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LEAST FAVORITE DRUMMERS


randissimo

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also someone mentioned carter beauford or whatever.  i don't listen to that cheesy crap, but my dad does and i have had to go see that band a few times with girls in the 90s and beauford is a great drummer.  i was very impressed.

yeah I wouldn't question what he can do but I always question what he should do. I just have never found him very tasteful in the musical context he's in.

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Re: Vinnie Ruggiero

Vinnie played and recorded with both Slide Hampton and Lionel Hampton besides the usual Upstate players like Sal Nistico and Mangione.

A visceral player who was a great follower of Philly Joe Jones.

Vinnie, who had some real "personal problems" as they say, has passed away. His son Charles, is also a fine drummer.

This is a good one that combines two Sal Nistico Lps, "Comin' On Up" and "Heavyweights":

SAL NISTICO

Heavyweights

Milestone MCD-47096-2

Sal Nistico definitely was deserving of wider recognition. In the realm of hard-swinging post-bop tenor saxophone, Nistico (1938-1991) had few equals. Best known for his dynamic work as a star soloist at various junctures (from the early 1960s to the early 1980s) with Woody Herman's and Count Basie's orchestras, Nistico made his debut as a leader in December 1961 with Heavyweights. The quintet date found him at the helm of a New York all-star unit, with all but drummer Walter Perkins also employed at the time by Cannonball Adderley's popular group. Ten months later, in October 1962, Nistico fronted another quintet, this one featuring little known but talented trumpeter Sal Amico, a fellow upstate New Yorker. (Barry Harris was at the piano.) The happy result was Comin' On Up. Both sessions, long overdue for reissue, spotlight an amalgam of the crisp and fiery neo-bop with a tinge of soul-jazz that defined the East Coast sound during the early JFK era.

Mamblue; Seconds, Anyone?; My Old Flame; Shoutin'; Au Privave; Heavyweights; Cheryl; Ariescene; By Myself; Samicotico; Comin' On Up; Easy Living; Down

with Nat Adderley, Sal Amico, Bob Cranshaw, Barry Harris, Sam Jones, Walter Perkins, Vinnie Ruggiero

Edited by marcello
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The other drummer I can't take for more than 4 bars is Max Weinberg..

A few days before my mom passed away, I was at the hospital sitting next to her bed watching tv with her, just minding my own business, and she says, "Randy,, have you seen that drummer on Conan O'Brien? ...  Does he suck !! " ...  :lol:

Tell me about it. He plays as stiffly as he sits. That band always sounds so much better when Max is on tour with Springsteen and that other guy sits in, the one who plays barefoot. (I'm too lazy to look up his name right now.)

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Interesting to find that 3 of my all time favoites drummers get blasted by some people.

Art Blakey and Philly Joe Jones could kick and inspire a soloist wonderfully. These two great players along with Billy Higgins are my idea of the perfect Hard Bop drummers.

Ben Riley gets my award for the drummer with the most taste. I have heard him both live and in person many times with the Kenny Barron Trio. Riley constantly knocks me out with his subtle yet very swinging playing. He gets that tap dancing feeling at times that only very few drummers

are able to achieve. Listening to Ben Riley has brought more smiles to my face than perhaps any other drummer.

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I agree that Ben Riley is a master. He played with Monk, who had exquisite taste in drummers, famous AND obscure: Clarke, Blakey, Shadow Wilson, Frankie Dunlop etc.

That's good enough for me.

Edited by Kalo
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Connie Kay has the sweetiest tone I have ever heard. It's so light. He knows how to really appreciate the drums. One of my favorites!

Yeah, I really like the MJQ and, for the needs of that particular group, it would probably have worked less well with a more assertive drummer (what would have happened if Kenny Clarke had stayed in the quartet?). Like I say, it's not like he's a 'least favourite' but some of what he did I found a little too sweet.

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Heck Kay BURNS on broadcasts with Miles from the early fifties. . .

But I tell you I really don't dig the Heath-Kay rhythm section much at all as a steady diet. It keeps me from listening to a LOT of MJQ.

Just a personal thing. . . .As a drummer. . . or ex-drummer. . . .

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Billy Kilson...definitely. Sorry, I know some people think he's great. I almost like him at this point, because his playing is so awful and wanky (to my ears and in my opinion)...it's good unintentional comedy. Though it's just sad when you hear him solo live after thoughtful solos by great players (for example, in Holland's band following Steve Nelson & Co.) -- especially because the crowd usually eats his tripe up.

Nice to see the brilliant Kenny Wollesen get a positive mention here.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Billy Kilson...definitely. Sorry, I know some people think he's great. I almost like him at this point, because his playing is so awful and wanky (to my ears and in my opinion)...it's good unintentional comedy. Though it's just sad when you hear him solo live after thoughtful solos by great players (for example, in Holland's band following Steve Nelson & Co.) -- especially because the crowd usually eats his tripe up.

You gotta be kidding man ! Kilson is the most innovative, inventive, energetic, propulsive, killin' man on skins today !

Well, jazz is all about personal taste so I guess I should respect your opinion.

But really you're blowing my mind right up into the ozone layer, and I don't think it's coming down for awhile.

If there's an "Art Blakey" or "Miles Davis" of jazz right now it's got to be Dave Holland ... and Kilson is his man !

BTW, before this thread goes overboard into criticism of jazz drumming, has anyone experienced the dire and painful misfortune of hearing, say, Tommy Lee of Motley Crue, play live ? Or am I the only stupid white boy on these forums who went to shows like that ..... years ago .....

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Personally, I thought that Sam Woodyard was a big improvement over Sonny Greer (or Louis Belson) in Duke's orchestra.

Woodyard, HELLYEAH! What a great drummer!

Wasn´t this thread about "least favorite drummers"? :D

That was intended as a very subtle way of suggesting that Sonny Greer is not my favorite drummer.  ;)

Mine was intented as a very unsubtle way of making a joke. :lol:

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Personally, I thought that Sam Woodyard was a big improvement over Sonny Greer (or Louis Belson) in Duke's orchestra.

Woodyard, HELLYEAH! What a great drummer!

Wasn´t this thread about "least favorite drummers"? :D

That was intended as a very subtle way of suggesting that Sonny Greer is not my favorite drummer.   ;)

Mine was intented as a very unsubtle way of making a joke. :lol:

I guess that your unsubtle joke turned out to be too subtle for me. :D

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