Who is your favorite "obscure" drummer

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My old friend Jimmy Lester. He's a legend around here, but out "there" ...there's probably a lot of folks that haven't heard of him. A total artist behind a drum kit.
 
Two of my more obscure drummers would be Chris Joyce from Simply Red (first 3 albums) and Dave Early from Sade ( Promises).

Chris had a great pocket, heavy hitter and was great at both soul/R&B and Jazz while in Simply Red. He was fired because of Mick Hucknell's obsession with the drum machine sounds produced by Soul II Soul. I was lucky enough to see Chris in action twice. Once on the Men & Women tour and then on the New Flame tour. I thought for sure he would go onto something else but it never happened.


Dave Early's groove on Sweetest Taboo is one of my favorites. Sort of a 50 WAYs To Leave Leave Your Lover kind of cool IMO. Sadly Dave was struck and killed by a car in 1996.

 
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Ron Selico. Played with John Mayall, James Brown, Frank Zappa, Sam Cooke and others.
 
& You Dont Stop said:
Steve Drozd
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Me too man, although I don't consider him a drummer, I consider him a freak of nature genius who can play anything.

If the original poster is listening, have you heard Damon Che of Don Caballero or Zach Hill of Hella? Both pretty obscure in the grand scheme but pretty well known amongst drummers I guess. Two of my favorites.

I really love Billy Ficca but I'm not sure how obscure Television is these days.
 
Now for my real answer...I really enjoy the work of Joshua Tillman with the band Fleet Foxes. I find his playing very refreshing in that he takes a more "percussionist" approach to drum set than that of groove or time keeper.

Of course, that approach works great with a band like Fleet Foxes more than it would with say...Foo Fighters.
 
Jeff Sipe. This guy is amazing. He tears it up on Susan Tedeschi's Austin City Limits live show from 2003 or so.
 
Dan Wojciechowski (Frampton, Leanne Rimes, Olivia Newton-John, Andy Timmons)
Reinhart Melz (Gino Vanelli, Lloyd Jones, Curtis Salgado)
 
Unsung guys for me -

John "Vatos" Hernandez

Ralph Humphrey

probably others - but they are too obscure for my mind to remember them tonight...

dc
 
repete said:
I was in a band with a guitar player that says he was on the Spiders and Snakes session but was not credited...
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My brother played guitar on the hit Jim Stafford albums, including S&S, My Girl Bill, etc. There probably were other guitar players as well, but they also would have been credited. Since there wasn't really a Jim Stafford band, there would have been no reason for ghosting - it was just session guys anyway.

His name is Richard Bennett, and he's played with a ton of big names on a ton of hit records. Definitely the more visible and successful of the two of us! I dare say he wouldn't be considered obscure in a thread like this on a guitar forum!

Bermuda
 
& You Dont Stop said:
Thud said:
Terry Chambers (original XTC drummer)is pretty amazing.
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Most creative four-on-the-floor drumming I've heard. Love the fact that XTC mixed drums forward. It made the music very powerful. You ever tried to play "Making Plans for Nigel"?. Yikes!
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A fun beat, not difficult at all, very straightforward except for the hihat thing. But it's so perfect for the song!

Bermuda
 
These guys come to mind:

Tony Braunagel
Joe Correro Jr.
Paul Burgess
Jakson Spires
Kevin Ellman
 
Thom Mooney, drummer with NAZZ which was Todd Rundgren's first claim to fame. i think he later was musical director for Rita Coolidge as well.
 
kip said:
Most of my fav drummers are obscure

Sigtrgyurr baldarsun
George Hurley
Gerry hemmingway
Ronald Shannon Jackson
denardo Coleman
Joey baron
Peter Prescott
Chris cutler
John French
Han bennick
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Kip I know you're always good for some good obscure drummers. I was going to add Ronald Shannon Jackson to the list but you beat me to it!

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Pep Perrine from Bob Seger system and the drummer from CROW whos name escapes me now,But that dude could wail.V
 
Travis Orbin! Not only my favourite obscure drummer, but my favourite drummer of all. Huge influence in my setup, my current endeavour to strengthen my weak side, and to get back into my rudiments and more technical playing, and applying it to "real life" grooves and musical situations.
 
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