"An outstanding set of practice tracks for all jazz musicians. These tracks are centered around the foundation of jazz - blues and rhythm changes, and performed by top quality musicians."
"At last drummers and dedicated jazz musicians alike can rejoice in Allan Cox'’s ultimate contribution to rhythm section playing. This long-awaited artfully crafted CD offers players a chance to painstakingly discipline themselves to the art of playing time with the resultant goal of musical freedom within a jazz structure. Beautifully conceived and wonderfully produced."
Terry Clarke
"This CD is a great teaching/practise aid for all musicians and particularly for drummers.... The range of tempi and forms is perfect and the sound is great too. Congratulations.... I will certainly be recommending it...."
John Riley
"This CD is a worthy tool. It fills a real void, allowing drummers to play with a good team. I've been enjoying it and recommend it to any student of the drums or other instrumentalist trying to develop their own swing!"
Adam Nussbaum
"This work has filled a gaping hole in the availability of top quality Jazz bass lines for the drummer to work with. I'm thrilled with it. Great quality and amazing bass playing by Paul Morgan. Altogether a brilliant idea..."
Bob Armstrong
"Paul Morgan is quite simply one of the finest bass players in the world today. This CD gives invaluable experience for any serious student of the drums, and the opportunity to work with someone who has an amazing feel for jazz time."
Ralph Salmins
"A wonderful musical platform with a swinging buoyant feel, that can only make those sometimes difficult practice routines a pleasure to play.... A must for every serious teacher and student..."
Dave Hassell
"This CD has been put together with care and attention to detail. I thoroughly recommend it."
Paul Clarvis
"It's so important as a drummer to be able to hear tempo, form and harmonic movement while playing tunes in any band, any style. "Meet the Bass Player" is a great way to get it together and you also get to play with two great musicians while you're at it!"
Anthony Michelli
"Do yourself a favour and buy your own copy of meet the bass player, the guy you will meet is Paul Morgan, one of the worlds greats, swinging his a--e off at every tempo.... A great idea and well thought out.... A must!"
Ian Thomas
"This CD is an essential piece of kit for teachers/pupils who are serious about improving jazz time and feel on the drum set. The bass playing is impeccable - I wouldn't expect anything less from the great Paul Morgan - as is the tasteful guitar comping provided by Hugh Burns. Excellent all around!"
Mike Smith
“Finally, a play along with a great sound and a swinging bass player, I'm already using it with my students and they love it!"
Eric Ineke
"..a good package for those who need to sharpen up their comping."
Mike Dolbear - See full review
"An excellent tool for developing your time and feel."
Chris Dagley
"An invaluable practice tool, essential to all drummers concerned with the endless business of bettering their time feel. Hearty congratulations to Allan'’s dedication which shines throughout this thoroughly produced disc."
Matt Skelton
"I started to use your CD as a teaching aid recently and I have found it very helpful - you've really done a great job..."
Paul Dooley - The Irish Drum Centre, Dublin
"I highly recommend using this practice tool to develop the abilities to play jazz at many tempi, develop the awareness of song forms, and the ability to play in odd times. A creative, inventive practice tool! Thank you Allan."
Neil LaFortune
"At last a superbly produced product of professional quality, no samples – real players, that will enhance our practise routines, creating the right feel and ambiance for playing music of a jazz / blues genre. Allan Cox, along with his musical associates Paul Morgan on acoustic bass and guitarist Hugh Burns, has created a wonderful musical platform with a swinging buoyant feel that can only make those sometimes difficult practice routines a pleasure to play, relieving the often sterile and potentially boring experience of just drums.
The double bass and guitar provide the vital and often ignored elements of the musical line and harmonic shape, providing a natural feeling of working inside the rhythm section and allowing you to key into the essential experience of team work. The CD covers a wide range of tempos from 40 bpm to 340 bpm plus odd time signatures of 3/4 and 5/4.
This CD was inspired by Allan’s contact with the renowned drum guru Jim Blackley to utilise with Jim’s classic book ‘The Essence of Jazz Drumming’ (A book in my humble opinion that every serious drum student and teacher should not be without). However, I believe this product achieves everything it set out to achieve for that particular publication, and also goes far beyond. The CD can be utilised (with a little bit of creative thought) with many other publications e.g. Syncopated Rolls for the Modern Drummer (Jim Blackley) The Art of Bop Drumming (John Riley) Modern Independence (Jim Chapin) to name a few. For some mysterious reason there has always been a shortage of quality recorded material for practising certain technical routines, particularly in the jazz and blues idiom, now there are no excuses - Allan’s CD is available for every serious student and teacher to purchase, I personally will be using it at the music colleges and academies that I teach at and will be recommending it to all my colleagues.
I have been waiting a long time for this product, thank you Allan!
Playing drums is not a singular experience, it’s a group experience. Playing with this CD will help us realise that!”
Dave Hassell
