Trading is a collection of advanced jazz concepts from Austin-based drummer educator Nic Marcy. It contains essential concepts for jazz time playing and soloing in a modern musical environment. Marcy explains the basics of jazz structure but immediately delves into advanced concepts such as asymmetrical phrases, complex comping, rate modulations, stickings applied to four-bar phrases, and various other creative ideas to spice up your timekeeping and sololing.
Marcy presents bite-sized pieces of motifs in his signature “workboxes”: One- and two-bar snippets of the ideas underlying the concepts in the book. Beyond the conceptual material, Marcy presents biographies, analysis, and concepts from jazz greats including Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes, Ari Hoenig, Bill Stewart, Philly Joe Jones, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Alan Dawson, Terry Bozzio, Joe Morello, and others.
Integrated audio and video examples help to demonstrate the material. Two complete play-along tracks and three complete transcriptions of related recordings round out the package.
Marcy is also the author of The Pulse of Jazz, available from Wizdom Media and Hudson Music.
eBook | 100 pages | includes Audio & Video
“This book is a valuable resource for drummers tackling the complex concept of trading in jazz. It demystifies the subject by distilling the language used by master drummers into simple, practical concepts. While its main foundation is trading in 4/4, it also provides a thorough and much-needed exploration of 3/4 jazz, offering a clear path to improvisation and removing much of the anxiety associated with this essential jazz skill.”
– Sergio Belloti (Associate Professor, Berklee College of Music)
“Nic Marcy has written an extensive in-depth book about trading from a historical perspective. A must for the collection!”
– Ari Hoenig (Professional drummer, leader, composer)
