About two decades ago, as a curious teenaged jazz drummer, like many listeners keen to explore the earlier forms of the music I first alighted on Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven records. I started there partly because I already knew some of Louis’s later work, and because I’d read about these early records’ … Continue reading Instruments #4: The ‘Bock-A-Da-Bock’ or Hand Cymbal, 1927-9
Reproduction instruments
Instruments #2: Jasper Taylor’s Wooden Washboard, c.1924
The tradition of washboard jazz is a deep and wide-ranging one, with numerous legendary players down the decades occasionally having reason to pop the thimbles on at one time or another in search of a bit of down-home gutsiness, a crowd-pleasing showpiece or simply a lightweight and space-saving alternative to the drumset. But the origin … Continue reading Instruments #2: Jasper Taylor’s Wooden Washboard, c.1924
Drums In The Twenties 