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Thread: Great Drummers

  1. #16
    Senior Member LowPhreak's Avatar
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    Well I've been a drummer since I was a teen, and I have a few picks. Of course there are many excellent to great drummers, it just depends I suppose on the mood you're in that day or the music you like best. Too many to list really.

    I'd say there is no "best" drummer. They all bring their own thing to the table. Some are more "technical", some are better groove or "pocket" players, some are great composers/arrangers of percussion, some don't overwhelm you but play for the tune and if they weren't there it wouldn't sound right, etc.

    For rock, some mentioned above I would agree with are Martin Chambers (Pretenders), Capaldi (Traffic), Bonham, Bruford, Charlie Watts, Ringo; also Matt Abts (Gov't Mule), Nick Mason, Barriemore Barlow (Tull), and so on. Quite a few to like in rock.

    Guys like Michael Shrieve, Bruford, Vinnie Colaiuta can be considered rock or jazz really - all in the "great" category I would say. Then you have guys like Graham Lear, Rodney Holmes, Gavin Harrison, and Marco Minnemann that don't get enough mention.

    Jazz or funk/fusion drummers I like are Art Blakey, Max Roach, Bill Bruford, Roy Haynes, Sonny Paine, Bernard Purdie, Vinnie Colaiuta, Jack DeJohnette, Billy Cobham, David Garibaldi.

    If you don't mind hard rock/metal, check out Danny Carey of TOOL. He's excellent, and not your typical "metal" drummer. I'd recommend the album "Lateralus" or "10,000 Days". TOOL is something of an acquired taste maybe, but Carey is one of the most talented drummers in the world right now.

  2. #17
    Senior Member Wornears's Avatar
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    Al Jackson Jr.

    Al Jackson Jr. -- so much of the Stax sound and integral to Booker T & The MGs and Otis Redding. His playing seemed effortless.

    I've seen Stewart Copeland a couple of times with the Police -- what a talent.

    Also let's not forget Max Weinberg of the E Street Band -- have seen him live too and he can make any bar song sound great and rock.

  3. #18
    Senior Member LowPhreak's Avatar
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    AJ Jr. & Stewart - yep and yep.

    Honestly though, Weinberg sounds good when I hear him but I never could stand to watch him play. He just looks so silly the way he swipes his cymbals and everything else he does, really, I just wanna punch him out. But yes, a very good drummer.

  4. #19
    Member laurie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Krunchy View Post
    Hi Laurie! its interesting that you started your list with Stewart Copeland, without his talent ( & especially in a trio setting) the police would have sounded quite different, highly underrated.
    YOu got to see Tony Williams

    I have to admit that sometimes I do not pay much attention to a very important equation of much of the music that I listen to but without them it would be severely lacking.

    Charlie Watts,a fine drummer, again an invaluable component of one of the greatest bands ever, seems like a lot of the great drummers with the exception of Bonzo & Moon are fairly low key.

    Zak Starkey - Ringo's son & sometimes who drummer is pretty hot, does a great job with the who.

    Stephen Perkins- janes addiction/porno for pyros.
    Hi Krunchy,

    I love Stewart's sound - like you said, he made The Police unique with that driving rythm, really staying on top of the beat and driving, a perfect fit for Sting's bass (sometimes fretless or erectric) and Andy Summer's guitar which had so many tonal colours. Stewart has also done some great work with Stanley Clarke over the years appearing on Stanley Clarke albums in the 1980s and the group Animal Logic which I think was underated. I never got to see Stewart live.

    I saw Tony Williams in 1991 at the Jazz Cafe with his then young band - it was a great experience and he got a great reception from the crowd. He spoke about his work with Jack Bruce and John McLaughlin in Lifetime and times they spent in London.

    Another drummer I absolutely love is Danny Gottlieb - he's an outstanding drummer.

    Last year I saw Stanley Clarke and he had a fantastic young drummer with the skill of a Dennis Chambers, I wish I could remember his name.

  5. #20
    Senior Member oznob's Avatar
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    Bobby Rock!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5jDI...eature=related

    Bobby Rock is no slouch to say the least! Here he's doing some funk fushion with Bill "The Budah" Dickens, great bassist! I went to one of his clinics a few years ago. I almost went home and burned my sticks, almost.

  6. #21
    RIP 2014 Ken Pachkowsky's Avatar
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    Billy Kilson

    If you have not heard Billy Kilson play you are really missing something. He currently tours with Chris Botti and has been a session musician for years. You will find his name on many cd's ie:

    Dave Holland Quintet (several)
    Dianne Reeves (several)
    Blue Note Records (several compilations)
    Bob James
    Larry Carlton (Great!!) Saphire Blue
    Kirk Whalum
    George Duke
    Both Chris Botti Live DVD's
    Spyro Gyra
    Yo-Yo Ma
    Rene Olstead

    On and on

    He is truly one of the tastiest drummers I have ever heard or seen.

    Ken

  7. #22
    Senior Member Ducatista47's Avatar
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    Mark Brzezicki of Big Country and studio fame.

    I will second Jack DeJohnette, my top pick for Jazz drumming. Metric precision, David Robinson of the Modern Lovers and The Cars. The ML's "Pablo Picasso" is a subversive favorite of mine.

    I don't listen to his band, but everyone I trust says Neil Peart is as good as Rock gets.

    Clark
    Information is not Knowledge; Knowledge is not Wisdom
    Too many audiophiles listen with their eyes instead of their ears


  8. #23
    Senior Member Ducatista47's Avatar
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    I have been thinking since posting here (it would be better to think before posting, you say? ). Did the IP allude to only drummers who play trap kits with sticks?

    If not, I think of Babatunde Olatunji, a Nigerian who famously represented African drumming and drummers. He wasn't that obscure; I saw him on David Letterman, and he was associated with John Hammond and John Coltrane. He used his talent to maximum benefit in many areas beside musical performance. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olatunji

    Armando Peraza, likewise well represents Afro-Cuban hand drumming. Not at all obscure, a fixture for many years in the band Santana. He emigrated from Cuba to Mexico to help Mongo Santamaria. They then came to the USA. Armando got around in Jazz circles like few others. He reportedly lives in San Mateo, so if you see him thank him for me, for all he has done and is doing for music. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armando_Peraza

    Look in this thread http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=24705 for some tabla players. How could we discuss non Western drumming without tabla? Speakerdave, feel free to help out here.

    Tenor saxophonist John Gilmore was pressed into service as a drummer in his long association with Sun Ra. I found his drumming very interesting. BTW, he was a great tenor man, influencing even John Coltrane.

    Earlier, Chano Pozo, a Cuban drummer, was the musician most directly responsible for infiltrating Latin into the American Jazz scene. A rough guy, he was killed in Harlem at the age of about 33 in a dispute over a bag of marijuana. To be fair, in the Thirties through the Sixties a lot of Jazz (and Blues) musicians routinely carried a knife. But Pozo was proudly a former thug.

    If you think the stories surrounding the Rock and Pop communities are something else, read up on the behind the scenes "going ons" of Jazz and Blues history. Whew! Everyone but Keith Richards would be a lightweight there. Obviously being a reanimated corpse, he doesn't count. Well, Rick James too. But he wasn't reanimated. Yet.

    We really should have a thread dedicated (deadicated?) to the Rolling Stones.

    Clark
    Information is not Knowledge; Knowledge is not Wisdom
    Too many audiophiles listen with their eyes instead of their ears


  9. #24
    Senior Member LowPhreak's Avatar
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    ^ Yes, well if you want to talk Peraza, then we can toss in the whole Santana percussion section. The "classic" one for me would be Peraza, Orestes Vilato, and Raul Rekow. For a bongo/timbales/conga triumvirate, none finer ever existed.


    HAIL yass!

  10. #25
    Member laurie's Avatar
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    That's an interesting angle guys I haven't thought of.

    In that case, we can also consider that rare breed who can play drums and percussion instruments with equal skill. Airto Morriera from Brazil comes to mind immediately, I saw him way back in 1991 with his excellent group 4th World featuring his wife Flora Purim annd guitar play Jose Netto.

    Another guy would be Alex Acuna, he's very good as well.

    I think Dom Um Romao was equally adept at playing the traps and playing lots of different percussion.

    And how about drummers who are great composers?

    Jack deJohnette is a great composer who plays piano very well also. His album from 1984 called "Album Album" was dedicated to his mother and has some wonderful tracks inculding Festival and 4th World Anthem. In the sleeve notes he said he wanted the album to be a celebration of his mother's life so instead of it been a melancholy album it was very upbeat.

    Jack's album from 1990 called Parallel realities is a great disc. Its a trio date with Pat Metheny and Herbie Hancock (Jack plays keyboard bass on the album) Jack wrote 3 tracks, Pat Metheny wrote three tracks and they co-wrote one track. That album sold loads of copies on MCA and I saw the band tour with Dave Holland added on bass, it was one my favourite concerts. It may have been nominated for a grammy as well in 1990.

    In 1985 Jack released the Jack DeJohnette Piano album including a cover of Time after Time by Cindy Lauper, two Coltrane covers and remakes of his own compositions which appeared on other albums. For a drummer its stellar piano work! Eddie Gomez plays bass and Freddie Waits plays drums. Jack plays piano and synths on the album.

    Other great composers for me has to be Narada Michael Walden. His debut album called Garden of Lovelight from 1976 is superb with people like David Sancious, Carlos Santana and Jeff Beck appearing on it - its a mixture of soul, rock, fusion all rolled into one but Michael does it seasmlessly - little wonder he's become a great producer with skills like that.

    Billy Cobham is another great composer. he's written some great fusion tracks which have been sampled by everyone for decades including DJs and Massive Attack.

    My 5 favourite drummers of all time are:

    Tony Williams
    Jack DeJohnette
    Peter Erskine
    Bill Bruford
    Stewart Copeland

  11. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by rdgrimes View Post
    Buddy Rich has never been bested.
    I will second that!

  12. #27
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    Can't believe no mention [unless I missed it] of Ginger Baker. I still never tire of Toad off Wheels of Fire. THE double bass king! Louie Belson notwithstanding.

  13. #28

  14. #29
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    Still on a jazzy tip:

    Rashied Ali
    Elvin Jones
    Don Alias
    Billy Higgins
    Ed Blackwell
    Joe Chambers
    Airto Moreira
    Roy Haynes
    Alphonse Mouzon
    Idris Muhammad
    Sunny Murray
    Tony Williams
    Harvey Mason
    Art Blakey
    Hamid Drake
    Chico Hamilton

  15. #30
    Senior Member oznob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ralph856 View Post
    Still on a jazzy tip:

    Rashied Ali
    Elvin Jones
    Don Alias
    Billy Higgins
    Ed Blackwell
    Joe Chambers
    Airto Moreira
    Roy Haynes
    Alphonse Mouzon
    Idris Muhammad
    Sunny Murray
    Tony Williams
    Harvey Mason
    Art Blakey
    Hamid Drake
    Chico Hamilton
    http://www.drummerworld.com/Videos/o...mBRsolo91.html

    Dude, you forgot Omar Hakim!

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