Harvey Mason

thiscocks

Member
Always loved his playing. Amazing feel, and makes the simplest fill sound so good and well suited to a particular song. He never hits them too hard, sometimes v. delicate which I like. One of my fave traks of his is 'Danger' off Don Grusins 10kla album. Quite an over electronicly sounding album but his playing shines through at its best I think. On that track there are some fills towards the end just simple 2e,and,a on the snare and racks and its just soo amazing, not clinical, just so personal and really letting the groove be heard (N.East on really nice bass track). Love his stuff with ritenour too, like on the video on here. Also check out him on 'Grand piano canyon' for Bob James. First track is quality, again with N.East.

Any other fave tracks by him?...

Tim
 
Any other fave tracks by him?...

Chameleon!*
Herbie Hancock
Harvey Mason on drums + Paul Jackson on the bass = FUNKY!

*(also check out the version of this on Gov't Mules "Deepest" end DVD, Jackson on Bass, Matt Abts on drums, Warren Haynes on Guitar, Bernie Worrel on keys, and the entire horn line from the Dirty Dozen Brass Band - including the sousaphone!)
 
I am truly amazed that this is the first thread on Harvey Mason! He is one of the reasons I became s serious drummer - so much soul, so much groove, so much technique! He is a legend and is right up there with Gadd, Chambers and Colauita. I remember hearing Weekend in LA by George Benson and just being blown away by his playing. If you are a fan of his I strongly suggest Dave Grusin's tribute to Duke Ellington which has some of the best jazz playing I have ever heard to some great arrangements of some great songs. The version of Cotton Tail is a joy.

Paul
 
Very rarely do I hear a song on the radio that immediately grabs my attention but I was flipping through some satellite radio stations a few months ago and landed on a jazz piece that did just that. It was a piece by Hubert Laws (flute) where he had adapted a classical piece called Farandole by Georges Bizet (Carmen). The drum adaptation of this was a pure joy to listen to.

I'm not 100% certain of this but after doing a goodly bit of research it looks like Harvey Mason was the drummer on that track.
 
1 of my all time favorites. He's one of the reasons I play. And he is really the reason why I listen so carefully to other musicians.

I too cannot believe this is the first thread dedicated to a guy who is on hundreds upon hundreds of albums.

I think this shows that many of today's drummers only listen to very few players. This is why to my ears most all sound the same.
 
I am truly amazed that this is the first thread on Harvey Mason! He is one of the reasons I became s serious drummer - so much soul, so much groove, so much technique! He is a legend and is right up there with Gadd, Chambers and Colauita. I remember hearing Weekend in LA by George Benson and just being blown away by his playing. If you are a fan of his I strongly suggest Dave Grusin's tribute to Duke Ellington which has some of the best jazz playing I have ever heard to some great arrangements of some great songs. The version of Cotton Tail is a joy.

Paul
Well said Paul. Harvey is a Master behind the drums.
Also George Benson's "Breezin" and Grusin's "Mountain Dance".
 
I'm going for "Weekend in LA" by George Benson, also with Ralph McDonald on percussion - and Grusin;s tribute to Duke Ellington. I also like Harvey's playing on Journey by Fourplay.

Paul
 
Anyone else?

Listening to a helluva lot of Headhunters and Man Child lately, and a little bit of Funk In The Mason Jar (thanks to Wy Yung, I saw a recommendation of that recently enough).

I'd love to check out more of his best stuff; but I could spend forever digging into these three records. The guy's playing is beautiful.
 
I dug Harvey the first time I heard him with George Benson (Breezin', then the live Weekend in L.A.) - then another discovery was Herbie Hancock's "Sunlight" album. He's also a percussionist and is one of those first-call guys in L.A.. So he's in that inner circle with Joe Porcaro, Emil Richards, Larry Bunker....that groups of six guys that do everything here. He's like Buddy Rich to me - like what can you say besides, "Harvey Mason"? I'm sure I'm hearing him on all kinds of things throughout the day!
 
Been watching Lee Ritenour's Overtime quite a bit for the last month. Harvey Mason is truly one of the best of all time. His body of work rivals anyone.
 
One of my favorite killer grooves by Harvey is Strawberry Letter 23 by Brothers Johnson. What a feel!!

Also, Lee Ritenour's Captain Fingers is a great album, especially the title track.

Seals and Croft's Diamond Girl is another tasty Mason track, as well.
 
Such an awesome drummer. I'm not sure how many people know this but he is primarily a percussionist or at least that's how he started out. He was knocking on doors to get into studio work as a drummer and the rest is history.

I grew up on Harvey Mason from 1976 when I was seventeen, first major influence in funk and jazz. Couldn't get enough of his playing. Have various George Benson albums he played on like Breezin', Nature Boy and Weekend in L.A, bought two of his solo albums, Funk in a Mason Jar and Groovin' You, and a Dave Grusin album called Mountain Dance.

In 1980 I was fortunate to have two or three lessons with Mr Harrison. I only mention this because he was a big fan of Mason and I remember us talking about a Grusin song called 'Ragbag' with really interesting drum parts. Gavin showed me a chart he'd written out of that song. Not a transcription, but Gavin said this is how he expected the chart to have been presented to Harvey Mason in the studio. He'd written (very precisely as you would expect) all the main tricky figures that needed to be played exactly since they're in unison with the piano, and the rest was basically groove and ad lib. I don't think he wrote out the 4 bar drum break near the start.

This is Ragbag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhIcRHavI_Y
 
Merlin,

I remember being in London, at "Henrit´s" Drum Shop in year 1980 and meeting a session drummer there that took me to his house and played the whole part of "Captain Fingers" over the record note by note, perfectly (quite difficult and LONG song). Can´t remember the name, he was a bit older than me, then I was 21, top player!

"Captain Fingers" (Harvey Mason with Ritenour):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YZE8Vz00dc

There was also a guy in London those days that had a style very similar in "intention" THEN, Paul Robinson, very tight. I used to see him back then at Ronnie´s and everywhere. We hanged together with Gary Husband (then 19). Remember Gary sitting in on one of Paul¨s gigs with Pepe Lemmer.

Just in case, if you are curious, me 21 in 1980:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBWTuqROAcU

Best,

Alex
 
Last edited:
Hey Alex, thanks for posting those. Great playing by both you and Mason. That Ritenour piece sure is difficult though! I know of Paul Robinson, I think he became Nina Simone's drummer.

Here's a couple of my favourites from two of Harvey's solo albums, both have great drumming and some tasty drum breaks. The first song reminds me of early Cobham fusion but without the blistering rolls. Mason has a distinctive light and nimble touch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjc8K4lI0EY

This song is fast soul funk with vocals, loads of tom fills and some bebop halfway through!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kyt3_s-PZV4
 
Merlin,

Thank you for your words about my playing.

Yes, is that Paul Robinson, though his playing with Nina Simone is pretty different to the one I described. I don´t know if you saw him playing during 1980-1

I have all Harvey Mason albums (even recent ones), as they were comming out (my favorite was "Earth Mover") I was buying them, we (the musicians) were waiting them ancious, each arrival (Cobham, Williams, etc.), certainly a different time than today that noone buys anything...EACH RECORD WAS A MEMORABLE MOMENT of celebration (of course I¨m talking about the records nf that style).

Best regards!

500x500.jpg
 
Last edited:
Back
Top