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LEAST FAVORITE DRUMMERS


randissimo

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Boy, there are some unexpected choices here!

To play Devil's Advocate....

I saw both Pete La Roca and Kenny Wollenson recently and La Roca's cymbals, which sounded like they were made out of bootleg tin, got in the way of really hearing him. Wollenson was hip and slick as Hell.

Ben Riley? This one is a surprise choice. I have always enjoyed him on record and in person.

Buddy? He could do so much; he could dazzle and play with a soft swing. Maybe I can dig him more than most because I saw him in so many, many settings. He can be a aquired taste, though. There was not one time that he played a solo or a break that wasn't exciting.

Steve Gadd: Gadd gets a bad rap for all of the lame recordings he has been on but again, I've seen him so many times, I can tell you he can be a swinger with taste. You should hear the recording he made with Michelle Petruciani in Tokyo. It would be a revelation.

Louis Hayes may not be a innovator but besides his wonderful time on all of those Cannonbal records, I loved the band he had with Woody Shaw. Listen to "Itci-ban"

Edited by marcello
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Goog point about bassists.  'Acoustic'  Bass players, in part because they don't play the instrument, but play the amplifier, definately do not swing at all!  Paul West is about the only one that seems to be able to do it now that Percy is dead.  Dennis Irwin occasionaly, and Ron Carter, but the pickings are slim.

Lately, I have really grown tired of most of the acoustic bass players I've been working with in my neck of the woods.. Here's the main reason I prefer an electric bass; Consistent tone ..

I'm tired of poor EQ often with feedback, too much string, board, & bridge noise, and usually not enough bottom or definition in the overall sound, and the acoustic bass too often ends up being mixed poorly by sound guyz in the monitors... I recently played a gig with a hyper-busy piano player who was supposed to be accompanying the vocalist but instead was filling every possible space and a bass player who sounds better on electric, but prefers the acoustic.. IT WAS WORK! .. Tonight I played a swingin' piano trio hit with the same bass player on electric and he sounded good.. A lot of guys trying to play acoustic bass don't have good technique in either hand, so the tone comes out thin and with poor time, feel, and rhythm articulation..

Edited by randissimo
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Guest akanalog

trilok gurtu often seems to overplay when i have heard him on recordings.

or i guess i should say he seems to be a pretty unsubtle and intrusive player.

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I will be so viciously slimed over this that it's possible I may never fully recover, but I've always struggled a bit with Philly Joe Jones. First of all, he's a fairly aggregious pattern repeater and secondly, I just find him to be a little too busy for my tastes. Mind you, it's not like I can't stand listening to the guy - if that was the case, I could just get rid of a goodly percentage of my Blue Notes - but he's just not my favorite. I know treason is a capitol offense and that I'm a dead man for even thinking this much less going on record, but, you asked, so I told. It's been nice knowing you guys.

Up over and out.

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I will be so viciously slimed over this that it's possible I may never fully recover, but I've always struggled a bit with Philly Joe Jones.  First of all, he's a fairly aggregious pattern repeater and secondly, I just find him to be a little too busy for my tastes.  Mind you, it's not like I can't stand listening to the guy - if that was the case, I could just get rid of a goodly percentage of my Blue Notes - but he's just not my favorite.  I know treason is a capitol offense and that I'm a dead man for even thinking this much less going on record, but, you asked, so I told.  It's been nice knowing you guys.

bonfire.jpg

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I love Ben Riley and how anyone could say the man has ever played anything but pure and gorgeous time and feel eludes me.

As for Louis Hayes: the man ceaselessly funking grooves.

John deJ on the other hand I've never really felt, and Billy Cobham doesn't really do it for me...and oh! that horrific fellow on Conan O'Brien I'd be better off never hearing again.

Edited by Elis
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Patrick Ewing's head superimposed on a psychedelic background strikes me as funny for some reason.  Maybe I'm alone here.

I find it hilarious too (and love it!) I finally talked myself out of the idea that it was Patrick, thinking he must have a twin who made a psychedelic album. But wait...it is him! Thanks for the explanation akanalog.

As far as drummer - who jazzbo said. Almost more for all of the kids in junior high who went on & on about him rather than the actual playing. Well, almost...

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Louis Bellson still leaves me strangely indifferent for the most part, even with Duke. Can't say that he's a "least favorite" by any stretch of the imagination, but I always wish it were somebody else on a record when I see that it's him.

Too bad, too. The guy by all accounts is one of the truly great humans of the music. I just wish I liked his playing more than I usually do.

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trilok gurtu often seems to overplay when i have heard him on recordings.

or i guess i should say he seems to be a pretty unsubtle and intrusive player.

I see what you mean, but knowing him personally, I know what he wants to do with this, and can assure you some is pretty daring, especially if you see it in the context of a jazz player from India, where it was almost considered blasphemy for a traditional tabla player to go into things like that .... I can understand why he wants to push the band, as most players (and fans) tend to think the drums are too loud and/or obtrusive.

He is a master in his own right and does some incredible things rhythmically - do you know the live John McLaughlin record from the Royal Festival Hall? He's great on this, and not unsubtle or intrusive at all.

Edited by mikeweil
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Harvey Mason: I think he is great!!!!

Have you heard his last trio record on RCA? He's got a lot beyond flawless technique, and uses his chops with taste and dynamics where others are just bashing.

Jimmy Cobb: His elegant swing is beyond dispute, and it is this lightness compared to Philly Joe or Art Taylor that I like very much for a change, and he swings. He swung as hard as anybody in Cannonball's on the EmArcy sessions!

Louis Hayes: He was beyond me for many years, until I saw him live in Woody Shaw's band (actually he was a co-leader), and then I got him, or he got me. It is not easy to understand, but a very personal way of advanced modern hard bop drumming.

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Some I really dislike:

Buddy Rich - simply cannot relate to his personal vibe, and simply not my taste.

OTOH I like Bellson, who has comparable chops, but much more taste.

(Jim, have you heard Bellson on Duke's Big Four on Pablo? This might change your mind!)

Billy Cobham - except for some very early records, like Ron Carter's on Embryo, or Miroslav Vitous' on SONY.

Steve Smith.

Jon Hiseman.

Most of them unsubtle fusion hammerers.

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Guest akanalog

Some I really dislike:

Billy Cobham - except for some very early records, like Ron Carter's on Embryo, or Miroslav Vitous' on SONY.

have you heard cobham on charles earland's "intensity".

i find it to be powerful but very responsive organ band playing. very impressive to my ears.

not that this attones for all of his other missteps.

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Guest akanalog

trilok gurtu often seems to overplay when i have heard him on recordings.

or i guess i should say he seems to be a pretty unsubtle and intrusive player.

He is a master in his own right and does some incredible things rhythmically - do you know the live John McLaughlin record from the Royal Festival Hall? He's great on this, and not unsubtle or intrusive at all.

yeah i know that album. not my cup of tea. i was thinking more a context like barre phillips "three day moon" or his work with oregon, which i do not find particularly tasteful.

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