Jazz basics: part 1

Dust off that beret – things are about to get swingin’…

With today’s multisampled drum kits able to reach exquisite levels of detail, authentic jazz drums are genuinely achievable within the software-based studio. And while jazz itself – by which I mean modern, not trad for this particular tutorial – might come across as too intellectually demanding, jazz drumming fundamentals are easily learnt, and understanding them can have a profound effect on your approach to drums and beats.

When putting together a virtual jazz drum track, your choice of sampled kit will have an obvious impact on the results. If you don’t have access to a specifically jazz-orientated library, such as Toontrack’s Jazz EZX, which I’ll be using here, try and find something open, organic and natural, with a rounded, bouncy kick drum, pitched-up snare and warm, washy ride cymbal – not punchy, overly bright or heavily processed.

Programming or snapping MIDI jazz drums to grid is a definite no-no. Jazz is all about human feel and rhythmic nuance, so your drums need to be played live, preferably on pads rather than keys, and overdubbing layer-by-layer is absolutely fine, as I’ll demonstrate.

In this tutorial, I’ll be recording a jazz drum ‘comping’ pattern – the unobtrusive, supporting line that the drummer plays underneath the other instrumentation. We’ll cover fills and busier patterns in next month’s part 2.