good drum music

[Woochifer]

My favorite Elvin Jones/Coltrane album is simply titled "Coltrane". Elvins chops
on the 14 minute opus "Out of this World" are....well, out of this world. Another
great Elvin CD is Joe Hendersons "Inner Urge" on Blue Note. His solo on the
title track is equally amazing.

I'll agree with you on Coltrane, well pretty much you can pick any of his albums with Coltrane and hear his genius in action! I went with Live At The Village Vanguard simply because of "Chasin' The Trane." Just a tour de force session by all of the players, and probably my personal favorite Coltrane tune.

Can't say that I agree that Wertico reminds of Elvin. Elvin's poly rhythemic chops
are quite distinctive and and don't know anyone that ever came close to his combination of subtly and power. He's the Earl Campbell of drummers. I always thought of Wertico as a percussionist trapped inside a drummers body...something like Alex Acuna or Don Alias. I thought he was perfect for the type of Brazilian influenced music that PMG was doing in the 80's and 90's...but I could imagine him hangin' with Elvin chop wise.

Judging by Wertico's work with Pat Metheny and with his own band, I would agree with you. But, when I saw him jam with Larry Coryell and Mark Egan, he brought a totally stripped down kit with him and had such a total sync with both the subtlety and the explosion that the other members of the band conveyed, I was floored. I'd never seen that side of Wertico before, and it was quite a sight. Made me wonder what else he's been keeping from us all these years! Wertico has an innate sense of rhythm, and that's really the parallel that I would draw with Elvin Jones. Stylistically they are different, but they both make every action count. There's a lot going on with the rhythms, but nothing's wasted.

More great Elvin? Wayne Shorter/Speak no Evil, Marcus Roberts/The Truth is spoken here, Bill Frissell: Featuring Dave Holland and Elvin Jones.

Thanx for the tips! I'll have to look more of those up. I've been breaking out my Coltrane titles and looking for more of Elvin's best stuff since we lost him last year. I saw him in Oakland during his last public engagement about two months before he passed on -- it was great to see him again, but he looked very frail. He talked to the audience about how his doctor told him over a year before that he needed to stop playing, and his response was "Get me a new doctor." The times I've seen him, he would walk slowly, but once he got behind the kit, it was like watching someone transform into Superman. The last time, he had clearly lost a step and needed help just to get to his drumkit, but even in his poor health, he was still pounding away and keeping time. Amazing guy.

Erskine is another one of my favs. He's got two CD's from the mid 80's on Denon records called "Transition" and "Motion Poet". Both are exquisitely recorded and have some very involving and interesting music and great supporting musicians (Brecker, Ambercrombie, Will Lee, Miranov, Mintzer, Marc Johnson et al). Vince Mendoza composed and arranged many of the pieces and he's just a freggin' musicial genious(in a Gil Evans kind of way)!

Another project of Erskine's on the Denon label is his trio album with Aurora (Marty Krystall and Buell Neidlinger). This has somewhat of an avant garde/free jazz feel to it (Neidlinger used to be in Cecil Taylor's group), and the playing is stellar. And the recording is one of the best you'll ever hear (studio session recorded live-to-two-track). This has been my primary evaluation disc for over 15 years.

[Woochifer]

Vinnie Colauta was Sting's drummer for the longest time, maybe still is. Zappa said that was the best drummer he ever worked with. Can you imagine? Over Bozzio?

I definitely see Zappa heaping the praise on Vinnie. I used to see him all over town when I lived in L.A. He was one of the most versatile drummers on the scene. In a way, he became the L.A. version of Steve Gadd in that he got enlisted with so many different studio projects. Just as at home with a funk fusion band as he was playing bop or avant garde. He's not as flashy as Terry Bozzio, but with how tight and perfectly placed his beats were, he could afford to be economical.

[BradH]

I definitely see Zappa heaping the praise on Vinnie.

If I remember, what impressed Zappa was that he asked him to play an extremely complicated drum pattern and he said Vinnie pulled it off and was actually digging it the whole time. I saw Vinnie with Sting when David Sancious was on keys. Great underrated band. Too many people were focusing on dissing Sting to see how good they were. Vinnie reminded me of Stewart Copeland because he held his left stick in a formal grip and he wasn't all that relaxed like a lot of great drummers. Just really tense body posture with perfect, snappy timing. I have to say something about Stew in this thread. I never heard any drummer anywhere that has his rhythmic sense. It's just pure magic. He plays with the accents on 1 and 4 instead of hitting the back beat. It's apparently something he learned from Arabic music growing up in Beirut. Somebody mentioned Steve Gadd, too. We used to joke that he should just change his name to Steve Godd. I have an interview with Steely Dan in one of those Redbeard In The Studio discs. Check this out: the song "Aja" was recorded on the first take and they were sight reading it! That's the actual recording they put on the master. They didn't even do a second take.

[BradH]

He plays with the accents on 1 and 4 instead of hitting the back beat.

Don't try that at home.

I meant to say 1 and 3.

[kingcrim05]

Two drummers who i can't believe haven't been mentioned yet are John Bonham and Danny Carey (Tool). Any disc by either one will show off the drumming talents.

[20to20K]

Judging by Wertico's work with Pat Metheny and with his own band, I would agree with you. But, when I saw him jam with Larry Coryell and Mark Egan, he brought a totally stripped down kit with him and had such a total sync with both the subtlety and the explosion that the other members of the band conveyed, I was floored. I'd never seen that side of Wertico before, and it was quite a sight. Made me wonder what else he's been keeping from us all these years! Wertico has an innate sense of rhythm, and that's really the parallel that I would draw with Elvin Jones. Stylistically they are different, but they both make every action count. There's a lot going on with the rhythms, but nothing's wasted.

You are correct...PMG is the only exposure I've had to Wertico so obviously my
critique is incomplete. I like both Egan and Coryell so I'll make an effort to find
some on their recorded material with Wertico and keep an open mind. I can see
Pat containing him to keep him within the realm of the sound he was going for.
As I said...Wertico was perfect for what PMG was doing at the time...I shouldn't
assume that that's all the chops he's got.

Some one mentioned Vinnie as well. He's awesome...particularly live. He's just
a totally different drummer when you see him live...especially in a fusion setting.
I saw him with Mike Stern and John Pattituchi (and John Beasley on keys) at
8 by 10 in Baltimore about 10 years ago and they tore it up. Ironically Dennis
Chambers was in the audience (He was born and raised in B'more) and he
was yellin' at Vinny from the audience in support. He signed my Vinny solo CD that
I brought with me to have Vinny sign. I never even bothered to try and get Vinny
to sign it after I got Dennis' signature on it. I hope Vinny isn't reading this!

BTW...Vinnie's solo CD is nice. It's a bit odd...not what you'd expect from
a drummers CD...but it has interesting rhythems and solos. He's got one
song on it called "Attack of the 50 foot pizza" which kinds of sums up the
weird factor. I've probably got the only copy in existence with Dennis Chambers
autograph on it!

[BinFrog]

Billy Cobham - Spectrum (DVD-A)

[gonefishin]

Anyone have any recommendations for cd's with a good drummer(s)? I have Blue Man Group in DVD-A and am open to all kinds of music except... country
Thanks!

While I can't stand the pumpkins or the singing by Billy Corgan (or lack of ability to sing!) Jimmy Chamberlin could best be described as shock and awe. I just don't know how he could play so well and effortlessly. He's even more impressive to watch up close...you can't help but keep shaking your head, thinking that there ain't know way.

He's got a new jazz techno fusion type band called The Jimmy Chamberlin Complex.



Jeff Hamilton is a talented, sometimes overlooked, drummer in the jazz world.

...and of course...my two year old daughter would have to rank among the worlds best drummers as well. She plays a mean playschool piano too


dan