The shank/tip

This is a great half-time shuffle by Ash Soan, one of the excellent modern British drummers. One thing to note is that the shuffle on the hihat is "shank/tip" , the one of the triplet is played with the shank, and the three of the triplet with the tip. When you add the two of the triplet on the snare with the just right dynamic it sounds like a well played shaker, so it is important to get the mix right of the shank/tip/ghost to get that effect then you add the back beat and bass drum to complete it. And of course do all that at a slower tempo, then work it up to this tempo which is actually 6 BPM faster than Toto's Rosanna. If you want the details on the cool fill in the middle just contact me and I will show you what is happening.

Pushing the cut

This is my vote for the best recorded shuffle so far in the 21st Century. Portland's Lloyd Jones with the great Reinhardt Wolfgang Melz on drums. Reinhardt is one the greatest Texas shuffle drummers, along with Steve Jordan and George Raines. On this tune Reinhardt pushes the "cut" as far as he can towards the 4th 16th of each quarter note and he maintains it for the whole song. The first 16 bars everyone is on board, and is shuffle heaven. Good luck trying to recreate this, particularly at this tempo. A shuffle masterpiece if ever there was one.

An almost impossible task

I know, it's the Blues Brothers but its also half of Booker T and the MG's with a stronger drummer. This one is all about Steve Jordan, one of the all time great shuffle drummers. He comes in with just the snare at 0:40 for 4 bars and then the band comes in and just crushes it with the legendary Duck Dunn on bass matching Jordan's energy and groove. A drummer note: Jordan is playing this with alternating hands on the snare even after the band comes in, and then check out when they go to the chorus and he plays the shuffle figure on the bass drum, an almost impossible task. If a Top 5 of the greatest shuffles ever recorded was to come out this would be on that list.

Classic half-time

Here is the first half-time shuffle featured at Shuffle Council, and there are a handful of great ones out there but I wanted to start with a great one that is not too well known. Tower Of Power in 1986 with Mick Mestek on drums (now of the Chris Cain Band), the return of Rocco on bass after an absence and the great Ellis Hall on vocals and keys. Classic half-time shuffle with an inventive two-bar bass line from Rocco emphasizing the 2 & 3 of the triplet of each quarter note of the second bar. Great 16th note figure punctuated at the end by the horns and drums at 3:26. I've been told that TOP will play this tune if you request it at their shows. Mick enters the pantheon of the greats with this one.

True strut

Here we have the first country shuffle to be presented by the Council featuring Dwight Yoakum and his great 1993 shuffle "This Time". Jeff Donavan is the drummer who also was the founding drummer with The Paladins. This shuffle is close to the bottom end of how slow you can pull off a shuffle of this type and they hold on to it beautifully and to my ears it really struts in the verses when both the piano and the guitar are playing the cut to balance the quarter note feel coming from the drums and bass. This is a tempo that requires adult supervision and it's all adults on this track coming together to play one of the great shuffles.

A timeless tether

Here is a 33 year old shuffle that will never sound dated to me. The great Steve Jordan on drums and Will Lee on bass, the David Letterman Show rhythm section at the time. Somewhere I heard the hihats part got mixed out and shakers mixed in, the "cut" is strongly being provided by the keyboards throughout the song. The unsung hero on this is Larry Carlton on guitar who seems to have carte blanche and plays all sorts of sneaky parts underneath that help tether an already fiercely swinging cut.

The classic Texas shuffle

Here we have the great Tony Braunagel of Houston on drums, and rather than playing the quarter note on the kick, it echos the snare part and they go back and forth playing the same part throughout the whole tune, which is tough to do and keep it all together. There will be many classic Texas shuffles featured at Shuffle Council and then there will be the variations of that classic shuffle, of which this is one. Thanks to Rudy Simone, owner of Donn Bennett's Drum Studio for hipping me to this one.

The necessary hump

Here is a live version of a song from Joss's debut CD and it has the hump from the very beginning. The drummer gives it a strong quarter note on the kick and the bass player pushes the "cut' close to the quarter note and keeps it driving. The guitar gives a lot of space on this one so its essentially a bass/drums shuffle and it is masterfully done and one of the few from the pop world.

The consummate tension

It's time to spread the love for the great George Rains, a fellow Fort Worthian. The first 16 bars after the drums come in the band maintains the perfect shuffle balance, the trick is keeping it upright throughout the entire song without tipping it to the "cut" or to the downbeat and maintaining that relaxed tension that is the consummate shuffle. George is one of the Shuffle Council's superstars.