Joe Morello was the drummer for the Dave Brubeck Quartet. His skill and style in odd time signatures was something to behold and emulate. His approach to Brubeck's music was often the first study, for many young drummers, in how to interact with odd meters as well as with soloing and stick control. He was a jazz legend in the percussion world.
posted by greenskpr on Mar 14, 2011 - 35 comments

Back in the 1920s, when Warren "Baby" Dodds was busy inventing jazz drumming in the company of pioneers like King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong, to "give the drummer some" usually never meant more than a couple of bars fill every now and again. Fortunately, though, come 1946, when Dodds was already an older man but still in fine playing form, someone had the wherewithal to record this seminal percussion stylist in a series of extended drum solos, displaying his exuberant rhythmic stylings as well as his lending of superbly playful swing to the the rudiments. But let's jump back to the 20's again, and hear drummer Dodds, with the aforementioned King Oliver, take what's gotta be the killingest slide whistle solo in all of jazz history. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite on Mar 22, 2010 - 11 comments

Jazz pioneer Rashied Ali Has died. He leaves behind him a lifetime of collaborations in out jazz, with artists like Ayler, Coltrane, Cherry, Haino, Laswell, Bley, Sanders, and Ulmer. [more inside]
posted by idiopath on Aug 13, 2009 - 21 comments

"At age 21, Eric Kamau Gravatt was McCoy Tyner's drummer, one of the most coveted jobs a jazz musician could hope to get. After 20 years of working as a prison guard, he's back behind the kit again as Tyner's drummer." [more inside]
posted by paulsc on Dec 29, 2007 - 9 comments