JAZZ RHYTHM

WHAT IS JAZZ RHYTHM

When one listens to music what are the key elements that a listener
responds to aside from the obvious factors of volume and intensity? Beyond the
actual notes played (melody and possibly harmony depending upon the music) there
are two aspects that immediately affect any listener. This is especially true i
n an improvised art such as jazz where the composition is secondary to the perfo
rmance itself. It is also true that these two elements are central to discerning
the style and musical personality of the artist. In jazz, if we were to give fi
ve saxophonists the same notes to play in the same tempo and context, why would
we immediately know that player one was Sonny Rollins while the other was for ex
ample Wayne Shorter?
The first impression that affects the listener is the sound emanatin
g from the instrument. The tone that is heard is an extension of that artist s voi
ce and on a deeper level, their persona. This is why instrumentalists in any ser
ious music spend so much time learning to control tone quality and sound. In the
final result it is the voice of the performer through an instrument that is bei
ng heard.
In jazz after tone, it is what I call time feel that most expresses an
artist s unique conception. The manner in which the player rhythmically phrases i
s to an even larger degree more revealing than the actual melodic and harmonic c
ontent. It conveys a truly physical impression to the listener which is difficul
t to describe in words.
There are improvised traditions outside of jazz which have existed f
or centuries, one of the most prominent being Indian classical music. The idea o
f taking a melody and spontaneously creating variations within a certain rhythmi
cal context is hardly new. One factor that separates jazz from other improvised
idioms would seem to be the harmonic implications, stemming from the Western cla
ssical tradition. But as we know there are styles of jazz where harmony is eithe
r not employed or minimized to such a degree as to not be relevant. So it seems
that what really distinguishes improvised traditions worldwide is the specific r
hythmical context. And jazz certainly has a unique character in that respect.
In the first one hundred pages of Gunther Schuller s seminal work, Earl
y Jazz , the author gives a fantastic account of how certain elements of jazz evol
ved and in particular tracing the development of that central aspect of jazz, swi
ng . One important point Schuller makes is that in jazz, the second and fourth bea
t of a 4/4 measure achieves equality (some would say even primacy) with the othe
r beats of the bar. This is in marked contrast to a large majority of familiar m
usical traditions, especially in the Western cultures (where for the sake of dis
cussion 4/4 is standard) in which the first beat assumes priority over the other
s. He points out that this marking off of the first downbeat is for obvious reas
ons when the music serves the purpose of dance or marching. In any case
every jazz musician knows that
two and four are the swinging beats and in fact it i
s the four that really swings, while the upbeat of four swings even more!!
What is essential for every jazz player to realize in their playing
is how pitches are linked together in a line with some sense of a rhythmical mom
entum. This momentum has ramifications about it, whether it is cast in a forward
, aggressive manner or a relaxed, laid back sense. One way of describing this fe
eling is to use the word groove in describing rhythmic momentum. Of course pop mus
ic in the last part of the 20th century also placed great emphasis on a groove,

but that is a direct outgrowth of dance music and the purpose that any dance mus
ic serves, whether it be from the fifteenth or twenty-first century, be it a maz
urka or an African tribal ceremonial dance. A musician s groove in the jazz rhythm
ical language is most evident when the eighth note division is maintained.
Eighth notes are the main denomination of jazz time, much like the p
enny is to the American dollar. Although one may not play only eighth notes, the
y still serve as the underpinning of jazz time, similar to what the clave beat i
s in Afro Cuban music, meaning if not necessarily stated it is implied. A note h
ere on terminology:what are called eighth notes in jazz may also be conceptualiz
ed as triplets with a space between the first and third part of the three part d
ivision, or it can be seen as a dotted eighth followed by a sixteenth note. For
the purposes here the distinctions are not important. In short, when a jazz musi
cian sees eighth notes written on a page, (s)he immediately plays the rhythm eit
her like a dotted eighth followed by a sixteenth or the above described
triplet. (EXAMPLE 1)
In order to master the subtleties of playing convincing and swinging
eighth notes it is necessary to understand various aspects that play a role in
their execution. It is important to remember that though there are technical var
iables which are peculiar to each instrument in the actual playing of eighth not
es, the effect is still the same. So though a pianist must for example figure ou
t the proper finger movement to articulate eighths compared to a saxophonist s use
of the tongue striking a reed or the string player s plucking, the goal is still
the same which is well placed eighth notes. It s understood that from the standpoi
nt of being an instrumentalist, each musician must discover and practice the int
ricacies of execution which are idiosyncratic to their instrument.
To return to the discussion of what I term time feel I am not discussi
ng aspects of syncopation, rhythmical augmentation and diminution, hemiola, etc.
, which describe actual rhythmical constructs themselves. No matter what rhythms
are employed, be they eighths, sixteenths or whatever, it is the way these rhyt
hms are played which determine the ambiance or feel of the music. I would ventur
e to say that the emotional aspect of the music is greatly affected by how rhyth
m is played, maybe more so than what the rhythms themselves are made up of. A pl
ausible definition of a good jazz rhythmic feel should involve words like accurat
e (meaning as close as possible to the original and ongoing pulse), even (connotati
ng a smooth rather than choppy or awkward flow), variable (meaning not entirely pr
edictable using a variety of rhythms) and of course our original word swinging .
What is swinging or not is to some extent a matter of taste and accl
imation. That which swings to the novice versus the educated listener may be ent
irely different, but even among so-called experts, the feeling of swing is so pe
rsonal and subjective as to seem to be beyond discussion (though there is indeed
much intense discussion about what does or does not swing). However, I think we
could generalize that a feeling of swing has a drive or momentum in balance wit
h a feeling of relaxation and effortlessness. There is a lilt or bounce to the mus
ic that is beyond words. It is probably easier to point out what doesn t swing tha
n what does!!
Note some words of caution when attempting to describe rhythm in wor
ds. Unlike harmony and melody which can be clearly seen on the page making it av
ailable to be dissected and analyzed in very specific terms, describing a rhythm
ic feel, no matter whether it be jazz or Brazilian or whatever is from the start
very difficult. Though we can describe rhythms themselves with technical terms,
the effect or what I call time feel is basically beyond words. However we can d
escribe the elements which determine this feel.

PHRASING
This expression is very commonly used as a general way to describe h
ow rhythms are played. But in my opinion it is too general a word. If you ask so
meone what comprises a good rhythmic feel and they say phrasing , they haven t really
said anything. It s like asking what do you eat for dinner and the reply is food!
! But we can divide phrasing into its specifics.

1-ARTICULATION
Put simply this means the way a note is attacked, either at its onse
t where it is most obvious or more subtly the way notes are connected together i
n an ongoing line. The terms staccato and legato are most commonly used to describe
two extremes of attack from hard to soft. But besides other musical terms such a
s tenuto, slur, accent, etc., it is nearly impossible to describe the grey area
between the extremes of staccato and legato in words. In jazz, it is very much t
his middle area of articulation which is crucial to the feel. Another way to con
ceptualize articulation is as degrees of intensity in the attack of a note from
light to hard, aggressive to gentle and so on. Another consideration is that cer
tain styles of jazz might invoke one form of articulation as more favorable and
therefore prevalent for that particular idiom. For example, one aspect of Charli
e Parker s innovations in the 1940s was his more legato articulation in combinatio
n with a constantly changing continuum between a relaxed and aggressive beat as
compared to the earlier swing or dixieland players. John Coltrane s articulation w
as more legato than the beboppers and so on. As a generalization we could say th
at the vast majority of articulations heard in jazz fall somewhere between stacc
ato and legato with an incredibly vast palette of variety. EXAMPLE 2

2-DYNAMICS
This topic can be seen as a subdivision of articulation but it is im
portant enough to be highlighted on its own. The use of an accent translates to
a louder note which in turn obviously means what came before and after appears s
ofter. The softest articulated note in jazz is termed interchangeably a ghost, s
wallowed or muffled tone. This up and down character of dynamics/accents is extr
emely important to the overall rhythmic feel and is an area where individuality
can be clearly discerned. In jazz of course, both the articulations and accents
are spontaneous and therefore open to much variability.
EXAMPLE 3

3- THE SPACE BETWEEN

This is a very subtle aspect of jazz phrasing which specifically inv
olves the length of space between the downbeat and upbeat of two eighth notes. F
or the sake of explanation, recall that two eighth notes in jazz can be more eas
ily described as a dotted eighth followed by a sixteenth or a triplet with the m
iddle beat left out (EXAMPLE 1). With this in mind, the length of the dotted six
teenth or first two parts of the triplet or the first eighth note, depending upo
n how one conceptualizes it, can be varied mathematically and microscopically to
reflect a whole palette of proportions between the two divisions of the beat. S

ome musicians have a long duration of the downbeat than others, for example the
ride beat cymbal pattern of drummer Elvin Jones. On the other hand, the great To
ny Williams had an almost opposite proportion in his ride beat, all depending up
on tempo and other factors of course. Each artist brings his own way of feeling
this division to the music. This variable has a large effect upon beat placement
, discussed below. EXAMPLE 4

4-NUANCE
This is by far the most individualized aspect of time feel for it en
compasses all sorts of expressive devices, nuances and inflections. Totally depe
ndent upon the characteristics of an instrument in combination with the personal
ity and control of the player, it is through the use of nuance that the emotion
of a line is felt, both rhythmically and melodically. This is the equivalent to
how an actor uses his voice to express sadness or happiness inflecting the same
words by tone and nuance. This is speech brought to music, pure and simple. Some
common devices, again dependent upon the instrument are vibrato, smears, portam
ento, grace notes, bent tones, vocalizations, etc. Every great individualist has
his own set of nuances which are completely personal and become a sort of trade
mark. If you think of for example just the way pianists like Herbie Hancock, Kei
th Jarrett and Chick Corea play grace notes, the variety and uniqueness is astou
nding. EXAMPLE 5

5-BEAT PLACEMENT
One of the more subtle elements of time feel which is heard in only
the best of players is beat placement. This is where the musician places his pul
se in relation to the ongoing accompaniment. Because there is a reference point
(or several depending upon the number of accompanists) this is a very subjective
area and totally affected by the improviser s concept in the moment. For the most
part this is executed unconsciously but to the extent that it can be observed a
nd noticed, it is possible for a player to develop this concept further from wha
tever it may be at present. If we conceive of a beat not as a point in time but
an area or measurement of a distance, then we have an entire space to play with as
far as available choices where one can place their down and subsequent upbeats.
With the metronome serving as the exact center of this area at least mathematic
ally, an improviser might feel compelled to play slightly in advance or behind t
he center of that beat. How much ahead or behind before one is rushing or draggi
ng the beat is a judgment that can only be made at the moment, but this elastici
ty and flexibility of the beat gives a human quality to the rhythm which I feel
is necessary. After all, how many people s heart beat stays exactly the same from
minute to minute? As we live and breathe in real life, our heartbeat and pulse a
re constantly changing according to our activity, emotion, reaction to the envir
onment, etc. This flexibility of beat placement musically heightens the very hum
an quality. One of the pitfalls of playing in this manner is the kind of percept
ion this could communicate to the accompanists who may be confused by what the s
oloist is doing. Inexperienced players might feel compelled or cannot resist fol
lowing the changing placement of the soloist, leading to a weakened and eventual
ly inaccurate pulse in the music. It is important that the initiator of this elas
ticity be able to return to the center of the beat when necessary to relieve the
tension and unify the musicians, at least momentarily. Playing this way is not f
or the inexperienced, because one must have a certain amount of confidence as we
ll as consummate skill. This is an area where the expression walk before you run i
s appropriate.
A world class musician should have the ability to shift his beat pla

cement at will depending upon mood, material, tempo and accompanists, but natura
lly a true artist will have a proclivity one way or the other and exemplify that
most of the time. So we might say that the tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon was
a behind the beat player , but there are examples of him playing, usually at a fast
er tempo, when he is quite on top of the beat . The same could be said of drummer E
lvin Jones, with whom I had the privilege to play with for several years in the
early 1970s. Though he was so well known for his laid back time feel, at quicker
tempos it sometimes felt that he was way on top of the beat. Miles Davis on the
other hand had almost metronomic time but there are numerous examples throughou
t his incredibly vast career when he would play more on top (the mid 1960s) or b
ehind the beat (the mid 1950s). Sonny Rollins is one of the great examples of so
meone who is constantly varying his beat placement ( Sonny Moon for Two from A Nig
ht at the Village Vanguard).
And of course in the rhythm section, the problem is multiplied becau
se of the number of musicians all playing time as accompanists. Some of the grea
test rhythm sections as far as inventiveness and excitement were concerned did n
ot always agree as to exactly where the beat should be all the time but were ski
lled and open enough as far as attitude to adjust and create a positive tension
which formed an open palette for the soloist. The great Miles Davis rhythm secti
ons at various times demonstrate different aspects of this but in particularly i
n the mid 1960s with Tony Williams playing on top of the beat, Ron Carter in the
middle and Herbie Hancock all over. Here was a fantastic mix that was one of th
e highlights of the modern jazz rhythm section. It seems to me that a perfect rhyt
hm section is one that in a sense agrees to disagree, meaning they maintain their
own integrity as to how they hear this complex issue, but they adjust according
to the situation for the benefit of the whole. EXAMPLE 6

ADVANCED RHYTHMICAL CONCEPTS

AGAINST THE TIME

Although eighth notes remain the main backbone of jazz time, the gre
atest improvisers demonstrate a rhythmic flexibility that can be mind boggling
using inventive ways of playing permutations, subdivisions and metric modulation
s that can go so far as to suggest another tempo against the ongoing pulse. I ca
ll this against the time meaning that a polyrhythm is created by a musician playin
g a subdivision with such clarity and consistency that another pulse has been cr
eated. A most basic against the time rhythm is three against two (quarter note t
riplets) and then even further divisions of that. But there are multiple choice
s available and one can listen to the incredibly sophisticated rhythmic cycles o
f South Indian music for these and other advanced techniques. Once again Sonny R
ollins played this way quite a bit during the first half of the 1960s on recordi
ngs titled Alfie , the Standard Sonny Rollins , Our Man in Jazz
and more. Wayne Shorter
with Miles Davis in the mid 1960s demonstrated this quite a bit while in that s
ame band Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams played fantastic sub divided rhythmic
cycles. Saxophonist Steve Coleman and bassist Dave Holland have delved deeply in
to this area in recent times. EXAMPLE 7

OVER THE TIME

A more abstract concept very much demonstrated by Eric Dolphy, Ornet

te Coleman and John Coltrane at various periods is what I term over the time. Th
is means that for small episodic passages the improviser creates a sense of bein
g out of time without an obvious reference point. Usually these are fast noted p
assages and wild sounding in texture, but the effect is of the improviser freein
g himself from the ongoing pulse like a bird in flight, quickly returning with a
vengeance to earth, or in other words completely swinging in time. The ability
to do this gracefully is one of the highest forms of time playing in my opinion.
To be free but to know where you are at the same time is magical. It is the equ
ivalent of playing truly chromatically, meaning in another key but with an under
lying reference to the home key center. EXAMPLE 8

ACHIEVING RHYTHMIC FREEDOM

Practicing rhythmical concepts in a disciplined orderly fashion is d
ifficult compared to harmony, instrumental technique, arranging, etc. Surely one
can read rhythmical exercises and sing/play them, or initiate drummer type work
which is beating rhythms and cycles with one hand against another and so on. Bu
t the reality is that for non-drummers, practicing the concepts I have described
is quite ambiguous, so a certain amount of creativity and imagination is called
for.

LISTENING
Because of its inherent ambiguity, after the basics of coordinating rh
ythmical movement in pulse, further development is more of a conceptual challeng
e rather than only technical. If a musician can learn to hear a certain way, not
icing what I have described and more, there is an increased likelihood that thes
e concepts will have a chance to register in the mind, body and ear. With repeat
ed listening and repetition, coupled with a positive I can attitude, real musical
change can occur. Therefore the first thing to do is to learn to listen not only
to the main soloist or prominent activity going on, but concentrate upon the en
tire rhythmic flow occurring in the band. What are the relationships between the
drummer s ride beat pattern and the bassist s quarter notes (assuming steady walkin
g time); between the drummer s left hand accents and off beats with the main chord
player s comping patterns and rhythmical hits ; how are the musicians dealing with b
eat placement is it constantly changing is it the same is it on top or bottom of the b
eat, etc? Noticing something by listening and observing can go a long way toward
s improving one s actual playing.

METRONOME
It goes without saying that at some stage of development, (the earlie
r the better), everyone must practice scales, arpeggios, lines, patterns and so
on with the metronome executing the material accurately in time. For jazz, it is
best to immediately get used to the metronome marking off the second and fourth
beat of a 4/4 bar. After doing that reasonably well at tempos ranging from slow
to very fast, I urge the student to use the metronome more creatively in differ
ent parts of the bar, for example only the fourth beat, or only the upbeat of th
ree, or the upbeat of one, etc. The idea is that a musician can get very loose a
nd confident in relations to feeling all four beats without being tied down to o
ne, two, three, four. Great drummers are not always going to be that obvious whe
n they are playing at the height of their creative game. You wouldn t want to ask
Jack DeJonette to please make sure that he gives you the one of the bar every ei
ght measures!! I remember the wonderful drummer Pete La Rocca, who was my very

first mentor back in 1969 saying that for him every beat was a one. In other wor
ds there was no four/four. .it was just one, one, one, one, meaning accents could
appear anywhere in the bar. In any case every musician should get friendly with
the metronome. Once this is accomplished it can be put away forever at least in
this regimented and rigid aspect. EXAMPLE 9

BEAT PLACEMENT
After a certain degree of accuracy of pulse is established I urge th
e student to purposely try to play ahead and behind the beat. At first just use
simple scales, licks or forms such as the blues that are automatically under the
fingers so you can concentrate on the task at hand, which is feeling the area of
the beat in order to get that part of the body which is responsible executing wh
at one feels and hears. Using a playalong record can help since whatever the rhy
thm section feels like, at the least it remains in the same place time after tim
e, so you can use this as a sort of barometer to play with in order to habituali
ze the sensation. This is really more of a physical exercise than just musical.
One must feel the beat as a rubber band expanding and contracting at will, but nev
er so far as to drag or rush the beat!!

TRANSCRIPTION
I have written a great deal over the years on this all important met
hod of learning the thought patterns as they pertain to notes and harmonies (the
Complete Guide to Transcription video available through Caris Music Services).
But even more so in the area of nuance and time feel, there is no better method
for understanding what is involved than to be able to imitate a model who does i
t expertly. Through transcribing and exact replication of every aspect of the pe
rformance, it is possible to analyze the possibilities demonstrated on the recor
ding, copy the methods and eventually use this accumulated material to enlarge a
nd develop one s own palette of expressive devices. EXAMPLE 10

BE A DRUMMER
Any serious musician knows that understanding and at least having a
minimal amount of execution concerning the piano is mandatory for musical excell
ence. In the area of rhythmic feel it is the same for learning drums. All musici
ans should feel what it is like to account for every beat over the course of an
entire performance. The physical aspect of riding the cymbal and keeping the pulse
is beyond description. But even a casual familiarity with the drums will be rev
elatory. And anyway, who doesn t like playing the drums or hanging out with drumme
rs? They are always the loosest of musicians with a sense of tradition which riv
als pianists. After all, drummers and drums are universal since the beginning of
time. Even if it means just getting a pencil and playing on the table with reco
rds, this is a start. Furthermore, I urge everyone to work out with a real drumm
er in a duo setting. Try to make playing with a drummer a weekly activity. The t
wo musicians should be specific as to what they want to accomplish. For example,
today they may work on one of them playing over the time with the other being v
ery accurate stating the form of the tune. Then listen back and try to understan
d anything that happened which was unclear. That is how we learn about each othe
r s instruments and musical concerns in order to enlarge our ability to communicat
e with other instrumentalists in a group.

OTHER RHYTHMICALLY BASED MUSICS

It goes without saying that any serious musician would be interested
in other musical traditions which are heavily rhythmic. Some suggestions are th
e aforementioned Indian classical music, Afro Cuban, African and the Balkan trad
itions. The concept of grafting an idea from a different source to one s own home
idiom is both practical and enlightening. In other words, hearing something from
another culture and imagining how it could be transformed to jazz is one of the
most rewarding and enjoyable processes for encouraging and developing an indivi
dual style.

ATTITUDE
Rhythmical confidence comes with time and experience, but it must be
sought after to develop. If a musician is only satisfied with merely playing a n
ever ending stream of eighth notes, excellent as far as the harmonic and melodic
choices may be, then further development in the rhythmical sense will be diffi
cult. What is natural meaning intuitive and easily grasped is a great place to sta
rt, but to excel one must go beyond. A budding artist should desire to expand th
eir horizons so that the possibility of finding an individual voice can occur. T
hat is the challenge of learning an art form the quest for something new to enlarg
e one s creative palette. Jazz is in the final analysis rhythmic music and it is t
he responsibility of the serious artist to do research into this mysterious and
powerful universal force.

EXAMPLES