Shuffle albums to learn from?

[bongoman]

I like to play along with albums to pick up on the feel and phrasing. Are there any you can recommend as great education in different shuffles? Individual tracks like Rosanna are cool but it’s more economically practical to get whole albums, since I often buy CDs. I’m talking all kinds and regions of shuffles, new and old, as long as the drummer is someone to study.
Thanks!

 

[bermuda]

Try "With A Little Help From My Friends" (Beatles.) It's a simple part, yet not so simple to get Ringo's fluid yet solid feel.

 

[eddypierce]

I like to play along with albums to pick up on the feel and phrasing. Are there any you can recommend as great education in different shuffles? Individual tracks like Rosanna are cool but it’s more economically practical to get whole albums, since I often buy CDs. I’m talking all kinds and regions of shuffles, new and old, as long as the drummer is someone to study.
Thanks!

Here are some albums, off the top of my head, that I particularly like:

My Blues, by Kim Wilson (Richard Innes on drums)
His Best, by Little Walter (Fred Below et al on drums)
His Best, by Sonny Boy Williamson (Fred Below et al on drums)
Best of Booker T. And the MGs (Al Jackson on drums)
Live at Montreux, by Junior Wells and Buddy Guy (Odie Payne on drums)
Live at the Regal, by BB King (Sonny Freeman on drums)
Strange Pleasure, by Jimmy Vaughn (George Rains on drums)
Any Freddie King compilation of his King records years (Philip Paul on drums)
Robben Ford and the Blue Line (Tom Brechtlein on drums)
From the Cradle, by Eric Clapton (Jim Keltner on drums
Any Martha and the Vandellas compilation (Richard "Pistol" Allen, Benny Benjamin et al on drums)

These are mostly blues records, but they feature a range of different shuffle styles. Other drummers with great shuffles to check out are Art Blakey, Chris Columbus (with Louis Jordan), S.P. Leary, Earl Palmer, Vinnie Colaiuta, Steve Gadd, Jim Gordon, Earl Phillips, and Sam Lay.

 

[MntnMan62]

The tune that taught me how to play a shuffle beat was Toto’s Rosanna with Jeff Porcaro’s insane feel. I practiced that beat so much as a teen that it is now one of my best grooves.

 

[cbphoto]

Check out the shuffles Chris Layton lays down for Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Here he rides the snare with his left hand while playing only quarter notes on the cymbal with his right.

And then there's a ZZ Top tune that sits atop the shuffle pile (I'm always happily surprised at how tight Frank Beard plays this):

 

[bongoman]

Here are some albums, off the top of my head, that I particularly like:

My Blues, by Kim Wilson (Richard Innes on drums)
His Best, by Little Walter (Fred Below et al on drums)
His Best, by Sonny Boy Williamson (Fred Below et al on drums)
Best of Booker T. And the MGs (Al Jackson on drums)
Live at Montreux, by Junior Wells and Buddy Guy (Odie Payne on drums)
Live at the Regal, by BB King (Sonny Freeman on drums)
Strange Pleasure, by Jimmy Vaughn (George Rains on drums)
Any Freddie King compilation of his King records years (Philip Paul on drums)
Robben Ford and the Blue Line (Tom Brechtlein on drums)
From the Cradle, by Eric Clapton (Jim Keltner on drums
Any Martha and the Vandellas compilation (Richard "Pistol" Allen, Benny Benjamin et al on drums)

These are mostly blues records, but they feature a range of different shuffle styles. Other drummers with great shuffles to check out are Art Blakey, Chris Columbus (with Louis Jordan), S.P. Leary, Earl Palmer, Vinnie Colaiuta, Steve Gadd, Jim Gordon, Earl Phillips, and Sam Lay.

Thanks, and thanks for picking up on the “album” part of the request. I’m cooking with that that Wells/Guy Live at Montreux album now, it’s a killer!

 

[eddypierce]

Thanks, and thanks for picking up on the “album” part of the request. I’m cooking with that that Wells/Guy Live at Montreux album now, it’s a killer!

I'm glad you like it! Odie Payne is on a lot of great blues tunes going back to the 50's, but on the Montreux album (from the late 70's) you can hear what he's doing a little more clearly than on earlier albums. One of my favorite shuffles is the one he plays on Chuck Berry's "No Particular Place to Go."

 

[JoeVermont]

Here's a perhaps unusual suggestion out of classic rock left field .... Uriah Heep, Live 1973.
There's a bunch of rock and roll, boogie-woogie, hard rock shuffling going on there in Easy Livin', Love Machine, and Look at Yourself.
Lee Kerslake was a monster player and seamlessly integrated massive drum fills within the shuffle framework. In Easy livin' some of the old You Tube vids look like he's actually playing a Chicago-style blues shuffle - and sings backup vocals, too. Enjoy!