Jazz Drummers

[bigbonzo]

Who are your favorite jazz drummers?
List as many as you like, as you always do.
Me first:
Kenny Clarke
Louie Bellson
Ed Shaughnessy
Joe Morello

If you can, provide a list of newer drummers as well. Say, from the last 20 years. I'm always up for finding new talent.

 

[doubleroll]

I like these guys:
Louie Bellson
Art Blakey
Tony Williams
Gene Krupa
Billy Cobham
Marvin Smitty Smith
Elvin Jones
Max Roach

To name a few of my favorites anyway…

 

[Houndog]

I’ve been listening and getting into jazz for a couple of years now .
This is going to sound horrible , but I can’t tell who is who …..
They all sound very similar to me ….

 

[KCJazz]

I’ve been listening and getting into jazz for a couple of years now .
This is going to sound horrible , but I can’t tell who is who …..
They all sound very similar to me ….

Keep listening.

 

[Houndog]

Keep listening.

I just can’t imagine being able to point out a particular drummer in the genre .
It’s always been particular songs that I’m drawn too …….
I usually just find a classic jazz playlist to listen to and I hit skip when I don’t care for it .

 

[mzd]

Brian Blade
Joey Baron
Art Blakey
Tony Williams
Elvin Jones
Art Taylor
Max Roach
Steve Gadd
…

 

[TPC]

Guiliana
Blade
Harland
Hutch
Rudy R
Denardo
Ari
…

Elvin
Tony
Art B
Art T
Max
Freddie B
Papa Jo
Philly Joe
Cobb
…

 

[T-2]

Billy Higgins
Elvin Jones
Al Harewood
Ed Blackwell
Max Roach
Buddy Rich
Barry Altschul

... and I'm leaving a hundred more, I love everyone.

 

[BlackPearl]

As read this, I am listeming to last night's edition of Live From Emmet's place, with young Kyle Poole drums (well, he's probably 30, which is young to me these days !), and I am marvelling once again how great he is, swinging away on those cheap drums with the single head toms. I probably sound like a broken record, as I promote these web casts at every opportunity, but they really are wonderful !

 

[BlackPearl]

Also, I've been on a bit of a Roy Haynes kick lately, and discovered this album last night - just love the drums on this. I can see why they call Mr. Haynes "Snap Crackle and Pop". Also can't go wrong with anything Dave Holland plays bass on.

 

[CC Cirillo]

I just can’t imagine being able to point out a particular drummer in the genre .
It’s always been particular songs that I’m drawn too …….
I usually just find a classic jazz playlist to listen to and I hit skip when I don’t care for it .

I too don’t know jack, but I want to know Jack DeJohnette.


Perhaps a deeper dive? Jazz drummers tend to move around a lot, so if you hear somebody you like, look up who it is and find them on other recordings.

Or, it might be easier picking a drummer who is tied deeply to an artist or group. That’s what I did: E.g., Joe Morello: Dave Brubeck. Listen to a bunch of Brubeck and you will get the Morello clean technique thing. Big Band? Chances are you can find some Sonny Payne. Listen to Basie with Sinatra at the Sands and you’ll get the Sonny Payne big band thing. To me he’s the Bonham of Big Band. Something more modern? Dave King with The Bad Plus.

I’m oversimplifying, I know, and not intending to hector: But this isn’t Rush, where one great drummer has played with one great band, but the above examples can be a start as they are embedded. If you start stacking a bit of your listening in a concentrated way, you’ll start to hear the differences.

I’m still doing this myself, and I’m basically in First Grade on this journey.

As I’ve said before on this forum, I don’t play jazz, but I want to learn some of these nuances to incorporate into my playing since so many of the guys who influenced me started in jazz. It’s the foundation of so much, if not all music that came after it, since so many players started in that tradition. Hell, I was listening to a podcast about Country Drumming and a lot of those early guys originally played jazz.

 

[Phantomlimb777]

A. Blakey
J. DeJohnette
A. Mouzon
B. Cobham
J. Mayer
B. Stewart
J. Brown
M. Gilmore
C. Fonville
E. Harland

First ten that usually come to mind are usually my top ten.

 

[bigbonzo]

As read this, I am listeming to last night's edition of Live From Emmet's place, with young Kyle Poole drums (well, he's probably 30, which is young to me these days !), and I am marvelling once again how great he is, swinging away on those cheap drums with the single head toms. I probably sound like a broken record, as I promote these web casts at every opportunity, but they really are wonderful !

Do you know of any CD's that he's on?

 

[Steech]

Elvin
Tony
Gadd
Morello
Jeff Watts
Dejohnette
Lars

 

[Houndog]

Yeah , I’d love to get better a jazz .
I can swing and keep 2&4 on snare etc ..
The second I try to comp on snare I lose track of the swing pattern in right hand .
I’ve spent some time on it as well …
My independence is terrible I tell ya .

 

[BlackPearl]

Do you know of any CD's that he's on?

His entry at discogs lists 11, and I found a couple more.

Kyle Poole

Kyle Poole Discography at Discogs

www.discogs.com

A few (not all tracks of all albums though ) :

 

[paul]

Buddy Rich
Roy Haynes
Sonny Payne
Jack Sperling
Joe Morello
Billy Cobham
Bill Stewart
John Josephson
Tony Williams

 

[JDA]

i'd have to start at 1969 go back to 1950 and 1927 then come forward to 2022..

gimma a couple minutes

 

[DB-66]

For me, the archetypes of the language we often speak when we think about jazz vocabulary are Papa Jo, Max Roach, and Philly Joe, with honorable mentions for Art Blakey and Art Taylor due to the sheer number of sessions they did.

 

[bigbonzo]

Elvin
Tony
Gadd
Morello
Jeff Watts
Dejohnette
Lars

Lars? Not Ulrich.