Master Thesis - “Language & The Universalities of Big Band Drumming” & 80 new transcriptions

After months of work, it’s time to finally reveal the master thesis I have been working on. Of course, usually this would be a private matter I wouldn’t publish usually, however, the thesis seemed interesting enough to publish, since it might spike some attention from drummers, archivists and other lovers of jazz music.

The thesis “Language & The Universalities of Big Band Drumming” focuses on the evolution of a function of the drum-set function and role in the big band / jazz orchestra setting and is a comprehensive and in-depth study of most notable big band drummers in the entire jazz history. From how they orchestrated arrangements, to their musical choices, the exhaustive appendix to the thesis is a set of almost 80 transcriptions that I made during past few months and contrary to the usual choice of transcribing (the solos), these transcriptions focus only on so-called “heads” or the written portions of the arrangements.

Drummers analyzed in the thesis are: Kenny Clarke, Sonny Greer, Sonny Payne, Chick Webb, Zutty Singelton, Buddy Rich, Charlie Persip, Papa Jo Jones, Baby Doods, Shelly Manne, Joe Morello, Cozy Cole, Mel Lewis, Gene Krupa, Big “Sid” Catlett, Art Blakey & Dave Tough. All masters, all unique, and all in the role of driving the band.

Currently in search of publisher, I hope that the thesis will be published in a book format, and available to purchase on my website.
More on that in the following months…