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I'm too old and lazy to re-find the original thread that had so much activity/traction.

I tried to access the original thread... epic Clemfail.
If there is anyone who can merge this new thread with the old one, please feel free. Otherwise, I'll soldier on with this new thread starter.

4 decades ago, I asked my wife's Brother in-Law who he thought was the best 70's-'80's drum kit player.
Larry's answer: "Max Weinberg/E Street Band."

I countered with: "Stewart Copeland/The Police."
Ensued: a spirited, stimulating 30-minute debate about technique, time-keeping, and the role of The Drummer in a band.

Last night, I stumbled upon this gem. It made me think back on my conversation with Larz R. (R.I.P.).

____________

In this video, Stewart not only gives fans some 'Cops' history, but also puts on a present-day
drum kit clinic.

Watch what this old man can still do, starting at 4:18 in the documentary







"too many notes, not enough music-"

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Ok...a few bad words in here, but it needs to slide.

Ringo was way under rated, and others, some mentioned here agree.

Plus, name a drum kit more famous than this kit.



If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.

GM Strong




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Tag your it.


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With all due respect, Mr. Clem, Copeland couldn’t carry Neil Peart’s bass drum pedal. With the possible exception of John Bonham, in terms of rock drumming, Peart is the GOAT.

Others I like: John Densmore of the Doors, very attuned to what the other musicians were doing. A creative drummer.

Charlie Watts could hold a groove even if he fell asleep at the kit. Love his simplicity AND his dependability.

There’s a percussionist who’s played with Billy Joel for years, Crystal Taliefro and she plays with soul and passion. She’s a multi-faceted musician and has a “from-the-gut” voice that slays.


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gmstrong

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Mitch Mitchell has been overlooked as a drummer but he was damn good.


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Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.

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Fun solo.
I especially liked the cross-sticking he did near the end- just before the big (swing time) finish.


"too many notes, not enough music-"

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It is almost silly how good these guys are.


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How sick is THAT?

Caravan: an absolute gem of a classic by Duke Ellington. It's now considered a standard, and is forever ensconced in the cannon. You can't call yourself a Jazz player if you don't know this piece.
The architecture: it's written in AABA form (you don't need a Master's degree in composition to understand it) The main theme (A) is stated for 8 bars, then re-stated, verbatim. A contrasting section of 8 bars (B) follows, and then there is a return to the first 8 bars. It's also know as "32-bar form." Those 32 bars are what we call the 'Head.' After the head is played, the Jazz combo launches into a series of solos by various players. All of them base their solos on this skeletal structure. For reference, listen to "I Got Rhythm," by George Gershwin.

I give this short primer to explain my reference in entry #9, follows.

The timeline:

1. 1:00: Jo Jones begins his solo on snare, snares disengaged - with no sticks. Watch how he uses his index finger to act as a fulcrum- pivoting between thumb and f5. Subtle, fast as lightning. Dropping quiet bombs on the kick drum 1/16th off the pulse
2. 1:23: Love the use of rim shots to bring up the volume/energy. No skins in this section. Different rims produce different pitches. They sound like bongos. Watch the rimstick work at 1:45.
3. Did you hear his quote of "Salt Peanuts" at the 2:00 mark? Grinning at his own 'inside joke.' I'm already losing it.
4. 2:30: It sounds like he's dropped tempo into a slow swing. What he's really done is something called 'augmentation.' That frenetic pace is still cooking in the background, but he's stretched out the timing between strikes to make is sound slow. THE PULSE HAS NOT ACTUALLY CHANGED. Genius.
5. 'Hand work' approaching the 3:00 mark makes it sound as if he's working an entirely different kit.
6. After the extended snare drum roll, listen to the hi-hat at 4:00. Still snapping on 2 and 4, you can hear that he hasn't lost the original tempo at all. Dude's got a metronome in his chest.
7. 4:30: watch the cross-sticking. Right hand plays a drum to his left/left hand plays a drum on his right. Now, he's just showing off.
8. 5:30: back to the original quiet stick work on and near the rims... and listen to how quietly he can get those drums to speak. I can almost see the audience leaning forward in their seats, as he draws them in. He knows that a whisper can sometimes be more powerful than a shout. He brought that entire drum solo right back to its genesis. Total mastery at work.
9. The bass player sets up the return of the band 4 bars before the beginning of the B section, when the band re-enters to close the tune, to take it out. (I told you that primer was for a purpose, didn't I? wink )

This drum solo is the epitome of musicianship.
So many different sounds, so many different touches, timbres. And to think that he did all with the most minimalist of kits:

1 kick drum
1 snare
2 floor toms (bass and tenor)
1 crash cymbal
1 hi-hat

In less than 10 minutes, this Player made more music with his minimalist setup than most drummers (with 30+ -item kits) will ever make in their entire lifetimes.

It isn't the size of tool kit.
It's expertise of the craftsman who works the tools.


.02



Bone: Have you ever seen the Clint Eastwood produced/directed 1988 movie "Bird?" It's a biopic of Charlie 'Yardbird' Parker, BeBop sax pioneer. The opening scene features a close-up, slow-motion follow of the flight of a drum kit cymbal heading towards the feet of a young sax player, at an after-hours jam session. That scene was taken straight from Jazz history/lore. The sax player- Parker, or course. The cymbal tosser: Papa Jo Jones. True story. Musicians are nasty, judgmental beasts.


"too many notes, not enough music-"

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When it comes to jazz from that time if there is film. I probably have seen it.

"Bird" was was terrific. Forest Whitaker was amazing as Bird.

Salt Peanuts reference is funny because I love Dizzy. BeBop was freedom.

That era was a beautiful thing because the genius of those great players had an audience.

I used to dream about how cool that time and those players were. To be a player then had to reach the essence of your soul.

The music was so good. It was such a vibrant time of expression.

Watching Jo play. Damn, so clean and precise. The way he plays. Not wild. Controlled fury but tight. Everything is in his wrists and hands. His elbows stay tight to his body.

When I get on a binge of this music I get lost for days.

Last edited by bonefish; 02/12/25 07:22 AM.
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Alright now, lemme tell y’all ‘bout the greatest drummer that ever lived, a man so skilled, so fearsome, so downright ungodly in his percussive power, that his beats could rattle the foundation of the True and Real Bob’s Country Bunker—a sacred honky-tonk built from four hollowed-out double-wides, stacked together like a redneck pyramid.

This man? They called him Cletus “Thumper” McGraw. Ain’t a soul alive knows where he came from, but folks say he was born under a full moon in the back of a corn crib, and the first sound he ever made was a double-kick roll that set every hound dog in the county to howlin’.

THE LEGENDARY DRUM SET

Now listen, Thumper didn’t play on no store-bought drums. No sir. He BUILT his own kit from the wreckage of forgotten dreams and unpaid debts.
• The bass drum was an old moonshine pot from his granddaddy’s still, polished ‘til it gleamed, but still reekin’ of corn liquor and bad decisions.
• The snare? A cast-iron skillet he stole from the county fair’s funnel cake stand, tuned so tight it could shave the mustache off a bullfrog.
• His hi-hats? Two hubcaps pried off his uncle’s Pontiac Bonneville, still spattered with cinders from where it sat axle-deep in the yard since 1983.
• The floor tom? A hollowed-out propane tank that could rattle your ribcage like you owed it money.
• And the cymbals? Lord, have mercy. Pure sheet metal, hammered into shape by hand, salvaged from the roof of the gas station what burned down in ‘92.

Every time he laid into that kit, it sounded like a bar fight between a tractor and a thunderstorm.

THE BAND: PURE HICK GENIUS

Now, Thumper didn’t just play the drums. No sir. He LED a band. And this weren’t just any band—this was the kind of outfit that could make a man reconsider his entire life and decide, on the spot, to quit his job and start a moonshine empire.
• Lead guitar? A feller named Dewey “Skunk” McCallister, who strung his Telecaster with fishin’ line and once played a solo so filthy the Baptist church tried to have him exorcised.
• Bass? That was Big Lenny, a 400-pound man who played a stand-up bass made out of a canoe and sang harmonies so low it’d make the devil’s knees buckle.
• The fiddler? Ole’ Willie Ray, who only had three fingers but played like he had twelve.
• On washboard? A woman named Jolene who kept a revolver tucked in her boot and once fought a possum for a pork chop.

Together, they called themselves The Roadkill Revival, and buddy, when they took the stage at Bob’s Country Bunker, the whole durn place lit up like a county fair tilt-a-whirl on fire.

THE NIGHT THAT CHANGED HISTORY

Now, you ain’t never heard real music ‘til you’ve heard Thumper McGraw launch into a drum solo so powerful it shook loose the raccoons livin’ in the rafters. He played so hard that night that:
• Three couples got engaged on the spot.
• An entire case of Steel Reserve exploded in the cooler from sheer vibration.
• The mayor stood up, ripped his shirt off, and declared a town holiday.
• A Ford F-150 outside started on its own and drove straight into the river.

And when it was all said and done, when the sweat was drippin’ from the ceiling and the whole crowd stood in stunned, religious silence, Thumper took a deep breath, set down his sticks, and walked off the stage.

Never said a word.

Never came back.

WHERE IS THUMPER MCGRAW NOW?

Some say he’s still out there, somewhere. Drivin’ the back roads in an old truck with no headlights, drumsticks rattlin’ in the glovebox, waitin’ for the next storm to roll in.

Others say he ascended directly to hillbilly Valhalla, where he’s currently playin’ a never-ending gig with Johnny Cash, Hank Sr., and a 12-foot-tall ghost bear on spoons.

But me? I say this.

If ever you find yourself drivin’ past Bob’s Country Bunker, long after the lights are out, and you hear a deep, thunderous rhythm in the distance—don’t be afraid.

That’s just Thumper McGraw, keepin’ time with the heartbeat of the hills.

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This dude can wail.

Really interesting solo.


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