Cissy Strut

[John Kepler]

Just took a good listen to John Meyer's posted recording of "Cissy Strut". Excellent job of maximizing the unique voices of the cocktail kit. Nice deep pocket too. I have long been a fan of the Meters, their old drummer Zig Zigaboo and current drummer Regi Batiste.
Still new to the cocktail kit, so I am doing alot of experimenting. Today I set up my Congas to my left side and came up with a groove based on a Songo (loosely). Incorporated the linear feel of Songo with flam taps, sticking the flam, kick the tap. Imagine a fill starting on the snare for one, small tom/Quinto for two, big tom/Conga for three, rim shot the snare on four, back to one for groove. The overtones of the Congas and toms came together to sound almost Chordal. It was tasty and interesting enough to tweek my tuning to exploit it.