2. music
  3. 123210-4089

Best Drum Solos

I'm finding that I've been REALLY enjoying drum solos on my system lately. They seem to work the whole speaker, from the kick drum in the woofers, to the tom-tom in the midrange, and the cymbals and high hats in the tweeters. And when it all comes together, they are the instrument I have the easiest time seeing in front of myself.

I searched the forums titles to see if there were any good drum solo discussions going on, but I didn't see any. So here we go. In no particular order, here are some drum solos I've found to be very high quality:

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - The Drum Thunder Suite
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Caravan
Dave Brubeck Quartet - Far More Drums
Led Zeppelin - Moby Dick
Max Roach - Max's Variations

What are your favorite drum solos to listen to on your system? 
128x128heyitsmedusty

Showing 4 responses by loomisjohnson

loomisjohnson
1,903 posts
 
interesting thread--i'm likewise enjoying bdp's perspective regarding "musicality" as opposed to chops. he's not wrong about ginger baker--cream (esp. their live stuff) always sound less-than-seamless to me and they actually sound their best on the (rare) occassions he underplays. i've also come to appreciate ringo more--his self-effacing, understated approach is too often mistaken for lack of technique. otoh, i seem to be the only led zep fan in the world who just never got into bonham, who always seemed lumbering and behind-the-beat.
loomisjohnson
1,903 posts
 
wow. i can sorta fake string instruments and keys, but have a genetic drumming deficiency, so gh's and bdp's perspective is ear-opening. my thoughts at large:
1. charlie watts is slightly overrated but very disciplined--he lacks power but is supposed to be behind the beat, which is supposed to be the formula
2.  always dug keith moon, despite his obvious excesses--he swings. i need to listen more critically to his later stuff to see where he drags.
3. the best drummers to me,  outside of the godlike blakey/elvin jones ilk, were bobby elliott from the hollies and mick avory from the kinks, in the sense of service to the song.
thank you sincerely for your thoughtful responses.
loomisjohnson
1,903 posts
 
bdp et al:
your opinion on:
1. jim capaldi (traffic)
2. grant hart (husker du)
3. doug clifford (credence)


loomisjohnson
1,903 posts
 
bdp:
agree with you on jim capaldi and doug clifford--thanks for the validation. i raised grant hart because a non-punk friend of mine, who's a great pro-caliber drummer pointed out that hart's tempo and technique were very hard to replicate--he was very impressed with his cymbal bashing.
in any case, i went back and listened to "disraeli gears," generally regarded as cream's masterwork and got derailed by the attention-grabbing drumming. despite the very wide song variety, baker uses the same 3/4 offbeat pound and quick drumroll on virtually every track; contrast with, say, jim gordon on "layla" where the beat is just seamless.
More to discover