Percussination wrote:Any tips on playing congas or other latin percussion in a jazz context, such as bop/contemporary combo, or big band
At slow to moderate tempos you need to swing your tumbao, which means 24 subdivisions per clave instead of the regular straight 16 subdivisions (4/4). At very fast tempos you can get away with playing your tumbao straight ("even eighths").
Back in the 70s I swore I would never play swing tumbao again and focused exclusively on clave-based music. In the last couple of years however, my son has been playing jazz sax and I've been developing my swing tumbao in order to accompany him.
I disagree with BNB; I consider Art Blakey's
Orgy in Rhythm to be an unsuccessful experiment. Blakey does not exhibit any understanding of African-based rhythm, despite his undisputed mastery of jazz drumming. He was not alone though. Until the mid-80s, you would be hard pressed to find any jazz musician who understood clave, or how congas and related percussion function.
-David