Musicians transcribe pieces of music for various reasons. Because I play the drums and the piano, I have my own perspective on things and I see and hear things very much from that point of view.

Some pieces I transcribe because I am learning them myself, some for my students who have requested them, and some because I am so intrigued by the performance that I wish to dive in and learn every single stroke, note or beat that has contributed to an amazing sound that I am seeking to better understand. Listening is very important, but also, reading the actual notes expands upon that.

I produced the Drummers Of Steely Dan series because they happen to be some of my personal favourites and I consider them to be some of the best studio performances ever in that particular genre. 

I can’t help think that the opportunity these guys had to be a part of the Steely Dan experience was incredible in itself, and that it is representative of one of the great eras of drumming.

These performance combine the skills of the drummer, the writers (Donald Fagen and Walter Becker), AND some of the most incredible audio engineering skills of the day. The result is pristine, compelling and a brilliant study for anyone interested in this sort of playing.

I produced the Horace Parlan piano transcriptions because I love the album Trouble in Mind and realised (having searched the internet) that no-one has ever done this. The two albums that Horace Parlan and Archie Shepp recorded in Copenhagen, Trouble in Mind and Goin’ Home, are two absolute gems and an interesting study in jazz, blues and gospel piano. So I started. I haven’t done all of them (yet) but there are a good number that I have. Check them out!

Horace Parlan's incredible style, which was surely developed through necessity in that he did not have full use of all ten fingers, is like listening to spontaneous orchestration, and I simply wanted to learn more about what he is actually playing and how he is playing it. Is he using patterns, receptive shapes and voicings?? … that type of thing.

I also produce transcriptions for my drum students who are trying to gain a better understanding of what a drummer does. Learning to play a beat does not equal learning to play a song. There are rhythmic figures, sections, dynamics, and other general structural and form elements which really need to be understood. Reading a chart is ONE of the ways in which an aspiring musician can seek to do this. Listening is, of course, very important too - one does not replace the other. They work together. To that end, I write out charts for ‘simple’ tunes which are a great way to help a drum student go from, 'can play a beat' to 'can play a tune'. As I write these charts I put them here; feel free to download these for yourselves, they’re free!