Blue Rondo a la Turk
The Dave Brubeck Quartet · 1959
A staple for navigating a 9/8 pattern grouped 2+2+2+3 and switching to a swung 4/4.
- Artist
- The Dave Brubeck Quartet
- Year
- 1959
- Genre
- jazz
- Drummer
- Joe Morello
- Tempo
- 128 bpm
- Time
- 9/8
- Feel
- swing
- Difficulty
- advanced
Drummer's Quick-Start
Practice tempos
Woodshed
76bpm
Building
102bpm
Target
128bpm
The feel
A swing in 9/8 around 128 BPM. It moves — stay relaxed in the hands so you don't tense up and rush.
What to watch
- •Lock the shuffle triplet; the #1 mistake is letting it straighten out as you speed up.
- •Advanced: isolate the single hardest bar and loop it slowly before ever playing along.
How to learn it
Well-known tutorials exist for this one — use the links below, and play along from your own copy.
Generated from this song's groove profile — analysis only, no notation. A human-reviewed AI brief with a full groove breakdown, key moments and song map replaces this as briefs roll out.
Learn it
Find drum tutorials on YouTube ↗iDrum links to where lessons already live — we don't host recordings or publish transcriptions. Play along from your own music.
Discussion
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