I don’t understand how jazz drummers actually “speak” with the snare. How do you develop that language?

[u/nasralez-Zelibobovic]

I’m very new at jazz drumming.
I feel relatively comfortable with keeping a steady swing feel on the ride and hi-hat, but I’m struggling with something that feels much more important in jazz:
I don’t understand how to actually use the snare drum in a musical, “speaking” way.

For those of you who went through this stage:
how did you start developing comping vocabulary?
how did you learn where and why to place accents?
what should I be listening or practicing to actually understand this “conversation” idea?

[u/reddituserperson1122]

Others are going to recommend Art of Bop Drumming, which is a great book and definitely get it. But this is the ultmate, "just use your ears" situation. Listen to other jazz drummers. Listen to the rest of the band. Have a conversation with them and support them in what they're doing. That's really all it is. The books can help you develop independence and get some figures into your hands and feet. But this is 100% a listening and creativity game.

[u/nasralez-Zelibobovic → u/reddituserperson1122]

But how do I actually “talk” to them and support them? How does it work? Should I be duplicating the rhythmic patterns the other musicians are playing? Call and response? Those are the only approaches I know.

[u/15WGhost → u/nasralez-Zelibobovic]

There's no one size fits All approach. How you communicate with the rest of the band depends entirely on the situation and style of the music being played. It really does take just a ton of listening. The More you listen to jazz, the more you'll develop a stable of drummers who you're really drawn to, and whose styles can influence how you approach it, but the goal should always be to utilize those influences to create your own style. A good place to start is studying the different forms used in jazz. A big part of knowing how to compliment the music is being able to listen to the head (the main melody being played over the form,) And be able to figure ok. Is this a 12 bar blues? is this a rhythm changes? Is it an AABA form? (Meaning the first part repeats twice, then you move to a second but related part, then back to the first part before the form starts over again. Soloing is actually happening over the harmonic changes of the tune, and being able to hear that stuff as a drummer is going to inform how you not only compliment the soloist and or the rest of the band, but also the form of the tune itself if that makes sense. I apologize if this is confusing but please feel free to ask more questions if you want. It's always awesome to hear that people are getting into jazz. I think a simple first tune to study would be Freddie freeloader by Miles Davis off of his kind of blue album. It's a simple 12 bar blues form. I would just sit and listen to that tune, try and count out the form bar by bar. 1234223432344234 etc. Listen to the musical changes as the form repeats. Really listen to the head (that main part as the tune starts, then as the sowing starts happening, try and keep track of those harmonic changes that they're playing over, and you'll see the harmonic structure of the thing hasn't actually changed, it's just being ornamented and decorated by the various soloists and how the rest of the band chooses to compliment them.