Trading fours is a staple of jazz fun. You'll have a blast!
It's good that you're trying to construct them now. What you'll want to do is build them in complexity. I mean, it does no good to do a massive triplet-based syncopated fill and follow that with straight 16ths going down the toms [img]smile.gif[/img]
You want it to sound like a drum battle. There are recordings of some epic ones -- Gene Krupa vs. Buddy Rich comes to mind. Granted, you won't play like that (most likely
), but you can see how it's constructed.
You can also look at Under a Raging Moon (a Who tribute to Keith Moon, on a later album, that features about ten drummers trading fours) and Burning for Buddy, a compilation that Neil Peart put together in honor of Buddy Rich. Lots of good soloing in there.
So what you're really looking for are four-bar fills. Here are a couple of thoughts of one-bar fills that can be expanded:
1. Straight 16ths down the toms (and then back up)
2. Straight 16ths with occasional snare hits (say, every third note -- try it)
3. Syncopated 16ths -- rest every third stroke (1-e ah-2 &-ah e-& 4 &)
4. Bass drum triplets (with increasing snare hits as you get to the end)
5. Basic rudiments on the snare with accents on the toms
6. Paradiddle play -- paradiddles with accents on different drums. Start on the snare and expand from there.
7. Cymbal play -- a certain Led Zeppelin song comes to mind, but the name escapes me.
Bottom line: Have fun, and let the music in you come out