Does anyone know a good source to find odd rhythmic phrazes.  My favorite thing to listen to a drummer play is playing such odd phrazings that its hard to tell where the beat/pulse is (if your not strictly keeping it yourself)  and then all of the sudden they will come back into the original pulse like they never left it.  I've noticed that alot of this comes from mixing triplets with 8ths 16ths etc.   and also breaking up quintuplets to give a triplet feel that ends right before the beat (instead of on it).   Its hard to practice these phrases though b/c when i play with the metronome i can never tell if im dead on with my execution, even if i get back to the beat im not sure everything before that was accurate and in its right place.  Any suggestions for practice or ideas where i can find more odd rhythms.  Also if your into this stuff check out work by john hollenbeck especially on his album static still.  Also ted poor is another great drummer to check out.  Thanks for any help all.

John Riley covers this subject in The Art of Bop Drumming. If I remember correctly, he discusses phrasing solos in 3 while playing in 4. Granted, that's a very basic version of what you're getting at, and... well...  I guess there's no need to buy the book just for the sake of reading that section, since I just pretty much covered it.

Anyway, I wish I could tell you to get into some drum corps drumming, because so much of it is all about that - about odd phrasings, metric modulations, slick rhythmic tricks, etc. Unfortunately, my experience has been that most people have no real interest in that kind of drumming.

One "trick" that I'll throw out there, though, is phrasing in 5. Check it out:

Tap quarter notes with your foot. Next play 16th notes with your hands. After that, change the sticking of the 16th notes to this: RlrrlRlrrlRlrrlRlrrlRlrrl... Play an accent on all of the capitalized "R's." (It should take exactly 5 counts for the right hand accent to line back up with the bass drum). Next, switch the bass drum so that it's unison with the accented "R's." Finally, while the hands are still playing, go back to playing quarter notes with the bass drum. Poof! You just modulated from one time signature to another, and back again!

Next try doing the same thing, but in 12/8. (In other words, play triplets with hands, and then switch to the sticking pattern from the first exercise). It's just one phrasing trick, but it gives you the idea so that you can run with it and create your own.

Hope that helps!

I second the Gavin Harrison's thing.

And don't hesitate to pick up one or more album from Porcupine Tree... A lot of great and odd grooves (e.g. The Sound of Muzak or Blackest Eyes on the In Abstentia album, mixing 7/4, 5/4 and 4/4).

you got xena...........and Gavin's thing is the same. Even though it sounds like he's playing WAY outside the original pulse is still there.