Pat Bythe – All That Jazz – Part IV

The other day, I was asked what this week’s column was going to be about. I had no idea, and often I find myself starting one thing that completely morphs into something entirely different. Later that day, I caught up with another friend and during our phone conversation, she mentioned jazz artists. Looking back, I realized I had not completed this series, a writing project I started in 2020, while we were in the initial throes of the pandemic. Jazz, in any form, was a genre of music that was rather foreign to me. It wasn’t played in the house growing up. It wasn’t until a close friend introduced me to jazz in all its glorious forms that I began to listen and learn and fall in love with the music. Here we go again!

Pat Blythe – Boom boom tsst – Part 3….Come Ride with Me….and music

…..and the cymbal saga continues. Here’s an interesting little tidbit. Ever heard of the bock-a-da-bock? Me either. Say it really fast though and it begins to sound familiar. Now Google it and there’s a whole history behind this fascinating little number…..introducing the hand cymbal commonly known as the Bock-A-Da-Bock.

Originally designed by Billy Gladstone, one of the most significant and finest percussionists of his time, Gladstone was continually inventing, building and perfecting instruments. “Gladstone’s ‘Device for Operating Cymbals’ comprised a pair of spring-loaded scissor tongs bearing two small, heavy cymbals facing each other; when the player squeezed the tongs, the cymbals closed together. A range of interesting sounds were made possible as the player held the device in one hand, opening and closing the cymbals whilst striking them with a stick held in their other hand. Its creator having received a patent, the ‘Ludwig Gladstone Cymbal’ appeared in the drum company’s 1927 catalogue.” (Drums in the Twenties)