Jazz · swing · 4/4 swing

Broken-time comping

150 bpm Loop: all
triplets

Mixer

Keyboard

Broken time — the post-1960 rhythm section (Herbie Hancock / Ron Carter / Tony Williams, or any trio after Bill Evans) where nobody plays the pattern straight. The bass still walks, but the ride breaks its "ding ding-a ding" (bars 2 and 4 drop and move strokes), the snare and kick add single comping hits on off-beats, and the piano places its chords irregularly: and-of-2 held, and-of-1 short, beat 3 long, and-of-4 stab — never the same bar twice. Off-beats are swung, written at triplet positions.

The chords are a I–vi–ii–V in C with rootless right-hand voicings over Powell shells, so the piano can be muted and the kit heard "breaking" against a plain walking bass.

Listen for the walking bass as the only steady line; everything else is conversation around it. If you lose the beat, the bass has it. Practice: loop with the piano muted and clap the snare hits until they feel placed rather than random; then play the piano part and try moving one chord per bar to a new spot while the bass holds you. Compare red-garland-comp and charleston-comp for the regular comp patterns this one is breaking.

Sources

  • standard practice; no transcribed source

Keyboard

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1–6
Mute layer 1–6
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Tempo −5 / +5
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