Drummers Talking About Drumming

Wow! Some people just don’t get it.

No one said Gadd was the best, or that it was so because Eric chose him. Eric chose him because Steve plays drums in ways that are more important to him musically than that of other drummers (Steve also solos very, very well), including those mentioned in the video. That is of course the premise of my (second paragraph) introductory comment above: that songwriters, singers, and other musicians determine their preferences in drummers based on criteria different from that of drummers themselves. Is that too subtle a point? I thought it was obvious enough for all to understand.

Bobby Whitlock (Clapton’s organist/singer/songwriter partner in Derek & The Dominos) became pals with Keith Moon while living in England in the early-70’s, but stated he couldn’t be in a band with him, citing Jim Gordon as his model for how a drummer should play. For years Ry Cooder scheduled his recordings around the availability of Jim Keltner, a drummer also chosen by Bill Frisell for many of his albums. Jeff Beck prefers Vinnie Colaiuta, another incredible drummer not mentioned in the video. That doesn’t make any of them "the best", only the drummers preferred by those artists. Is that a concept simple enough for all to grasp?

Keltner himself stated in a Modern Drummer Magazine interview that he wished he could play like Roger Hawkins, best known as a member of the legendary Muscle Shoals studio band The Swampers. Paul Simon went to Muscle Shoals specifically to record his second album with The Swampers, which includes the incredible "Kodachrome", insanely great drumming courtesy of Hawkins. Before meeting him, Paul assumed Roger was black. ;-) Hawkins is also heard on all of Aretha’s Atlantic hits, as well as Boz Scaggs’ debut album, which includes the classic "Loan Me Dime", guitar solo by Duane Allman. A very musical (and funky!) drummer, one my all-time Top 3, if not my all-time overall favorite. He plays a to-die-for press roll!

Good list, @onhwy61. You forgot about Levon Helm! ;-)

The video is all about Hard Rock drummers, a very small portion of the drumming community. Drummer’s opinions about drummers is one thing; the opinion of songwriters, singers, and players of other instruments something altogether different.

Eric Clapton can have any drummer he wishes. Whom does he employ? Steve Gadd, a far, Far, FAR better drummer than any mentioned in the video. Don’t believe me, or Eric? Ask Paul Simon or any other songwriter who has arranged his recording schedule around Gadd’s availability.

I became aware of Jim Keltner from his playing on the early Randy Newman albums, listening to his playing on the fantastic Good Old Boys album over and over and over again, all in an attempt to absorb his musical wisdom (for an example of that, listen to Jim’s employment of a bass drum triplet in Lucinda Williams’ song "West". Way cooler than Bonham’s amusical use of the triplet: "Look at me. See what I can do with one foot?"). The same with Jim Gordon and Hal Blaine, they and Keltner masters of the studio. And how about Jeff Porcaro, an astounding player?

By the way, Bonham’s intro in Zeppelin’s "Rock ’n’ Roll" is a direct cop of Earl Palmer’s intro in Little Richard’s "Keep A Knockin". I-den-ti-cal. Earl Palmer pretty much invented Rock ’n Roll drumming, though he was a Jazz musician at heart. In his later years he performed with his Jazz trio in the bar in Chadney’s restaurant (now closed), directly across the street from the NBC studio in Burbank where the Tonight Show is taped. I lived two blocks away, and visited---as did drummers from all over the world---to hear him live. Nobody sounds like Earl, nobody.