The Cymbal Beats of Jimmy Cobb and Billy Higgins / Inside the Teaching Studio

Presented by Sam Bryson
In this installment of "Inside the Teaching Studio", Sam Bryson focuses on the ride cymbal beats and swinging style of legendary jazz drummers Jimmy Cobb and Billy Higgins.
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In this new educational series from Vic Firth, we take you "Inside the Studio" of some of the world's top instructors to give you a peek into the time-proven curriculum that has motivated and educated generations of successful teachers and performers!
In our first series, we take you inside the jazz drumming studio of Steve Houghton from Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. In each video, Mr. Houghton will describe the curriculum segment, which will follow with a lesson & demonstration from a student from his studio. With each student's presentation, you'll see the immediate application of curriculum to the real world of performance and explanation!
Whether you're an educator or student, you'll be sure to benefit from the concepts and lessons from this series! We encourage your thoughts and questions in the discussion below.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT INDIANA UNIVERSITY'S JACOBS SCHOOL OF MUSIC:
music.indiana.edu/departments/academic/percussion/index.shtml
Video by Robbie Rittman
Audio by Pascal Pahl

[@edsoph7006]

Go to the source. Listen to Cobb and Higgins!

[@christiaandemarezoyens4720]

Steve Houghton was by far my favorite teacher when I studied at PIT in Hollywood back in '84. He's truly a gifted player and teacher!

[@cobb_thedrummer]

Yes Jimmy Cobb is underrated, played in some of Miles Davis’ most well known songs.

[@shakeweight11]

Al Harwood is another often overlooked drummer. He has a really great triplet feel to his ride pattern.

[@applejuice5635]

Yes! His playing on Dexter's "Doin' Allright" is so deep. Pure pocket.

[@lorenzmuller3542]

It's Cobb to me. I always loved those resolutions at 4 when playing with Miles.

[@stalliec]

Thanks Sam, you are getting a hell of a good education, and I thank you for sharing it with me. I"ve been playing 40 years and teach -- the point is we can all learn from each other. Love this!

[@krashboomboing]

Lovely explanation, Mr Houghton, eloquent playing, Sam :)

[@fipotto]

Very interesting video. Please, I’d like to know tipe and brand of this fantastic ride. Thanks

[@millie179]

Beautiful ride playing and comping 👍what is that lovely snare drum you are using??

[@cleitevieira]

Hi, Sam. Nice playing and lesson, indeed. Curiosity: is the stick a JDeJohnette model?

[@meltmystress]

I appreciate your purcussion tacks and use them believe it or not in my 5 rythm class and yoga :-) hope that's ok with you ?

[@idigbebop]

I noticed Cobb had a heavier ping on Kind of Blue. Heavy ride ?

[@evanfurrow7115]

Jimmy Cobb plays with a lot of wrist and his hand is closed, which gives a very articulate stick sound. His cymbals were most likely K's with a higher profile they might have been a bit heavy, but probably not much more than 5lbs.

[@adarpolachek5580]

what song is at the end?

[@SetchOnDrums]

"The Deserving Many" from Joshua Redman´s album: Wish (1993), Billy Higgins on drums

[@zvensabri2533]

Very good lesson

[@randydoak6638]

Great lesson. These kids are lucky. Their teacher expects a lot out of them and they deliver. Each jazz drummer has to decide how to phrase their cymbal beat. I have to admit I never gave it much thought but somehow I arrived at something that works for me, closer to Elvin than Billy. It's interesting to note that Billy chose a heavy Paiste cymbal with rivets. The jazz cymbal sound has changed over the years. Dark thinner and washier cymbals are favored much more now. Steve Houghton, one of the greats. Another unsung cat.

[@jl-zn3os]

tippin

[@MarioCalzadaMusic]

Yeeah!

[@catthehank]

Great lesson, and great ride! What model Zildjian is that?

[@shakeweight11]

catthehank definitely a k Constantinople. Probably a bounce ride or Renaissance ride 22" because its pretty light. I have a Renaissance that sounds sort of like that, but he has 3 rivets in it which dampens the cymbal a bit.

[@catthehank]

Thanks. I strongly believe it's a Bounce, because the 22" Renaissance's bell is unlathed on the bottom. I was thinking it may be a 20" though. What's weird though is it looks like it has Zildjian written on top. Great sounding ride though and I'm on the look out for a lighter Bounce that sounds like this.

[@Jazzrob891]

nice examples but I haven't seen you use their handles which are basic for their ride articulation😉

[@ljoe7038]

Harry potter?

[@niklasneumannmusic]

When you move from the standard Ride to the billy higgins approach you got slower

[@sapiensaurus]

Why TF is he holding the sticks like that???

[@ajdc88]

who would downvote that? i mean, besides haters/jealous types

[@nukillerfridaymusic911]

A drummer ? Lol this guy was just awful.

[@nukillerfridaymusic911]

This is brutal. Who the fuck is this hack. Terrible.

[@joedessauer]

lol that Higgins ride pattern, not even close, sorry Sam....

[@ianstambaugh3384]

Make a video. Show everybody how it's done.

[@JulianFernandez]

man. do you listen to your clips?! you don´t wanna start a laughing game, believe me. sorry Joe.

[@faultycow8307]

Thank you for getting the least charismatic drummer you could find

[@Adiaf8oros]

Thank you for being an internet asshole. You offer nothing.

[@teamrosemary]

@@Adiaf8oros Truth.

[@alanduncan1980]

Jazz drumming is just like tap dancing using sticks. And like tap dancing, it's very impressive, but not at all cool!