The legendary Steve Gadd

What a arrogant bigheaded statement.

Bernhard

Cheers, mate.

I'm sorry if I'm offending you guys, but that's my honest opinion of him; I honestly don't think he is the be-all-end-all of session drummers. There are other groovers out there in this drumming world that deserve a listen and some praise as well.
 
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I agree with you there. He's a bit overrated compared to other drummers I'm hearing out there these days. But indeed, he's got the groove, and I can admire him for that.

I suppose the beautiful thing about Mr. Gadd's playing is the way he can make simple rudiments sound so good, but I wouldn't put him in the same category of chops as, say, Thomas Lang or Virgil Donati.

Mr.Gadd is right, considering Mr. Lang & Mr. Donati would also probably refer to him as Mr. Gadd.

Mr. Gadd was easily THE MOST 'in demand' session player in the history of the instrument. By a long, long,shot.The guy coming in second wasnt even close.

He was the Michael Jordan of drums

Everyone wanted him on their record, from folksy ol' Paul Simon, to Jazzy Chick Corea, to fusioneque Steely Dan, to name a few.

Now that should tell us something about about what people are looking for in a drummer.

Without getting into the groove v/s chops debate, which is the silliest thing drummers can possibly talk about IMO, may I recommend that you listen to Mr. Gadd's solo on Steely Dan's Aja, and his playing on Chick Corea's Leprechaun, to get a taste of what he can do when hes not plain grooving.
 
I agree with you there. He's a bit overrated compared to other drummers I'm hearing out there these days. But indeed, he's got the groove, and I can admire him for that.

I suppose the beautiful thing about Mr. Gadd's playing is the way he can make simple rudiments sound so good, but I wouldn't put him in the same category of chops as, say, Thomas Lang or Virgil Donati.

Well first of all man, if you can't hear Gadd's world class chops you neither have them yourself or even understand why people pursue them. You perfect major chops so you don't have to use them. Can you even imagine the discipline that has to take? That's what the beautiful thing about Gadd is. And its also why he can perfect that awesome groove that you wrongly think is something different from his chops.

I cringe when I read stuff like this because it just plays into the stereotype that people who are into the drummers with chops see only that at the expense of all things.
 
Mr.Gadd is right, considering Mr. Lang & Mr. Donati would also probably refer to him as Mr. Gadd.

Mr. Gadd was easily THE MOST 'in demand' session player in the history of the instrument. By a long, long,shot.The guy coming in second wasnt even close.

He was the Michael Jordan of drums

Everyone wanted him on their record, from folksy ol' Paul Simon, to Jazzy Chick Corea, to fusioneque Steely Dan, to name a few.

Now that should tell us something about about what people are looking for in a drummer.

Without getting into the groove v/s chops debate, which is the silliest thing drummers can possibly talk about IMO, may I recommend that you listen to Mr. Gadd's solo on Steely Dan's Aja, and his playing on Chick Corea's Leprechaun, to get a taste of what he can do when hes not plain grooving.

You talked about the "guy coming in second."
You dont happen to know who he is by any chance do you? Im kinda interested in this.
 
You talked about the "guy coming in second."
You dont happen to know who he is by any chance do you? Im kinda interested in this.

Well, I was just using it as a figure of speech, but I would think Jim Keltner was a big session player at the time, on a ton of records. I guess Purdie would be up there too.
 
I honestly don't think he is the be-all-end-all of session drummers. There are other groovers out there in this drumming world that deserve a listen and some praise as well.

Chances are that the 'other groovers' that you talk of grew up listening to him, breaking down his licks, woodshedding them in practice.Thats is probably WHY they are groovers today.

Opinions aside,he was the benchmark..
 
Well, I was just using it as a figure of speech, but I would think Jim Keltner was a big session player at the time, on a ton of records. I guess Purdie would be up there too.


Hell, let's include Marotta and Porcaro. It's not always so bad finishing second.
 
The difference between Gadd and Porcaro is that it takes twenty years to learn to play Fifty Ways to Leave Your Love, right, where as, you can do Rosanna in just about 19. Actually, I think Rosanna is the harder groove because he executes those ghost notes so fast, at about 160 QPM.

Like Aydee says, Gadd was the benchmark. I think he was the drummer of our generation. There were many others but when people look back they can see Gadd as this guy who took the rudiments of corp drumming and made them groove. He integrated that whole element of drumming into pop and jazz drumming in a Big Way, and we love him for it.
 
Hell, let's include Marotta and Porcaro. It's not always so bad finishing second.

Marotta is something of a Gadd protege', I think. Ken might know better, but my impression is that Gadd would give him ( recommend him ) a lot work that he couldn't handle himself.

Yes, Porcaro, was very wanted man too, indeed
 
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I believe the Gadd-Marotta link goes something like this:

By the time Steve got to NYC in 1972, Rick had already established himself there and had much more experience playing the newer groove-based styles, whereas Gadd had none, as his background was almost entirely in jazz, classical, or the corps.

So Rick showed Steve the ropes, he took to it VERY quickly, and the rest is history.
 
Guitarists sometimes ask me to explain the Steve Gadd influence on drums and music. When the occasion comes to make it short and sweet, I tell them " He's our Hendrix. "
 
Rick showed Steve the ropes, he took to it VERY quickly, and the rest is history.

I guess I had it backwards. Thanks for the correction. As an aside, the tribute to Gadd organized by the Armand Zildjian family has Rick playing on it and he talks about their long association & friendship.
 
I suppose the beautiful thing about Mr. Gadd's playing is the way he can make simple rudiments sound so good, but I wouldn't put him in the same category of chops as, say, Thomas Lang or Virgil Donati.

And thats a good thing....
Please don't put him in the same category as Lang and Virgil cause honestly not everyone wants to hear two hours of double bass- metric molecular- multi pedal ostinatos til your brain explodes!

Some people actually enjoy listening to tasty feel based playing with dynamics and musical subtlties where you can listen and actually tap your feet to the groove....
 
Cheers, mate.

I'm sorry if I'm offending you guys, but that's my honest opinion of him; I honestly don't think he is the be-all-end-all of session drummers. There are other groovers out there in this drumming world that deserve a listen and some praise as well.


thats typical for today. many folks tell us their "honest opinion", but they simply forget,
that to have an opinion means not to say its so and so, but means to have a deep impact on what they tell us their opinion.
Dr Funky nails this case! his deepest opinion talks about nothing.
to compare gadd with Thomas Lang or Virgil Donati shows
he is not knowing what he is talking about.
sad.


good stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M1bEYHJJA8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiBQeTqEDZY

both from "stuff in montreux 1976"

tomgadd
 
Hellow,
Haven't read all the posts so excuse me if this had already been noticed,
But I think there is something wrong on the Steve Gadd Info's page,
His set-up it says

Hardware

Yamaha, DFP-9310 Double Pedal

But if u look well at his Hi-hat pedal u see it dw5000 hardware hi-hat,,
Maybe something for the mods to change,, it might be a cnsidnce that he used it there but not as usual drumkit idno,, just wanted to say :p

Laterz !
 
I was wondering if anyone else on this forum has ever heard "Last Breath of an MC" by Andre Nickatina? He takes the "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" groove and turns it into his own song. I usually hate when rappers take old songs and rap over them, but Nickatina actually pulls it off.
 
I was wondering if anyone else on this forum has ever heard "Last Breath of an MC" by Andre Nickatina? He takes the "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" groove and turns it into his own song. I usually hate when rappers take old songs and rap over them, but Nickatina actually pulls it off.

There was some parody song by Weird Al Called "50 ways so leave Osama" or something like that.
 
Not sure if this has been posted already, but it's ridiculous.

Version of Spain (Chick Corea) by Al Jarreau with a fair massive drum solo by Gadd.

Quotes the melody during his solo. Roaringly awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt1ubSiAp1k

Also features lyrics written by Al.
 
How has this thread gone over half a year without any love?? Oye vey. Definitely time to update with some newish Youtube stuff.

First up is this quirky yet utterly clever mashup of Gadd with Jaco, Chick and B.B:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA472YwhHFo&NR=1

Gadd playing with Stanley Clarke and some German guys back in 1984. The whole concert is also up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMLWsO2WZpg&feature=related

Outro to Paul Simon's "Ace in the Hole" from somewhere around '80 or '81:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuq2MWmAVZ8&feature=related

Gadd And Simon again, this time playing "50 Ways" back in 2000:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTiyLuZOs1A&feature=related

Commercial for Steely Dan's album Aja:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixlCaUJrG1g&feature=related

And last for now, a Gadd solo from 1984, playing with Sadao Watanabe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJHDJGEQyBw&feature=related

Savor 'em!
 
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