The Essence of Brazilian Percussion & Drum Set: Book & Online Audio Paperback – April 1, 1994

Thanks very much for this splendid book.The information is really helpful for all musicians interested in this style of music.A lifelong source for study.

I have several Brazilian percussion and drumset books, and this is the best - he gives a great breakdown of typical rhythms of the various percussion instruments, and then gives typical ways of interpreting them on drum set - he introduces basic patterns and encourages the reader to solidly learn them and then to improvise using them as a base - this book is chock full of various rhythms that will provide hours and hours of fun learning -

I like Ed Uribe a lot and this is a great book.

I am a drummer/percussionist who plays Brazilian instruments and music and gives related workshops on occasion. I loved Ed's Afro-Cuban Percussion for Drum Set, which is a good resource, but this one, not so much. The genre examples are at times outdated, very limited or just odd. The Weiner/Fonseca Brazilian Rhythms for Drum Set is more useful, as is The Feeling of Samba for Drummers by Magno Bissoli Siqueira, if you can find it (though more limited in scope).

This is a great book. I was surprised no one had reviewed it already. This book is similar to Uribe's "Essence of Afro-Cuban Percussion and Drum Set" (also recommended). The first half is an overview of brazilian percussion instruments that is wonderful for those of us new to this area. He presents the instruments and then some basic patterns for that instrument with audio examples (see below for comment). The (short) middle section provides some information of arrangements of brazilian songs. The third section presents ways to play samba and bossa nova drum set.In all, this a godsend for those learning brazilian percussion. It is not perfect, he clearly spent less time on it than the afro-cuban one, and not complete, but it is still really great.Things to be aware of if you buy this book are:1. Uribe is a master player whose is formally trained and makes no apologies when playing the rhythms or presenting the material. For example, the rhythms are (to the best they can be) written in standard musical notation and then played at a normal speed on the cd. If you are not comfortable reading music it may be hard for you to use the book since playing the rhythms at low speed sounds very different. Without another teacher or source you may have a hard time (I read music and play in a samba group already so this book was a learning aid).2. The section on the songs styles/arrangements does NOT have audio examples. Uribe again, unapologetically says, maybe you should learn to read music and play the keyboard, or at least put these lead sheets into a midi synthesizer. Are you really going to do that?3. The book is incomplete in that it focuses on samba and bossa nova. There are many other wonderful brazilian styles and this doesn't really talk about them too much (like samba reggae, baiao, maracatu etc.)4. The cd has great examples but again, not of everything.

This book is very thorough. I think any serious student of this style of music could benefit from it.

I've been studting this book for a couple of years. The presentation is very strong. I wish I could have studied with him before he passed. His book makes me think he was probably a really good 1 on 1 teacher. If you're trying to learn Latin music, this book will help you crack a lot of the mystery. I'm ordering Ignacio El Negros book, today, for additional perspective. I also finally broke down and signed up for a afro-cuban Latin jazz combo class. I realized all my practicing was not, necessarily, in context. How could it be if I don't recognize and understand the various song styles, and what to do with them. I've lost a lot of my coordination playing in this ensemble as the timbale player. But my coordination was lots of Independence for soloing and comping, rather than very rugged, repetitious infectious, correct grooves. I've been working out of syncopation, using a 3-2 clave in the Rumba Style, instead of learning both Rumba and son clave, in both 2/3 and 3/2 directions. So The Ensemble has put my feet squarely on the ground so that I can get solid on the orchestrations, song styles, appropriateness, when and why, and then I'll go back to working on comping and soloing. I hope my experience might shorten somebody else's process :-). Ed manages to be a mentor throughout this book. It's because of one of his instructions that I got into the ensemble. He said get in a group as soon as possible and start learning in a real situation., I thought I knew better and waited too long to do that. Now his book makes more contextual sense to me. If you've read all this that I've written right here, you're as nutty as I am about this music. Hopefully, we'll get really good at it too :-). I have had some very good performing experiences, playing the stuff on a per song kind of basis, rather than quote unquote knowing what I'm doing. I've been copying records transcribing, realizing it sounds really cool, but not knowing why I'm playing what I'm playing in the various sections just like the record. But, why did the drummer do that? It's fun to start understanding when a Coro shows up, when a montuno is switching to a mona and actually remember what the name for that section is called. But, I also think that having the blueprint in your head from the stylistic history, and its branches, and what was kept in, what got converted, what got dropped and what got added at each branch, can really help you make informed choices. Especially, when you arrive as an immigrant into this well structured afro latin musical world. Give me two years and Ill write an update on my odyssey.

Excelent conditions, great book for use to teaching brazilian concepts.Very well done Ed !