I got to meet Bernard Purdie!!!

I had the honor of meeting Zoro and Pretty Purdie at the CT Drum show. He is one of the coolest funniest dudes in the industry. "Here's a industry secret....Ray Charles aint' blind" His groove is undeniable, he told a story while he was playing and I just had goosebumps, and his fills were so tasty!
 
Nice, I would love to see him.
I love Bernard Purdie's drumming. That guy can groove with such ease. Such a natural.
I just hope he didn't get into discussing early Beatles tracks.
 
Cool, so he was just hanging out demonstrating drums? Any particular booth/vendor he was aligned with? Or was he just working the room? Tell tell. Did he have the big fedora on? We need lotsa details, Purdy please.

Anything interesting we should know about Zoro?
 
Hey DrummerJunkie! CT native here as well! Drum show was great - tons of great gear, good drums shops, nice people and both Zoro and Bernard Purdie were amazing.

Here's a video that I took of him soloing around the Purdie Shuffle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8Lb8lWBN44

Also, the guy who enters around 1:35 is Santana's drummer! He didn't play though, maybe he'll come back and do a clinic :)
 
Thanks. Excellent video. Love his feel.
Did anyone else think/hear that those nice DW drums were tuned way too low, not really sounding all their potential?
 
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Actually, it wasn't Bernard Purdie who played on those mysterious Beatles tracks... and also they released an alternative cover because of it ...

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... it was Bernhard Castiglioni, only very few people know this...
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I'm an older bass player - keyboardist- I once upon a time did a record date around 1970-1972, with Purdie- sadly my only date with him. I was honored, and not a little nervous, knowing he was tight with his main man Chuck Rainey. I have little recall of the event. So I will just make a few sound byte type comments.
He had a "thick", impossible to destroy wonderful groove.
I did studio work in NYC from around 1968 through 1991 and I NEVER saw a drummer do what he did. At the count off of the tune, you normally hear a "one two three four" or maybe sticks clicking. It's been 20+ years since my studio days so if I skipped another method of starting a song or jingle, please excuse me.
Back to my Purdie experience... He is the ONLY drummer in my twenty plus years experience as a part time session bass player, who PLAYED IN the COUNT OFF! Instead of the usual expected 1 2 3 4 or whatever, he PLAYED in the groove where the count off would normally be.
This is a great idea for better grooves; he authoritively establishes the groove with relaxed uncontested confidence, before anyone else plays. This was just before click tracks were introduced.
I did mostly jingles, though that Purdie date was at "Media" something or other "Media Sound", was not a jingle?? It was a transformed church I believe, popular in its day. around 57th Street; if any old timer recalls.
My bass was the best bass I ever owned a 1952 Fender that was later stolen
It sounded just great in the studios. Very high tension ( bass players were still under the influence of James Jamerson ) high thick flatwounds that were never changed!

I mention the bass because Purdie quipped to me something about my bass was "out of tune". I am not sure if it was or not , but I think ( just guessing, this is the way I took it, could be mistaken or paranoid ) he was saying this to me- his only words to me- to mess with me. I didn't get too offended, would you?

I had heard the rumor way back when that Purdie played on Beattle tracks... nothing more specific than that.
Fast forward to a few years ago... like many players I knew, Ringo was not held in high esteem the way Gadd or Purdie etc are.
Well I met an excellent bass player, bass builder, amp builder who worked with Leo Fender decades earlier. This guy could play rock like I never heard... I hang out in jazz and funk circles, and never had a proper respect for Rock bass playing or music for the most part. This player ( John Kallas from Thousand Oaks) taught me about rock bass just by playing me old tracks he had recorded live. All of this to say, HE TOLD ME RINGO is a monster, a great great drummer and highly esteemed in this rock world, that I previously had less than an appropriate degree of respect for.
Deep down, I knew there must be something to Rock playing ( as distinct from R&B or Funk ) but consciously my mind kind of dissed it. It took hearing this serious Rock player to change my mind pronto. And he strongly asserted that Ringo was a bad mofo, and that Purdie either unlikely played on Beattle records, or regardless if he did on a few, that Ringos groove was undoubtedly a part of many if not all the Beattle popular tracks many of us love.
And NEITHER RIngo nor Purdie were known as technical players, so the comparison is "apples to apples" in that sense- both bad ass groove first and last players.
 
Back to my Purdie experience... He is the ONLY drummer in my twenty plus years experience as a part time session bass player, who PLAYED IN the COUNT OFF! Instead of the usual expected 1 2 3 4 or whatever, he PLAYED in the groove where the count off would normally be.
This is a great idea for better grooves; he authoritively establishes the groove with relaxed uncontested confidence, before anyone else plays. .

Interesting experience. I'm wondering though, in some ways didn't many/all the Motown drummers do this too? Benny Benjamin...Uriel..Pistol....they invented what soem refer to as the ' Motown pickups' that basically start the tune .... essentially playing drums in the count-in. For example, listen to 1st bits of "Dancin' in the Streets"...others too
 
Interesting experience. I'm wondering though, in some ways didn't many/all the Motown drummers do this too? Benny Benjamin...Uriel..Pistol....they invented what soem refer to as the ' Motown pickups' that basically start the tune .... essentially playing drums in the count-in. For example, listen to 1st bits of "Dancin' in the Streets"...others too

I have no clue, but I loved their groove as so many of us do. I imagine this makes sense. I never played in Detroit, so..
I did play in NYC in the heyday. And not because I was first call, I was not, but the drummers I played with WERE first call, and NONE of them did the Purdie trick or as you suggest the Motown drum pick up trick.
With some pride
here is a partial list of wonderful groove players I recorded with
none of whom used the Purdie drum count off:

Ronnie Hand
Andy Newmark
Steve Jordan
Rick Marotta
Alan Schwartzberg
Denny Sewell spelling!!
Ronnie Zito
Joe Cocuzzo
Terry Silverlight
Billy Cobham
Buddy Williams
Purdie
Al Rogers
Art Rodriguez

To one degree or another all of these players had a unique quality that was easy to play with.
Call it what you want.. but a musician should be easy to find your groove with his groove.
Call it harmony or harmoniousness.
Purdie had this quality to a great degree, that is why people hired him so much
Ditto for Gadd who I never had the pleasure to play with.
The bigger picture is MAKING music. If my playing is both strong AND easy for you to play with... that is the best you can hope for.
 
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