Great drummers can play it all

Sonorfan

Active Member
I grew up in the 40s,50s and was into that.. Swing,Jazz or In 60s, Supremes, Stevie Wonder ie: sweeter music, listening and playing it until into the 70s. Then my Teenage daughter and son brought Rock albums both soft and hard into the home. I took immediately to Eagles, ELO etc but when my son took to Kiss and Rush I couldn’t believe it was considered music. He played Bass and was entranced by Geddy Lee and Rush in
particular. He told me how those musicians had played all types of music but I had trouble believing that such “rock heads” knew anything else.
I knew of Neil Peart but only of his time with Rush. I have seen post after post extolling Neil but I always thought
they were Rockers comments’ This week I ran across a 1996 video of Neil playing Cottontail with the Buddy Rich
Big Band. Absolutely mind blowing..
I just text my son who is now 56 and said “ man you were right on” I don’t know why I had my head in the sand for so long but it’s great to know I can still learn at 80. Neil, my Sincere apologies and I hope you,Buddy and Gene are challenging each other in that big music jam in the sky !
 
I grew up in the 40s,50s and was into that.. Swing,Jazz or In 60s, Supremes, Stevie Wonder ie: sweeter music, listening and playing it until into the 70s. Then my Teenage daughter and son brought Rock albums both soft and hard into the home. I took immediately to Eagles, ELO etc but when my son took to Kiss and Rush I couldn’t believe it was considered music. He played Bass and was entranced by Geddy Lee and Rush in
particular. He told me how those musicians had played all types of music but I had trouble believing that such “rock heads” knew anything else.
I knew of Neil Peart but only of his time with Rush. I have seen post after post extolling Neil but I always thought
they were Rockers comments’ This week I ran across a 1996 video of Neil playing Cottontail with the Buddy Rich
Big Band. Absolutely mind blowing..
I just text my son who is now 56 and said “ man you were right on” I don’t know why I had my head in the sand for so long but it’s great to know I can still learn at 80. Neil, my Sincere apologies and I hope you,Buddy and Gene are challenging each other in that big music jam in the sky !

this was the same as my dad as well...was a jazz guy strating in the 60's. Hated rock. He was my first teacher as well. So he was freaking out when I was getting into Styx, Rush and Kansas....and even more so when I got into Iron Maiden, Slayer, Queensryche etc in the 80's. He forbade me to bring any of that music into the house...which of course I ignored right away.

so I was playing Exit...Stage Left one afternoon in the house....real loud...and YYZ came on. I had not realized that he had come home from work early. The drum solo came up in the song, and played through. He came up behind me and walked over to the record player, lifted the needle, and barked "what......the HELL was that?". I thought I was dead. He said "play that again"...I was like "what"....I think we listened to that song 20 times that evening!!!

So that started a life long journey of me teaching him about the greatness happening in other forms of music than jazz. He ended up seeing Rush with me 5 times. Went to Iron Maiden 3 times...

we now have a 40 year standing tradition of listening to the whole Exit...Stage Left album (and other stuff) and playing Risk with my uncle and cousins during the week between Christmas and New Year...
 
I was a rock/pop head well into my 20’s...Buddy Rich was my portal into the past, and when I finally ‘got it’ I dug back into the older players my teacher originally told me about in my teens when I was ‘Mr Whitesnake’ and unable to hear it!! It was after this epiphany that I also rediscovered The Police, the first band I truly loved and to this day my favourite band. (y) :D
 
this was the same as my dad as well...was a jazz guy strating in the 60's. Hated rock. He was my first teacher as well. So he was freaking out when I was getting into Styx, Rush and Kansas....and even more so when I got into Iron Maiden, Slayer, Queensryche etc in the 80's. He forbade me to bring any of that music into the house...which of course I ignored right away.

so I was playing Exit...Stage Left one afternoon in the house....real loud...and YYZ came on. I had not realized that he had come home from work early. The drum solo came up in the song, and played through. He came up behind me and walked over to the record player, lifted the needle, and barked "what......the HELL was that?". I thought I was dead. He said "play that again"...I was like "what"....I think we listened to that song 20 times that evening!!!

So that started a life long journey of me teaching him about the greatness happening in other forms of music than jazz. He ended up seeing Rush with me 5 times. Went to Iron Maiden 3 times...

we now have a 40 year standing tradition of listening to the whole Exit...Stage Left album (and other stuff) and playing Risk with my uncle and cousins during the week between Christmas and New Year...
Not sure I can do what your dad did and listen to those bands But there is no doubt about it that those guys were genuine musicians and played like it.
One thing that I didn’t like were guitarists that covered their inadequacies like playing skills and timing with amps set to “Fuzz”
”So many guitars, so little time”
?
 
Not sure I can do what your dad did and listen to those bands But there is no doubt about it that those guys were genuine musicians and played like it.
One thing that I didn’t like were guitarists that covered their inadequacies like playing skills and timing with amps set to “Fuzz”
”So many guitars, so little time”
?

that never bothered my dad as much as the vocals in many of the bands...he never really did get into any of the heavier stuff with growls, and harsh screaming...and to balance that out, he was never able to fully turn me on to Dixieland, which was his first love...I appreciate it,and especially it's history and influence on music, but it was just a bit too "corny" for me
 
that never bothered my dad as much as the vocals in many of the bands...he never really did get into any of the heavier stuff with growls, and harsh screaming...and to balance that out, he was never able to fully turn me on to Dixieland, which was his first love...I appreciate it,and especially it's history and influence on music, but it was just a bit too "corny" for me
Your Dad and I would have fit like peas in a pods as regards our taste. In actuality Dixieland Musicians especially those in the 50s, had to be great as well. Someone posted that Dixie musicians could only wail and it was undisciplined and not played with charts. How wrong that was. If your Pop is still around ask hime if he knew the Rampart Street Paraders. It was a compilation put together for Columbia by Clarinetist Matty Matlock who was named the Father of White Dixieland. They worked from well arranged charts on melody, cut loose Dixieland style in the middle then came back to the chart.
iI bought my first album of theirs in 55 and have since downloaded the re issue to my phone.. really brilliant.
 
When I was in orchestra we had a Dixieland band offshoot-it was super fun. The conductor also made it a point to recognize different ancestry composers so african ancestry like Scot Joplin, etc. Music crosses all the barriers. He created a college course that really showed how all genres of music are really related-no matter classical, jazz or modern rock. I attended a couple of lectures and it was an interesting course-he had part of orchestra come play for the class one day. It was a great experience for me.
 
Your Dad and I would have fit like peas in a pods as regards our taste. In actuality Dixieland Musicians especially those in the 50s, had to be great as well. Someone posted that Dixie musicians could only wail and it was undisciplined and not played with charts. How wrong that was. If your Pop is still around ask hime if he knew the Rampart Street Paraders. It was a compilation put together for Columbia by Clarinetist Matty Matlock who was named the Father of White Dixieland. They worked from well arranged charts on melody, cut loose Dixieland style in the middle then came back to the chart.
iI bought my first album of theirs in 55 and have since downloaded the re issue to my phone.. really brilliant.

man...just hearing those names brings back great memories. I will ask him tomorrow. It is possible that we have some of that stuff on old clay 78's, cause we still have almost all of my grandfathers 78's, and there is a TON of Dixieland and 20's and 30's era jazz stuff.

Someone posted that Dixie musicians could only wail and it was undisciplined and not played with charts

I think every previous generation says that about the new generation...or about music they don't understand...
 
When I was in orchestra we had a Dixieland band offshoot-it was super fun. The conductor also made it a point to recognize different ancestry composers so african ancestry like Scot Joplin, etc. Music crosses all the barriers. He created a college course that really showed how all genres of music are really related-no matter classical, jazz or modern rock. I attended a couple of lectures and it was an interesting course-he had part of orchestra come play for the class one day. It was a great experience for me.

same here...we did at least 2 or 3 charts from all the standard jazz era's...and we always did at least 2 or 3 Polkas cause our director was über Polish
 
When I was in orchestra we had a Dixieland band offshoot-it was super fun. The conductor also made it a point to recognize different ancestry composers so african ancestry like Scot Joplin, etc. Music crosses all the barriers. He created a college course that really showed how all genres of music are really related-no matter classical, jazz or modern rock. I attended a couple of lectures and it was an interesting course-he had part of orchestra come play for the class one day. It was a great experience for me.
You must be familiar with what we call
”2 feel” ! A lot of early Dixie and even 20s Swing was written in that time signature. It created dances like Lindy Hop and of course Foxtrot which was super popular and the term is still in use today. That two feel persisted into the 40s with bands like Guy Lombardo whose Sax section played like that. Listen to a number called BooHoo.
When I played in a Big Band we had a spin off Dixie group. Our leader was however British Army Band trained and everything was by chart and played “as written”. He wasn’t a fan of free form in the middle of the number so music was somewhat stunted but still fun to play.
 
You must be familiar with what we call
”2 feel” ! A lot of early Dixie and even 20s Swing was written in that time signature. It created dances like Lindy Hop and of course Foxtrot which was super popular and the term is still in use today. That two feel persisted into the 40s with bands like Guy Lombardo whose Sax section played like that. Listen to a number called BooHoo.
When I played in a Big Band we had a spin off Dixie group. Our leader was however British Army Band trained and everything was by chart and played “as written”. He wasn’t a fan of free form in the middle of the number so music was somewhat stunted but still fun to play.
And in 89 we had the pleasure of spending time in New Orleans and the Dixieland was great. I recall a group headed by a local named Eddy Bayonne how was a true Cajun. He played Coronet and his Clarinetist was Monk in Saffron robes who could really play that “licory stick”
One of my fav all time Dixie number is “Is It True What They Say About Dixie”
a great recoding on Decca in 1936 by Jimmie Dorsey really exhibits that “two feel”
 
My Mom was a pianist and she played everything from classical to your name it. I was exposed at an early age. She planted the seed of music in the whole family-to great grandkids. Oh yeah recognize that Jimmy Dorsey song. I don't remember the conductor mentioning that "two feel" but I get what your saying. I love all kinds of music but adding brass to any genre is magical to me. In the Dixieland group any of the brass section tacit for any period where doing the "two feel" tapping away I noted. Usually any distraction like that was a no no but dang you can't help it-fun music.
 
Neil Peart and the Buddy Rich Band ... was IMHO absolutely awful, horrible to listen to. Peart has his merits and had huge success, but jazz ain't his thing. Really not. Compare his performance to that of e.g. Dave Weckl with the same band - it's night and day.
 
My Mom was a pianist and she played everything from classical to your name it. I was exposed at an early age. She planted the seed of music in the whole family-to great grandkids. Oh yeah recognize that Jimmy Dorsey song. I don't remember the conductor mentioning that "two feel" but I get what your saying. I love all kinds of music but adding brass to any genre is magical to me. In the Dixieland group any of the brass section tacit for any period where doing the "two feel" tapping away I noted. Usually any distraction like that was a no no but dang you can't help it-fun music.
Sure is and a lot of the early Dixie was played quasi military style on a snare drum only. Even early drum kit players utilized that style using blocks, cowbells and rims for accents. As you know Cymbals were often small brassy splash types that had quick decay.
 
Neil Peart and the Buddy Rich Band ... was IMHO absolutely awful, horrible to listen to. Peart has his merits and had huge success, but jazz ain't his thing. Really not. Compare his performance to that of e.g. Dave Weckl with the same band - it's night and day.
Everyone to their own taste.. but to say Peart was awful is like saying
Bach’s music was out of key. Neil wasn’t happy with that performance but his licks were great. Look at the video and see the reactions of the Sax section behind him. They liked it !
just sayin..
Salute
 
My Mom was a pianist and she played everything from classical to your name it. I was exposed at an early age. She planted the seed of music in the whole family-to great grandkids. Oh yeah recognize that Jimmy Dorsey song. I don't remember the conductor mentioning that "two feel" but I get what your saying. I love all kinds of music but adding brass to any genre is magical to me. In the Dixieland group any of the brass section tacit for any period where doing the "two feel" tapping away I noted. Usually any distraction like that was a no no but dang you can't help it-fun music.
I just discovered a version on YouTube by Bill Haley and the Comets that I didn’t know existed. In the 50s his as one band I followed as most of his stuff was done in 4/4 which was in my wheelhouse. It reaLly has that “two feel”
 
I believe Vinnie Colaiuta can play any genre equally well as any pro of that genre. He's just phenomenal. Now that ain't saying he's the best but just phenomenal LOL.
 
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