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Ginger Baker ripped off, almost note for note, his famed drum solo "Toad" from of Art Blakey to the point where I'm embarrassed for him every time I listen to the song. I know many British artists did this and garnered incredible reputations for biting off blues and jazz riffs, but Baker straight-up stole his most defining recorded musical moment from an artist who did it better than he did. I don't remember the song, but I remember vividly listening to an obscure jazz program on the radio, and as I was nodding off, I heard a Blakey solo that sounded EXACTLY like "Toad" except it was faster with much more power and precision. Aside from the couple of years he played with Cream and Blind Faith, his influence in rock is vastly overrated. Neil Peart-yes, but there would be no Peart without Carl Palmer and Keith Moon. Bonham I give credit for laying it down HARD-he put the "Led" in Led Zeppelin. The above-mentioned and Stewart Copeland round out my list. |
Check this out this out Although everyone tends to focus on fills and athletic solos the reality is that the main job of a drummer is to groove. It is much harder to achieve a groove instantly and consistently than it sounds - few can do it as well as the guy above. Here is another great drummer but he often relies on a click track Dennis Anyway these are both examples of groove masters and that is really, IMHO, what a drummer is paid for and hat defines a great drummer - and NOT the antics you see in drum solo. |
Most of my "A" list has aready been cited here, but three guys who've had my attention of late because they're on records that have recently been in heavy rotation in my home/car and haven't yet been mentioned: (Two are at the "edges" of rock, but I think they qualify.) Winston Grennan of Kid Creole. He is often credited (along with Carlton Barrett) for developing the one drop rythm that - essentially - defines reggae. His playing is great, but it's sometimes lost in the mix because the band also features a percussionist and a vibrophonist making it a bit hard to quickly identify who is contributing what from that fantastic rythm section. Taku Hirano of Fleetwood Mac/Lindsey Buckingham. He's the guy pounding that Japanese War Drum during Tusk. He couples interesting ideas, power and a machine-like precision that brings Bruford to mind. Again, he sometimes gets (literally) lost behind Mick Fleetwood (has he been mentioned yet?) because his kit is set up off-stage at Mac concerts. Jean Yves Tola of 16 Horsepower. Just an eccentric player and his drumming really defines the band's sound. Marty |
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Polyrhythmic demonstration by the Hulk! Be wary it starts slow (demonstrating great groove and feel) and builds. After 6 minutes of drum solo, he jumps up, bows, wipes off the sweat, and he immediately launches into a cool groove. I have seen this solo personally five feet from Dennis. |
Tony Williams. Try his "new" lifetime album w/ Allan Holdsworth (guitar) Drummer Extraordinaire, in my opinion. I would sit 10-15 feet away from Billy Cobham at small NY Village clubs. He hits hard and fast. I would flinch, imagining a stick snapping and lodging in my forehead! Greg Bandy, another one...each time I saw him play, I'd keep giving him a nod and a thumbs-up...he's like...ya' think that was good, how about this!!...back and forth. Top of their craft! Disclaimer: not rock but do ROCK! |
I'm a big Stewart Copeland fan. His little "fills" are always creative, and his tempo changes and slightly off-beat hits are terrific. Also, I love the tight "attack" sound he gets -- he hits pretty hard and clean for an underhand drummer. Sting must love good drummers, because he's also played with Omar Hakim and Kenwood Dennard (who I'm not a huge metal fan, but John Dolmayan of System of a Down is phenomenal. I see he is #98 on the big list above (mis-spelled), which is really atrocious. Nothing personal, but that whole list is atrocious, actually. I'm also a big fan of Topper Headon. I don't think the Clash are half as interesting without his reggae-inspired beats. If you listen to their very early stuff without him, it doesn't have even half the soul as what they did with Topper. Finally, Vinnie Colaiuta needs more props. I love this story, which is incredible if you know anything about what it took to drum for Zappa -- his auditions were legendary. (By the way, Vinnie wound up playing with Sting for a long time, too - among many other impressive musicians) My favorite Vinnie Colaiuta story (told by Steve Vai): "I'll tell you a really great Vinnie story. He's one of the most amazing sight-readers that ever existed on the instrument. One day we were in a Frank rehearsal, this was early '80s, and Frank brought in this piece of music called "Mo 'N Herb's Vacation." Just unbelievably complex. All the drums were written out, just like "The Black Page" except even more complex. There were these runs of like 17 over 3 and every drumhead is notated differently. And there were a whole bunch of people there, I think Bozzio was there." "Vinnie had this piece of music on the stand to his right. To his left he had another music stand with a plate of sushi on it, okay? Now the tempo of the piece was very slow, like "The Black Page." And then the first riff came in, [mimics bizarre Zappa-esque drum rhythm patterns] with all these choking of cymbals, and hi-hat, ruffs, spinning of rototoms and all this crazy stuff. And I saw Vinnie reading this thing. Now, Vinnie has this habit of pushing his glasses up with the middle finger of his right hand. Well I saw him look at this one bar of music, it was the last bar of music on the page. He started to play it as he was turning the page with one hand, and then once the page was turned he continued playing the riff with his right hand, as he reached over with his left hand, grabbed a piece of sushi and put it in his mouth, continued the riff with his left hand and feet, pushed his glasses up, and then played the remaining part of the bar." "It was the sickest thing I have ever seen. Frank threw his music up in the air. Bozzio turned around and walked away. I just started laughing." And from Wikipedia: "Colaiuta has won a total of 18 Drummer of the Year awards from Modern Drummer Magazine's annual reader polls. These include 10 awards in the "Best Overall" category. Colaiuta was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1996. The publication also cited Colaiuta as being the most important drummer of our time." |
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Somehow I missed this thread. There have been many great drummers in the rock genre. Some are superb technically, and less interesting artistically, like Carl Palmer. Others are less technically adept, but are just born with what it takes to be great. Clive Bunker, Jethro Tull's first drummer comes to mind. For me, the best combination of incredible technical mastery combined with superb artistic creativity was embodied in the late great Mitch Mitchell. As an example, I would cite his performance on "Straight Ahead", originally released on "Cry of Love". All these years later, and I am still amazed. |
Thomas Prigeon of the "Mars Volta" is astounding, and Phil Selway of Radiohead is one of my favorite "invisible" drummers (the guys that just play what's right for the song-no flashy fills or pyrotechnics). Terry Bozzio is certainly no slouch, and Vinnie Colaiuta ain't either. Both are from Zappa's band. Mmm-forgot Ainsley Dunbar. |
best New Wave drummer IMHO was Clem Burke.Pirre Moerlin of French Gong was awesome fusionm drummer.I liked Simon Phillips of Brit art rock fame.Not everybody is going to bea Moon or Bonham but that's why they are Moon and Bohnham.Oh yeah Zappa's main drummer Ed Mann saw him live on "Joe's Grage" tour.Awesome! Chazz |
