Best Jazz Drummers
 

We all know that jazz percussionists generally put drummers of other genres to shame. Who are your favourites?

My all time favourite is Han Bennink. He's dynamic as all hell and is amazing in pretty much any setting.

Gotta roll with my guy Tain Watts like I always do. Technicality isn't everything, precision and heart can take you places also.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...60444564,d.cGU

Gotta throw Vinnie Colaiuta in the mix also. Anybody who studied at Berklee and can impress Zappa on a first impression is holding it down also.

Saw a guy named Bill Stewart play with Scofield, blew my mind.

Ramon Angel


I first heard him on some Joan Diaz albums, his playing just really stood out to me. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much on youtube.

I've been seeking out Larry Bunkers work for the last week, he's exactly what I want in a jazz drummer.



As far as contemporary drummers, I've got to go with Daisuke Niitome from mouse on the keys.

Without any doubt Max Roach. His "We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite" is also one of the best Jazz albums ever.

Props to a couple of Fusion guys and their albums:

Billy Cobham - Spectrum (A bonafide Fusion classic)
Lenny White - Venusian Summer/Adventures of Astral Pirates (Two Sc-Fi themed albums that just rock with that squiggly 70's Fusion sound...)

^And let's not forget Bitches Brew and Red Clay for Lenny White.

Also Max Roach is incredible, I love his work with Braxton and the M'Boom ensemble.

Well, Han Bennink came to my mind first as well...
Paul Lovens is incredible. You should check out "Regalia" together with Cecil Taylor. Just mindblowing drum/percussion work.

Chris Cutler might be my favourite drummer, but he is no jazz drummer. But on the other hand Henry Cow's first album was at least partially JazzRock, so naming him is somewhat justified.

Joey Baron is also wonderful, although he does a lot of rock and other stuff as well.
Here's a solo performance:



I also really like Chris Corsano. Incredibly talented guy.

These three are no slouches.

Paul Lovens and Joey Baron are among my favourites. I'd only heard some of Corsano's stuff before, but it turns out he's on a lot of great records I already like too. Have you heard Sunny Murray? My favourite drummer who's worked with Cecil. He also did a lot of stuff with Ayler and basically invented the blast beat.

That was a great performance. Thanks for that.

Jon Wikan.
Works quite a bit with Geoffrey Keezer (brilliant pianist).
Saw them in a local jazz club a couple of years ago.
Really carries the music without taking it over.
Spoke to him in between sets, a really great guy.

I wonder if anyone here has seen the movie Whiplash. It's about a kid in NYC striving to be one of the greats in jazz drumming.

Elvin Jones = the greatest of all time.

Jones is definitely incredible, but if I had to choose a favourite from that scene, it would be Rashied Ali.

Someone mentioned Mouse on the Keys earlier. Toe is another such band that comes to mind, though in this case it's a pretty thin stretch to call it jazz strictly speaking.

For example:

When it comes to fusion Furio Chirico from "Arti & Mestieri" is one of my favourites.

Shadow Wilson on Monk & Coltrane at Carnegie Hall, particularly for his cymbal work on Epistrophy

Are you sure that's because of Ali or could it be because Trane laid down his most avant garde stuff with Ali?

That certainly helps, but Interstellar Space makes Jones look like a bitch.

If God played the drums he couldn't make Elvin look like a bitch. That was disrespectful.

Sorry man, I'm just honest. He makes Buddy Rich look like a bitch too.

Buddy Rich isn't fit to carry Elvin's jockstrap.

That's different.

Elvin was in the classic quartet. All those musicians were the greatest of their time. And Coltrane the greatest of all time.

Elvin Jones is a god, that's for sure, but Ali is a God.

Feels like a youtube comment section in here.

For sure. No one makes any of the guys mentioned here look like a b*tch.

Has anyone mentioned Tony Williams yet?

Figure of speech + alcohol + general crassness = my recent comments

I love Williams, he's so ****ing expressive with it. I especially love his work with Dolphy and Moncur, it's really something special (plus it helps that he usually plays with people just as talented as himself). My favourite track I've heard him on so far is definitely "Hat and Beard" (see below). You got a favourite? I haven't looked into his discography too much even though I'm a pretty big fan and I'm looking for some cool new jazz records to throw on during smoke seshes.

Not being a big fan of Jazz I like his solo album Believe It. Especially since it features a relatively young Allan Holdsworth on it.

I really enjoy watching Paul Wertigo playing with Pat Metheny, he adds great movement and big dynamics to every tune...

One of the great Hard Bop Drummers as can be seen in this performance of "A Night In Tunisia" from 1958.

Art Blakey - Drums

With:
Lee Morgan - Trumpet
Benny Golson - Sax
Bobby Timmons - Piano
Jymie Merritt - Bass

^Love Blakey. Found this great video with him, Sunny Murray, and Elvin Jones, some of my all time favourites.



I think Murray played best in the video, he's just so damned off the wall (and high as hell probably).

I have seen that clip before. It's pretty cool to see the three of them jamming away like that. it's one of the many drum battles that used to be staged on TV shows. If you put the phrase "Drum Battle" into youtube, you'll find loads of them. A lot of the classic Drum Battles involved Buddy Rich. Here's the Buddy Rich/Gene Krupa Drum Battle, one of the most famous.




Rich played one with Louis Bellson, one with Jerry Lewis (Yup, THAT Jerry Lewis), he even played one against Animal from the muppet show in the 1970s. there were others of course. Lionel Hampton was involved in a couple. Before Hampton took up Vibes, he was a Drummer. And a host of others followed.

Everybody always forgets this guy, the late, great Ed Shaughnessy.

Oh Yeah, Ed Shaughnessy was a fine Swing/Bop Drummer. A whole bunch of really good musicians passed through the Tonight Show Band. Some the best of them stayed for years, like Big Ed.

This is Shaughnessy's Buddy Rich Drum Battle

Lee Morgan - Trumpet
Benny Golson - Sax
Bobby Timmons - Piano
Jymie Merritt - Bass

Lee Morgan - Trumpet
Benny Golson - Sax
Bobby Timmons - Piano
Jymie Merritt - Bass

My vote for most under-rated drummer in music, Mike Clark from Herbie Hancock & the Headhunters.

That was killer. Rich's snare sounded so fine on that. (he won the battle big time too)

I'm going to go with Buddy Rich. Amazing. I've heard some of the best compositions from Buddy Rich.