Drums of the bohicans

May 7, 2004 12:13 AM

The great studio drummer Steve Gadd is of the most important musicians of the 1970's. Gadd brought bassist Tony Levin (Buddy Rich, Paul Simon, John Lennon, Peter Gabriel, King Crimson) into the business in New York 30 years ago, and that alone is enough to secure a place in history. You may remember his unforgettable groove on "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover", one of many brilliant contributions Gadd made to classics of the 70's pop charts
posted by crunchburger (30 comments total)

Christ, he's so damn good. I prefer the second excerpt from Steely Dan's "Aja". (It's a little flashy, but very cool.)

As a percussionist/drummer with a bit of training, I can certainly hear both his training and his intuition in his performances. I don't play much anymore, really, but I think about rhythms constantly, and I tap and stuff constantly, as well. Anyway, as I've aged, and it's been 25 years since I first learned to play, I've become increasingly aware that all of the true genius in performance is in the incredible subtlety of consistent, um, mathematical imperfection. A large amount of expression in rhythm is what you're "saying" when you deviate from how a computer would play that rhythm. The best percussionists hew very close to mathematical precision, but there's something there, just beneath the surface, that clearly expresses their emotional relationship to the beat. You can very much hear this in Gadd's "50 Ways" beat.₁ When I hear a drummer, certainly in jazz, doing this it makes me very excited. But, of course, generally jazz performers are expressive in very exciting ways.

Steve Gadd. Thanks, Crunchburger for the link. It's great.

1 It occurs to me Gadd's beat in that song is perhaps metaphorical but resonant with even a naive listener; that is, it's glib but very slightly drags—the glibness expressing the songs lyrics, but the slight drag expressing the hidden reluctance (or fear) to leave.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 1:29 AM on May 7, 2004

Wow. I had not seen that name in years. Thanks for the trip Crunchburger.
posted by Dick Paris at 3:53 AM on May 7, 2004

Apparently he nailed Steely Dan's Aja in one take. Unreal.
posted by ghastlyfop at 5:12 AM on May 7, 2004

Wasn't he the guy they based The Mupppet's 'Animal' on?
posted by prolific at 5:25 AM on May 7, 2004

The Muppets'

Argh.
posted by prolific at 5:25 AM on May 7, 2004

"Aja" forces me to play air drums every time even though the only part I ever nail is the tom fill at the fade out.
posted by petebest at 8:43 AM on May 7, 2004

Gadd is probably the only modern drummer I would put in the same league as the legendary Buddy Rich or Gene Krupa. Virtually every "great" rock drummer pales in comparison.
posted by malocchio at 9:06 AM on May 7, 2004

Steve is one of Rochester, NY's musical exports (along with Chuck Mangione, Wendy O. Williams of the Plasmatics, Son House, Steve Greene, The Campbell Brothers, Cab Calloway, Lou Gramm of Foreigner, Alec Wilder, and others I can't think of at the moment) and an Eastman School of Music grad.
posted by tommasz at 9:14 AM on May 7, 2004

Tony. Levin. Rocks.
posted by LairBob at 9:25 AM on May 7, 2004

not exactly rock, but awesome nonetheless
posted by dfowler at 9:35 AM on May 7, 2004

Interestingly, the very coolness of the groove of "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" stole the song from Paul Simon, making Levin the auteur, and marking the end of Paul Simon's glory years. "50 Way to Leave Your Lover" was the tombstone of Simon's talent. From then on, his songs were weak ("50 Ways" itself is pretty limp, percussion aside) leaned on one or another gimmick, instrument or groove, rather than the Simon's innate songwriting genius (most vividly apparent in "The Boxer" and "Red Rubber Ball"). On a wider scale, the very excellence of 70s studio musicians helped kill the rock revolution of the sixties, which depended on a very different, more anonymous studio musician of the "Wrecking Crew" school. The exaggerated reverence that the 60s rock artists who grew into the seventies had for instrumental virtuosity (as opposed to their own rough-'n'-ready inspiration) caused them to mistrust everything that was good about themselves, and hand their music off to these highly skilled, but bland professionals, who proceeded to drive it into the ground -- making disco necessary, along with everything that followed.
posted by Faze at 9:38 AM on May 7, 2004

From then on, his songs were weak ("50 Ways" itself is pretty limp, percussion aside) leaned on one or another gimmick, instrument or groove, rather than the Simon's innate songwriting geniusI

What about Graceland? Simon's songwriting doesn't make the album great but nevertheless the album is great.
posted by rdr at 9:48 AM on May 7, 2004

rdr -- Paul Simon was the catalyst of "Graceland," but it is the beautiful energy of his South African collaborators makes the album great.
posted by Faze at 9:59 AM on May 7, 2004

Faze, there are a couple of amazing insights in that comment. Thanks!
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 10:01 AM on May 7, 2004

What are you guys talking about? "50 Ways" is an extremely well-crafted song. Sure, Simon writes like someone who summers at writers' colonies, and his hit-to-miss ratio declines with each passing decade, but that's a hell of a great song.

And agreed; Gadd and Levin are both incredible musicians. Popular music is better for what they've brought.
posted by chicobangs at 10:02 AM on May 7, 2004

Faze--the logical extension of your argument would place the blame pretty squarely on "Sgt. Peppers", the original "studio" album. Once the whole "studio-centric" approach took off, it's hard to blame genuinely talented folks for making the most of it.

Two other points:

- Anyone who puts down their guitar and gives up because "that other guy plays better than me" is hard to call a real rocker in the first place

- There's also a solid market-based argument that the more polished "prog-rock" music of the 70s gained ascendance because the 60s "rock" had gotten pretty tired, itself. It's hard to imagine the general public abandoning a vital and exciting form that had already won their hearts.

In the long run, I think you could argue that it was to "rock" music's benefit to hibernate and recharge for a while. When you look at the great music that sprang up in the late 70s and early 80s (everything from the Sex Pistols to the Buzzcocks to the Jam) as a response to the excesses of the 70s, it's hard to imagine those same folks being going back to the "roots" if the music had never left those roots.

No vibrant musical genre has really sustained itself indefinitely. I don't think it's realistic to blame talented musicians for filling in a gap that I don't think they really created.
posted by LairBob at 10:06 AM on May 7, 2004

The exaggerated reverence that the 60s rock artists who grew into the seventies had for instrumental virtuosity (as opposed to their own rough-'n'-ready inspiration) caused them to mistrust everything that was good about themselves, and hand their music off to these highly skilled, but bland professionals,

There's no law of physics that says that rough-'n'-ready inspiration and professional craftsmanship cany co-exist, even in session guys.
posted by jonmc at 10:18 AM on May 7, 2004

LairBob, you make very good points. And I actually do think that "Sgt. Pepper" (actually, "Tomorrow Never Knows" on "Revolver"), was the end of most of what was good about 60s rock (all its brilliance notwithstanding).
posted by Faze at 10:20 AM on May 7, 2004

Faze, it's a well documented fact that American Popular Culture peaked in 1966. This book proves it.

That fact that I wasn't alive yet for it kills me. I can only hope I OD'd in the bathroom of the Fillmore in '68 and was reincarnated in my current form.
posted by jonmc at 10:33 AM on May 7, 2004

Matt Chamberlain is also pretty amazing.
posted by botono9 at 10:57 AM on May 7, 2004

jonmc: But Etta James' miraculous Tell Mama came out in '67. And a reissue includes both blues, soul with country and serious rock influences and, not trivial here, a cover of "I Got You Babe." It's representative of the apex of American popular culture, all of it summed up in one CD. As a bonus, it comes from the apparent love child of Minnesota Fats. Oh, and of course she was backed by session guys.
posted by raysmj at 11:12 AM on May 7, 2004

Ray, I didn't say that nothing good came out after '66, just that that was the absolute peak. I've heard that "I Got You Babe," cover and like Pretty Purdie with Carol King's "It's Too Late," she does the impossible and makes it funky.
posted by jonmc at 11:16 AM on May 7, 2004

I gotta get this Etta James record!
posted by Faze at 11:29 AM on May 7, 2004

Damon Che - Oh Suzanna via eptionic.
posted by atom128 at 11:54 AM on May 7, 2004

The exaggerated reverence that the 60s rock artists who grew into the seventies had for instrumental virtuosity (as opposed to their own rough-'n'-ready inspiration) caused them to mistrust everything that was good about themselves

no, no, no.

you simply don't have a leg to stand on in this argument, because there is no possible counter-comparison: tell me, please, where in pop music - million sellers or hipster underground - we have any grouping, generation, new movement, etc. who by and large don't decline to a very great degree after 10 years in the business.

paul simon's heyday was about 10 years - which for a major talent is almost perfect. lennon had 10. was it reliance on studio talent that ruined their mid-70s lps? no, it was boring songs and no real desire to prove anything or please his fans.

even in jazz, there's a huge dropoff after their initial prime era for 90% of major artists.

[as for what caused punk and disco, it had very little to do with the lps made by 60s heroes as they slid downhill. disco was a series of exciting innovations in dance music ranging from better microphones recording the hi-hat to speeding up funk to dizzying extremes to absorbing salsa stylings into r&b. punk, of course, was simply a fashion movement that got out of hand. musically it was pretty much just a continuation of lots of different popular styles: pub rock, nihilistic metal, experiments with synths, ska and rockabilly revivals, etc.]

i won't even touch that nonsense about the beatles signalling some sort of end... other than to say, the only serious rock fans i've ever known who prefer the music of 1964-1966 over 1967-1969 had extreme mod tendencies in their collection, and were much more into soul music than rock. there was such a huge "flowering" of all sorts of weird and wonderful lps in the late 60s...
posted by mitchel at 2:21 PM on May 7, 2004

I'm sorry I missed this thread when it happened. If there's anyone still listening, I made a couple of comments about the great Gadd over on my blog.
posted by e.e. coli at 6:48 PM on May 7, 2004

as the legendary Buddy Rich or Gene Krupa.

Forgetting Max Roach is blasphemy. Check out the Roach -vs- Rich drum duels on your local P2P network. Well worth the time.
posted by Dark Messiah at 6:59 PM on May 7, 2004

rdr -- Paul Simon was the catalyst of "Graceland," but it is the beautiful energy of his South African collaborators makes the album great.

That was my point. Simon's ability to recognize talented collaborators and work with them that made that album great. It's the antithesis of the one kid with a guitar and a pen school of rock but it's still vital work. Also, Boy In The Bubble does show off some stellar songwriting skills.

It was a slow day
And the sun was beating
On the soldiers by the side of the road
There was a bright light
A shattering of shop windows
The bomb in the baby carriage
Was wired to the radio
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry

It was a dry wind
And it swept across the desert
And it curled into the circle of birth
And the dead sand
Falling on the children
The mothers and the fathers
And the automatic earth
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry

It's a turn-around jump shot
It's everybody jump start
It's every generation throws a hero up the pop charts
Medicine is magical and magical is art, think of
The Boy in the Bubble
And the baby with the baboon heart

And I believe
These are the days of lasers in the jungle
Lasers in the jungle somewhere
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires and baby
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry
posted by rdr at 8:55 PM on May 7, 2004

Rdr: Lyrics don't count. Anybody can write lyrics. It's the tune that's hard.
Note to Mitchel: Your comments are sane and judicious. I would say almost too much so, up until your last couple of assertions about 67-68 being superior to 65-66. The weird luminescence of the late sixties certainly has something to be said for it, but it was the light of a decaying corpse, and many among us loved the deceased dearly.
posted by Faze at 3:44 PM on May 8, 2004

petebest - thanks for posting. You'll get another band together, don't worry.

jonmc - damn straight. In the 'Standing in the Shadows of Motown' film, one guy said "You know, you could have Donald Duck singing over these tracks and it would be a hit"...

Faze: If your 5-year old could paint that, why doesn't he? Seriously, I think your remarks about Levin (sic) becoming the auteur of "50 Ways" are insightful and fresh, although I'm not ready to agree with you in all respects.

Perhaps this will be the first of a series of posts (/wendell) about the unsung Gods of pop music, the studio A-listers.
posted by crunchburger at 4:34 PM on May 17, 2004