Jim Gordon has Passed On...

Great rock drummer. Superb style. Knew when and when not to hit the skins.  Sad story about the illness that caused his mother's death and put him away for life. He will be sadly missed. RIP Jim.

Wow, what a double edged sword this “obituary” has turned out to be. I must say I never knew anything about his life apart from music. Still, all I can say is I hope he earned salvation with time served. And that his name always made me so happy when included in the album credits. He had a distinct drumming “flavor” that added so much to the songs he sat in on.

Gods Grace Jim, thanks for the music

Great story, @bdp24 

@noromance: Here’s more details about it:

In the 1980’s, 90’s, and into the 2000’s there was a weekly buy & sell rag named The Recycler published in SoCal. It came out every Thursday morning, sold at convenience and liquor stores, and was full of everything you can think of that people were offering for sale. I like every other vintage drum collector/dealer and audiophile regularly checked it for bargains.

One Thursday there was a new ad: "FOR SALE: A set of Camco drums, formerly owned by Jim Gordon." I don’t recall the exact price, but it was more than I was interested in paying. I immediately called the number, interested in learning how the seller knew the set had been Jim’s. I already knew it was possible, as not that many guys were playing Camco’s, the one’s who were being mostly professionals, studio and Jazz drummers in particular. And each drum was the size Jim preferred: 24 X 14 bass drum, 16 x 16 floor tom, and 13 X 9 and 12 X 8 mounted toms. The owner told me he bought the building in which Jim stored some of his equipment, and that the old owner had told him the provenance of the contents of each room in the building. The Camco drumset had been stored in Jim’s locker since he had been arrested in 1983 for murdering his mother. What real estate investor would think to concoct such a story?!

He told me where the building was, and I was delighted to learn that location was right down Ventura Blvd. from my apartment in Sherman Oaks, in the San Fernando Valley of the L.A. area (Tom Petty, in "Free Fallin’": "And all the vampires, walkin’ through the valley, move West down, Ventura Blvd." The "vampires" were high school kids of the Goth persuasion, who could be seen walking home from school every weekday).

The owner said he was at the building, and to come on down if I wanted. I was there ten minutes later, and looked over the set of Camco’s. One thing I saw convinced me that the set had indeed belonged to Gordon: Camco’s were known for their unique proprietary drum shell design and construction, with interior "retaining rings" unlike anyone else’s. Well, this bass drum had no retaining ring (the toms all did), and had never had one (if one had removed there would be visible evidence). Camco would have made a custom bass drum only for a Camco endorser like Jim (he was pictured in all their ads). And very few guys were playing 24" bass drums in the 1970’s (mostly Rockers like Mitch Mitchell, John Bonham, and Carmine Appice), that size having gone out of fashion when the Big Bands died (only Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson continued playing that size kick). 24" is my preferred size as well, all my sets having that size bass drum.

Well yeah, I wanted the set! It took some doing, but I got it at a substantially reduced price. Jim’s stalker woman was VERY interested in obtaining the set, but finally gave up when it became evident that was never going to happen. Obviously one of my favorite vintage sets! (twenty of them, from the early-50’s through the early-70’s).

Nobody had better sounding drums than Jim Gordon. He was a master at drumhead tuning/tensioning, damping of the heads (to get rid of excessive "ring"), cymbal selection (I’d love to get a hold of some of his Zildjians!), how to hit the heads to get the best sound, etc. And then there was his playing! He played "for the song", his parts increasing the musical quality of every song he played on. Jim’s stalker told me she had talked to Jim Keltner, who was very critical of Gordon. Professional jealousy? ;-)

A few years later I saw a Recycler ad for ASC Tube Traps: 14 of them, sizes 9", 11", and 16". Ten bucks apiece! The seller had bought a house in Reseda (also mentioned in "Free Fallin’". Tom was a Valley Boy ;-), and found the Traps in the attic. Yeah, I bought them all. ;-)