CHINA RANCH
Frank Briggs/Robusto Music
Drummer/composer Frank Briggs' first solo recording is a brilliant collection of great tunes performed by world-class musicians. The music, all composed by Briggs, is reminiscent of the fusion music of Tony Williams, Chick Corea, Billy Cobham and Miles Davis, but very contemporary in its conception.
Along with Briggs on drums and keyboards, the musicians include Michito Sanchez on percussion (8) Brian Price: guitar (1-7,9); Kit Walker: rhodes, synths (1, 3, 7, 8); Steve Weingart: piano, rhodes, synths (2-4 6,9); Ric Fierabracci: bass (1-3, 5, 7, 10); Mitchel Forman: rhodes, synth, piano (5, 10); Frank Gambale: guitar (10); Jeff Miley guitar (2,5,9) Mark Doyle: guitar (8); Travis Carlton: bass (4); Chris Golden: bass (6, 8); Jeff Babko: rhodes, synths (9); Jimmy Earl: bass (9). Rich Breen; mix engineer.
The recording is very well produced and the playing is consistently great.
Each tune is highly arranged and on the complex side, but there is plenty of room for improvisation and interaction. Several move between a funk/fusion groove and a jazz/swing feel. Briggs is equally at home in both styles and the band makes the transitions effortlessly. Among my favorites is the opening track, "Desert Flower," a high-energy fusion tune that is very much in the Tony Williams Lifetime vein. "Melonie" is a lighter swing tune that is very interactive, especially between the bass and drums during the bass solo.
Briggs' drumming is very present throughout the recording but never intrusive. His musical support for the ensemble sections and the improvised solos is masterful. This may be most evident on the final selection, "Saints," which is more open and flowing than any of the other tunes. The solos by Mitchel Forman on piano and Frank Gambale on guitar are excellent, and Briggs finally lets loose with his own solo near the end, which is a fitting climax to the whole album.
- Dr. Tom Morgan - Percussive Arts Society - 2.09
Available at Amazon.com
The Good Foot
Frank Briggs
Mel Bay Publications
If you saw this book in the store, you might be tempted to assume it is just another patterns book for drumset and pass it by. While the exercises do follow a fairly predictable pattern, there are many possibilities for the creative teacher and student to make use of this material. The purpose of the book is to develop the bass drum--particularly to develop the heel-up technique, which enables the drummer to perform double strokes with ease. The exercises are very well sequenced, gradually developing bass drum flexibility and integrating it with the hands moving around the drumset. These simple but well thoughtout exercises are performed by the author on an accompanying CD, which will be helpful and inspiring to the student. The student is encouraged to practice the exercises in many different ways, and to creatively apply them. In this book, Briggs has demystified the bass drum double-stroke technique and created an excellent approach to teaching the concept. This book will be a popular and useful resource for drumset players and teachers.
- Dr. Tom Morgan - PAS
Available at Amazon.com
Funky Beats and Breaks
Intermediate
Frank Briggs
Mel Bay Publications
For intermediate drummers who want to develop some technique and obtain new fill material, Funky Beats and Breaks might be the answer. It contains 205 different syncopated exercises (using various combinations of eighth and sixteenth-note ride patterns), ghost notes, interesting sextuplet and thirty-second-note fills, some exercises with open sections that encourage the development of improvisational skills, a glossary of musical terms, and four play-along tunes. Exercises are demonstrated on the CD. The exercises are two-bar patterns with one bar of a groove and one bar of a fill. Each pattern varies slightly from its predecessor, and each fill presents a new challenge in the form of a rhythmic or accent alteration.
Terry O'Mahoney - PAS
Available at Amazon.com
Jazz Time Part One: The Basics
Elementary-Intermediate
Frank Briggs
Mel Bay Publications, Inc.
This text for the beginning jazz drummer does something that not many other books on jazz drumming do_it shows exactly what drummers can play with their left hands while keeping time with the ride cymbal when they see specific rhythmic figures on a jazz chart. This is something that mystifies young drummers, and rightfully so. Written in two-bar phrases, each of the 120 exercises is written in score form. The top two measures show what would be written on the chart, and directly below are two completely notated measures clearly showing how the rhythmic figure would "align" with the jazz ride cymbal pattern. This book would be excellent for drummers wanting to work on their jazz "comping" technique with their left hands or those players trying to figure out what to do when they see rhythmic figures on a jazz chart.
- Terry O'Mahoney - PAS
Available at Amazon.com