rhythm section.
- 1.1 Rhythm comes first Barry called rhythm the most important thing, saying the whole universe runs on it. For an improviser that means hearing a phrase’s rhythm before its notes, which he found was his best way past the habits of his hands.
- 1.2 Swing by yourself; hold the time Barry made every player responsible for swing and tempo: you cannot lean on the bass and drums to swing for you or to hold the time. Feel the time in your own body, keep a tempo once it is set, and don’t force the swing.
- 1.3 Feel the ‘ands’ Barry wanted the ‘ands’, the off-beats, felt as surely as the beats. A player should be able to start a phrase on any ‘and’ without the drummer’s help, and he drilled it by sliding one phrase through the bar.
- 1.4 Triplets and thinking in six Barry wanted lines that are more than strings of eighth notes: triplets of every size, above all sixteenth-note triplets, and a feeling of six running against the four beats. He heard that six in Bird’s ballads and thought imitators lacked it.
- 1.5 The rhythm section Drums, bass and piano together Barry wanted a rhythm section that listens and reacts: bass and drums working the off-beats, drummers who neither hammer on one nor click a lone four, a light piano, and players who adjust their heartbeats to each other.