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A wonderful tool for students to learn the language of fine drumming.

The book looks killer – great job!

“The Magnificent 7” showcases the artistry of seven of today’s future legends of jazz drumming and is a welcome addition to drumset repertoire.

Solo transcriptions have always been useful for my own learning as they teach phrasing, vocabulary and musical application of patterns and rudiments. Like a good etude, they give us direction.

Dušan’s transcriptions illustrate today’s jazz drumset vocabulary and the tracks they’re drawn from are easy to find with today’s technology. Listen, practice, grow and enjoy!

Being a jazz drummer for 23 years, I still am amazed at how fresh and beautiful this music is! One of the most important reasons this is and always will be is because of the development of drummers and their sound and vibe! Essentially, drummers are storytellers, wise in their musical decisions and the backbone of the music.

As a drummer, I’m constantly reproaching my sound and asking myself, “How do I breathe new life into this song?” This book will help you along your journey, technically as well as helping you see the language in written form. Take your time and sit with each artist for a while, let them soak in your ear and the creative process we all must go through.

These seven drummers Dušan Milenković has chosen to dig into all have their own unique voice. Antonio Sanchez, Bill Stewart, Brian Blade, Eric Harland, Gregory Hutchinson, Jeff Watts and Lewis Nash all bring a different vibe, sense of time, feel and create different moods within the stories they’re telling.

I know the hard work my friend Dušan Milenković has put into these transcriptions will open many doors for you both musically and personally. Thank you Mr. Milenković for your passion and hard work to bring these brilliant voices to the masses. I highly recommend this as today’s most insightful and clearest study guide on your road to becoming a great drummer in your own right.

After spending time with the advance copy of this book, I am of the firm belief that this is not only a great book, but an IMPORTANT one as well. The drummer examples are well chosen, epitomizing the broad range of contemporary jazz drum artistry, as well as the personal touch Dušan has infused in his work – his analysis, his commentary, his personal notes. This document touches the epicenter of our drumming, but in his service to drummers, Dušan has touched our humanity…

Dušan Milenković’s book The Magnificent 7 is an excellent piece of work. Dušan has captured solo performances of 7 current leading jazz drummers note for note including Bill Stewart, Antonio Sanchez, Brian Blade and many more. He provides great details of each drummer with references to them on YouTube and other recordings they have done. This is a must for all serious drummers.

Dušan, your book is a very important and welcome addition to the library of Jazz Drum books. Your dedication and hard work has given drummers an insight and an intimate look into 7 of the most important drummers of our modern times. This is very important because in them and through your book we can find the history, the evolution and the future of the drums and Jazz drumming.

Bravo and thanks!

Dušan, I got the book and it is awesome! I will be spending some time shedding these transcriptions and they will be great recital pieces for my students.

I’m amazed that halfway around the world there lives a man who believes EXACTLY what I believe when it comes to modern jazz drumming, and Dušan Milenković is that man. This book highlights the top jazz drummers on the scene in different formats. Dušan takes these great solos and paves the way for the reader to learn them, then use them in their own playing, and finally to come up with their OWN vocabulary based on what these greats have given us. This is far more than a book of jazz licks. It’s a succinct education on the art of the modern drum solo. I’m assigning this book to my students… after I take a few laps with it myself!

In this special book my great Serbian friend and incredible drummer/educator Dušan Milenković represents drum solos of some of the finest and style-defining drummers of the Modern Jazz Era in the past 30 years. The clearly written-out transcriptions and their inside explanations of Jazz drumming greats such as Lewis Nash, Gregory Hutchinson, Jeff “Tain” Watts etc. give you a very clear study in the language of Modern Jazz drumming.

This book of drumming great Dušan Milenković is highly recommended to all drummers at all levels regardless of their styles!

In his book, Dušan Milenković goes to great lengths to enlighten the reader about the makings of well constructed, well executed and above all else, truly musical drum solos. His transcriptions are accurate, analysis always on point, while his instruction and suggestions are of great value to anyone who is interested in improving their soloing ability. The clarity and educational quality of Mr. Milenković’s text make his book a unique offering – you don’t even have to be able to read music notation to benefit from so much great information contained within! What other book of transcriptions could make this claim?

Mr. Milenković has definitely done a great deed here. Everything in this book, from cover to cover, looks great and is extremely well thought out. I suppose that I am slightly biased, as the book begins with one of my all-time favorite drummers, Antonio Sanchez (who my son is named after!), but I must admit, the choice of all the featured soloists is well thought out. While these guys are not the youngest on the current jazz scene, they are all definitely at the very top of the game. In the long tradition of jazz, I like to think of these players as the bridge between the older legends and the youngest cats. They have both the experience that can come only with age, yet they are all still sounding as fresh as ever, with a constant flow of fresh ideas. I would personally like to applaud the inclusion of Mr. Eric Harland in the book. Eric is a drummer that people (who are not deep into modern jazz) may not know about, but has one of the freshest and most unique sounds I have heard in a while.

It is also great that the author has included 2 different solos from each of the 7 featured drummers. This way we get to experience each artist in different settings, and with the included selected discographies we can easily research each player further.

One of the coolest things I found about this book is that one of the featured solos of each artist (with the exception of Jeff Watts) is taken from a YouTube video. With the complexities of the current state of modern jazz, to be able to watch and listen to each drummer is a great aid in putting each solo into perspective. Furthermore, even though studio jazz recordings are not as likely to be edited as, say, a modern pop record, besides being in the room watching the band yourself, there is nothing more “REAL” than a live YouTube clip — except maybe watching the Smalls jazz club live video feed, but it’s hard to transcribe in “real time”!

In addition to the transcriptions, I also thoroughly enjoyed the text in the book. Milenković does a great job presenting each artist, giving us just enough information about each solo without over-analyzing. Finally, the inclusion of some blank manuscript at the back of the book, while not a seemingly evolutionary idea, further stimulates the idea of “doing your own thing”, and I believe that these days, with such an overabundance of information, we could all use as much inspiration to develop our own ideas as possible.

Dušan Milenković’s “The Magnificent 7” is indeed nothing short of magnificent itself. So much more than “just a book of transcriptions” — although it is a top-notch one at that — the author and the solos themselves encourage and inspire you to build and develop your own unique musical vocabulary, while simultaneously strengthening your technical foundation on the drums.

What can you say about the “Magnificent 7”, except MAGNIFICENT legendary solos by legendary drummers transcribed by an incredible drummer!!!

All of that in the grasp of your hands…

The book is like its title, magnificent! I think it is a very worthy tool for every serious jazz drummer to work through this book. Some of the stuff is really very advanced, great job in transcribing!

Dušan takes 7 top contemporary jazz drummers and explores some of their work. Why do I personally like this book? Because those 7 drummers are some of my favorites as well. This is a fine book written by a serious drummer in his own right.

Dušan has presented a meticulously transcribed collection of solos from seven of today’s modern masters. The referencing of online videos of the performances is a convenient and innovative twist. A must-have for any serious student or professional interested in seven of the most influential voices in modern jazz drumming. Bravo Dušan!

I have received “The Magnificent 7”. It is clearly a labor of love and a meaningful tribute. Thank you for assembling this outstanding collection. The shed never looked so promising… or so challenging!

The Magnificent 7 is a great book! The notation is clear and easy to understand, the material is challenging, and the solos are fantastic. This is a book I will be studying and working out of for many years to come. Great job Dušan!

This is one of the most inspiring books I’ve ever seen, I definitely recommend it to all the drummers who want to learn the jazz language in the easiest way. Here, you will get in touch with the greatest drummer gurus of today!!!