Old thread ... new suggestion ... Ian Paice and Roger Glover of Deep Purple (Mark II).
Greatest rhythm sections
The rhythm section in a jazz, blues or rock band provides the foundation and motive force for the entire ensemble. The truly great ones not only establish the band's sonic signature, they can generate new styles. Which rhythm sections do you think have been the most influential in their respective genres, and, or changed the way you listened to music? Please try to limit your selections to groups and not individual musicians as it the ensemble sound I'd like to get your comments on.
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Some of the ones that come to mind for me: The Who Rush AC/DC Yes The White Stripes Tool James Brown ZZ Top Cake Cream Led Zeppelin Pink Floyd The Edgar Winter Group Fleetwood Mac Parliament/Funkadelic Thin Lizzy Jimi Hendrix Korn Little Feat Metallica Montrose / Sammy Hagar Nirvana Pixies Red Hot Chili Peppers Sublime Talking Heads The Beatles Tower of Power War |
Early Santana Mark Clarke & Jon Hiseman Iain Clark + Osibisa´s percussionists on "Look at Yourself", 1971 Mike Rutherford & Phil Collins Greg Lake & Carl Palmer Chris Squire & William Bruford John Wetton & William Bruford John Wetton & Carl Palmer Stanley Clarke & Lenny White Rick Laird & Billy Cobham Chris Glen & Ted McKenna Geddy Lee & Neil Peart Jack Bruce & Corky Laing Jack Bruce & Simon Phillips Tiziano Ricci & Pierluigi Calderoni |
Carly unfortunately died far too young and he and his brother, Aston, did not achieve the celebrity that Sly and Robbie achieved as band leaders and sidemen for acts like the Rolling Stones and others. Both “riddim” sections are deserving of accolades on their own account. I don’t think anyone is shunning the Barrett Bros. Just like the Funk Brothers more people know the sound than the musicians who created the Wailers distinctive sound. I had the opportunity to interview Sly for a documentary on Jamaican music I made. He’s a great guy and an amazing musical force. |
oblgny, and, Frisell plays in so many different musical settings/environments---hardcore Jazz, soundtracks, Americana, Country, Singer/Songwriter. He did an album with drummer Jim Keltner and bassist Viktor Krauss (Lyle Lovett) entitled Gone, Just Like A Train that is great, and has a new, all-instrumental album (Guitar In The Space Age!) that is really cool. Bill and Ry Cooder are probably my two favorite living guitarists. Such a shame that Danny Gatton committed suicide---he was a guitar genius. |
bdp24... I started getting into Bill Frisell a couple of years ago and I’ve since been busy digging the living hell out of him. Frisell draws you into his music. I listen intently, almost intensely to his playing trying to figure out how he figures things out only to go where I never anticipated. Pretty amazing. He creates aural landscapes then defines note by note the characters within it - or at least that’s what I perceive. |
@dragunski , you are quite right. The same can be said about the guitarists role in Jump Blues bands, one of which I worked in during the mid-70’s. I love focusing on the guitarist in such bands, as they play lots of passing chords, often with beautiful clean tone on really great arch-top guitars---old single-pickup Gibsons are especially sweet. In rock, guys like Clapton, Beck, Page, Hendrix, etc., unfortunately made being "only" a rhythm guitarist a humiliation. Few aspiring guitarists who came after them didn’t want to be perceived as anything less than a "lead" guitarist. If you look in musician hook-up sites, guys list their instrument played not as guitar, but as lead guitar. Unintentionally funny. A guitar is a guitar---there is no such thing as a rhythm guitar, or a lead guitar. I’ve been listening to Bill Frisell a lot lately, and his song parts are absolutely fantastic. He plays little phrases that deepen and enrich the musicality of a song, but that don’t call attention to themselves apart from, and at the expense of, the song. THAT’S the kind of musicianship I listen for. |
Not jazz or rock, but a great rhythm section. The Fania All-Stars. They were considered some of the best Latin Music performers in the world at the time. The original lineup consisted of: Band Leaders; Ray Barretto, Joe Bataan, Willie Colon, Larry Harlow, Monguito, Johnny Pacheco, Louie Ramirez, Ralph Robles, Mongo Santamaria, Bobby Valentin, Other Musicians; La La, Ray Maldonado, Ralph Marzan, Orestes Vilato, Roberto Rodriguez, Jose Rodriguez, Barry Rogers, and Special Guests; Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Ricardo Ray and Jummy Sabater. |
dhpeck---Not to be contrary, but rhythm section is a term for the drummer and bassist (and sometimes pianist) in a band, the band's guitarist not being part of that section. There are exceptions, such as Steve Cropper of Booker T & The MG's, wherein his guitar style played a role in creating the band's rhythmic foundation. |
Fishman and Gordon from Phish lock in and drive the groove along both structured and improv lines like very few other sections ever did. Up there also have to be Jones and Garrison from Coltrane's class Quartet form the early 60's. Very few could keep up with Coltrane like they did. And, of course, Geddy and Neil. |
Here's a link to the "I Got A Woman" sessions with the musicians listed. |
A lot of times harshness, edginess, sourness or whatever can be attributed to the time of day and day of the week and weather, not to the CD per se. I listened to the Castle Communications Black Sabbath CD on the super system at 7 am on a Sunday while enjoying a sunny high pressure system. I certainly wouldn't have said it was a super disc if it had sounded harsh or edgy. The sound was definitely not harsh or edgy or sour. If you could hear what I heard with my ears..... |
^ Interesting as usually the Castle reissues have been too edgy almost harsh IME. I have never heard that twenty year old Castle, though. Additionally, Uriah Heep´s "Look at Yourself" UK Castle 1986 RI on vinyl has a terrific audio quality, especially dynamics, very near the original UK Bronze ILPS edition from 1971. All other Heep Castle reissue vinyls have worse audio quality IME. |
I think I can say unequivocally the Castle Communciations reissue of Black Sabbath’s first album about twenty years ago on CD is unquestionably among the very top rock recordings ever made, sonically, starting off with the thunderstorm. I had the opportunity to hear the Castle CD a couple weeks ago on a super system. |
Black Sabbath the first true heavy metal band. Fantastic music. From England. Those white lads created something different. All great musicians. So were Uriah Heep, the finest in Heavy Metal. Paul Newton w/ Ollie Olsson/ Keith Baker/Iain Clark, also Gary Thain w/ Lee Kerslake Gary Thain the most melodic and fluid bass player in Rock. Thanks for the Music. RIP |
Ironically, Black Sabbath gave white musicians a bad name ;-). Terrible. On the other hand, Bonnie Raitt's guys are terrific. The L.A. studio team of Russ Kunkel and Leland Sklar (Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor) were as well. Levon Helm said Ray Charles always had the best band, and his classic sides prove the wisdom of that opinion. But I shamefully don't know who they were. |
Someone has already mentioned Little Feat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qQnGfZpIfY Paul Simon always managed to assemble a killer rhythm section: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUvQl2OZBD8 |
Two of my faves have already been mentioned---Al Jackson and Duck Dunn of The MG’s, and the two drummers of The Funk Brothers (the Motown house band) plus their best-in-the-world bass playing partner, the one-and-only James Jamerson. To those I would add Roger Hawkins (drums) and David Hood (bass) of The Swampers, aka the house band at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It is with that rhythm section and in that studio that Jerry Wexler produced those astounding recordings of Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, Dusty Springfield, and many others. And then there is the best team to have ever been in a self-contained Rock ’n’ Roll Group (self-contained meaning the members did all the writing, singing, and playing), Levon Helm (drums, harmonica, guitar, mandolin, and of course vocals), Rick Danko (bass, tuba, guitar, vocals), and Richard Manuel (piano, drums, vocals) of the God-almighty-great The Band. They are infact considered THE Band by the best musician’s in Rock ’n’ Roll. By the way, I saw several of others' nominees live---The Who, Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience (as they were originally named), Led Zeppelin, others of that ilk, and sorry, those bands were not good in terms of being a rhythm section. They had their strengths and charms, but having or being a good rhythm section was not one of them. Honest! |
Some more offerings: Jeff Porcaro, Mike Porcaro, and David Paich (Toto) David Garibaldi and Rocco Prestia (T.O.P) Any Steely Dan record Gadd, Porcaro, Purdie, Rick Marotta, Jim Keltner, Chuck Rainey Jaco Pastorius and Peter Erskine (Weather Report) John McVie and Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac) Phil Gould and Mark King (Level 42) Although I don't like this band personally, Flea and Chad Smith are a formidable rhythm section. |
sly and robbie have done many, mnay great things. But, being the rhythm section for hundreds of reggae bands? Mmmm, hardly. Dozens of bands? Maybe. Rhythm section for bob Marley & the wailers? Thats just wrong. For that youve got to look for the real deal- Aston Familyman Barrett and brother Carly Barrett. Fams and Carly are the real deal- the most dynamic duo. Their careers is a virtual history of reggae, from the dawn with lee scratch perry, they formed the core of the hippyboys, the upsetters, and yes, the wailers. they too had countless unaccredited sessions in-between. it seems strange that people will stand in line for hours to credit sly and robbie with wonderful achievements, while shunning Fams & Carly. Can anyone explain? |
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Many interesting entries. What do you think about the seminal Basie Orchestra rhythm section? Jo Jones (Papa, not Philly) pioneered the use of the hi-hat to drive the band, using the bass drum more for accents. Noone played that way before him, and everyone played that way after. Walter Page layed down that strong 4x4 that ancored all of the solos, particularly Basie's. Most big band bassists still do it that way. And Father Time himself, Freddie Green was the quintessential big band guitarist, with rock solid rhythmicity and an elegant tone. He was an integral part of what made the Basie band swing, and that may just be the ultimate expression of the word. |
Well, many of the standout combos have been mentioned already. Personally, I put JPJ and Bono at the top of the list, but Keith Moon and John Entwhistle, as well as Jack and Ginger, are certainly right up there. And yes, Neil and Geddy certainly set the bar up there pretty darn high. We can't forget Double Trouble and their genre-defining work with SRV. The various incarnations of the Funk Brothers are also some of the all time greats, as was Willie Dixon with any of the drummers he played with. Other bands with great rhythm sections from various genres would include: Triumph, Tool, Primus, Metallica (with Cliff Burton), Chris Duarte Group (reminiscent of SRV, and also from Austin). |
