One of the first so-called “free drummers” I heard was Tony Oxley on John McLaughlin’s (1969). Extrapolation.
Barry Altschul with Paul Bley...Andrew Cyrille and Jerome Cooper with the Revolutionary Ensemble.
I also heard Majid Shabazz play live in a club in St Pete, Fl. This was in the early 70s...when I was making my living as a 4/4-backbeat drummer...playing Top40 music.
Hearing this style of playing was interesting. It was new and different. I was not even playing regular jazz.
Many drummers transition, from playing bebop to free jazz...eliminating the 4/4-time pulse.
I was listening to Sun Ra, Art Ensemble of Chicago and others when Pink Floyd’s...[1973] Dark Side Of The Moon was released.
Just the mention of “Jazz” scared the bandleaders I was working for. They hated it.
Being honest, I was into some of it...because I thought it was the hip thing to listen to.
____Much of that music, I really don’t like anymore___
Another of my favorite discoveries in free jazz was the drumming of Rashid Ali with Coltrane’s, Interstellar Space.
My favorite “free time” playing is what Elvin did on the Ornette Coleman projects [New York Is Now] and [Love Call]
I also like the tracks with Rashid Ali on the Blood Ulmer ‘Music Speaks Louder Than Words’
When drummers started playing abstract time it changed the feel and eliminated the groove. This is expected.
It’s difficult to play time and free abstract rhythms.
(Modern “Free Drummers” usually don’t swing...it’s all very predictable and cliché....(imo) and I’m sticking to it..
There are few...drummers in the category of free drumming that have been able to create music from abstract rhythmic form.
Tony Oxley may be my favorite. He swings, PLUS his unique “trapkit” concept is different than anyone.
What I try (tried)...to create was a combination of pulse and free time. With my multiple stick concepts...I played time with my outside sticks on the ride cymbal and High hat. The inside sticks played the abstract rhythms-polymeters-rolls-accents etc.
I ‘usually’ attempted to make the rhythm swing...but create a sheet of rhythmic sound that isn’t standard bebop like.
BaDaboom