Top 10 Drummers

Hello All!

So I've been lurking around here and there, and felt like a post! Noticing that there's a top 10 guitarists thread (what a bunch a' no talent rejects, huh?), I thought I'd like to express my opinions on the top 10 drummers.


Now, before I start off, I'd like to say that I'd rate these drummers not just on skill, but 'creativity'. Most drummers listent to machine-gun speed and thing that is the end all for the mettle of a drummer; others thing that it's the technique, but a drummer's job is not only to keep time, but influence the course of play in any musical gathering. So let me start off!



10.) Max Roach- Love this guy! He's quite a unique drummer, and he's constantly breaking traditions, but I've gotta pee, so I can't write more. BTW thread title should read 10, typo.

9.) Glenn Kotche- I don't think that many drummers can brag about being able to recreate the Balanesian(sp?) dance of the Ramayana to near perfection! When not drumming for Wilco, Kotche, also a band teahcer, spends time making his own brand of interesting music. He's used springs, bells, and xylophones to produce remarkable songs (see CD Mobile.) Kotche infuses melody with percussion, something truly remarkable in drumming this day.

8.) Trilok Gurtu-Trilok has a history of music in his family. Both his parents were part of the Indian classical music genre in Mumbai (Bombay). His mother was a famous Sitarist, and urged his growth in music. Trilok has to me amongst the most innovative drummers I've ever heard. Possessing mastery over Latin, Indian, and Western drumming, he's managed to fuse all three into a beautiful creation. There's something very earthy about his playing style.

7.) Art Blakey-A revolution in the early Hard Bop genre. Blakey is one of the most recognized faces of the early Jazz movement. As a bandleader, he always had the ability to bring together a group and bring out the most from them. Thanks to him, numerous artists got a break; all this aside, Blakey is a powerful furious drummer. His solos always have some 'afrocentric' theme about them, perhaps furthered when he converted to Islam and changed his name to Buhaina. One thing certainly is that whenever you listen to a Blakey song, you'll always be able to tell if he's playing or not.

6.) Elvin Jones- It is very hard to picture "A Love Supreme" without the explosiveness of Jones. For a long time, it has been stereotyped that Jazz Drummers are all technique and no power; Jones, I think, blows this one right outta the water. Not only could he rip the set a new 'un, but he also managed to do all this while keeping PERFECT time with his band, and playing polyrhythms at the SAME TIME! Brilliance in execution, and brilliance in power!

5.) Bernard Purdie-The ability to cliam the title of 'most recorded drummer' is always quite a feat! Bernard Purdie off the set is just like his playing on it-charming, and always inventive. Beginning the drumming experience at a carnival, Purdie was always willing to push the mould, and as a result he never shyed away from playing in numerous different genres, be it Funk, Rock, Jazz, Soul, Blues...you get the picture. His trademark Purdie shuffle is always something that gets your feet moving.

4.) Steve Gadd-Funk drummer extraordinaire! Gadd is an underrated drummer (like Purdie) outside the drumming world, and inside the world of those who believe that technique and skill determine the drummer's quality. His grooves are nevertheless brilliant! He has a certain quality that no one will ever really be able to recreate.

Top 3, very touchy for me. It was quite a hard choice from here on, and understandibly, all three are interchangeable.

3.) Tony Williams-Williams first started playing music at the age of 16/17. Listening to those early Miles records, you can hardly tell this though. His playing is perfect! A prodigy! Genius! He played with an unreplicable charismatic power. He continued on, and like any good musician, he progressed into newer genres to express himself. His solos, nonetheless, are too chaotic at times. They've got a musicality, but the lack of structure can sometimes get to you. Other than that, his mastry of the polyrhythm, along with Elvin Jones, just makes the song he plays in that much deeper of an experience. Too bad he left so soon.

2.) Buddy Rich- A common complaint about the great Rich is that he had all speed and technique and no idea about beat and rhythm. This however is a very poor judgement of his ability. If you listen to his records, there is not one instance where he overpowers the band playing along. He complements every other performer, and when it comes time for his solo, he lets it rip! It was tough not making him No. 1, as so many others would do, but there's something that I feel he 'lacks'. He had the versatility, the power, the skill, and the finesse (see Brush Strokes video,) but his solos lacked a certain creativity and musicality. They were rather just a display of his awesome technique.


1.) Joe Morello- Now many would expect me to pick someone like Buddy Rich for the Number 1 spot. However, I think that Joe Morello deserves this spot more than any other. Morello is one of the most underrated drummers considering that fact; he was perfect for the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Each note he played had a purpose; each sound was carefully constructed, and brought out the true genius of Morello. In addition, his technical faculties can never be doubted. He possessed the power and speed necessary to produce a most exciting solo. All in all, Morello is the hallmark of drumming-flexibility, power, speed, and finesse.

Cursory mentions:

Danny Carrey (sp?), Mike Portnoy, Tim Waterson. Very good drummers, but I just can't 'feel' them in. Sorry.

Most overrated:

John Bonham, perhaps even Buddy.(will run to avoid the molten spew thrown at me for this.)

Ok well I'm not to familiar with jazz drummers but I know that they're complete monsters. As well as some (or most) jazz drumers, I'll have to say Ginger Baker, John Bonham (maybe overrated, but still a damn good drummer) and definetly Mitch Mitchell. What an underrated rock musician. Watch the Jimi Hendrix experience clips on youtube, and he's going completely psycho. In a good way

Not an expert on drummers but I would definitely have to put Ginger Baker and Mitch Mitchell in my top 10.

I forgot to mention a few like Mitch Mitchell and Jo Jo Mayer. Ginger Baker is really really good as well, but not top ten in my book.

Originally Posted by Chandrashekar Azad

I forgot to mention a few like Mitch Mitchell and Jo Jo Mayer. Ginger Baker is really really good as well, but not top ten in my book.

I wouldn't say that Baker is very good anymore, but back in the 60s he was.

Originally Posted by Livia

I wouldn't say that Baker is very good anymore, but back in the 60s he was.

I don't agree here. Drummers usually don't 'loose' their skills overnight, or even through a period of time. Look at Joe Morello, he's quite old now, but he hasn't lost any skill and speed-same with Rich and Elvin Jones right before they died.

Originally Posted by Chandrashekar Azad

I don't agree here. Drummers usually don't 'loose' their skills overnight, or even through a period of time. Look at Joe Morello, he's quite old now, but he hasn't lost any skill and speed-same with Rich and Elvin Jones right before they died.

If you compare his playing in 1968 to 2005, there is a very large difference. Baker is an old man, older than most 'rockers' and he clearly doesn't have the energy to be the drummer he used to be.
And look, this is not 'overnight', it is 37 years.

Hello? Bun E. Carlos? Listen to the Live (at Budokhan, I believe) version of Ain't That a Shame. Crazy stuff.
Also, Stewart Copeland in the Police. Listen to "Walking on the Moon".

I don't know that much about drummers, but Jaki Liebezeit is definately one of the best.

Let us not forget Keith Moon! Substitute has some great drumming. How does he keep the rythm, yet manage to hit every drum possible?

Ah, definately. I forgot about Moony.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R0FKuL-2ws
Ginger then.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVqvN...elated&search=
Ginger now.


Still bloody good, and here's a trailer for this thing about Cream, I'm hoping someone can point out mayhaps a free full version...?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thihd...elated&search=

Why are you all getting ready to crucify me? I didn't say Baker isn't good, why else would he be on my list? I'm drawing comparisons between his playing in 1968 and now, trying to get it into your heads that he isn't as good as he used to be, even if it's by a small fraction. It's a pity the lot of you are all as thick as a whale omelette.

I don't know who's trying to crucify you, and I think he's one of the best, I was just trying to show a difference in their playing. And apparently he's lost use of his arms for some time, that's something hard to recuperate from.

And I heard "Toad" is the first recorded drum solo? Is that not taken into account when deciding who's great?

So you make a list of great drummers and you don't put Mike Portnoy and Neil Peart in it? thats a sin!

Yeah, forgot about Niel.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDZom...elated&search=

tony royster good

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAlBORA7Fe0

why not tony royster jr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPncumXZExo


sorry for dubble posting

tony royster good

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAlBORA7Fe0

why not tony royster jr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPncumXZExo

This thread really depends on preference. I love jazz, but I think the drumming is limited. I like metal & hardcore, such as the video above, and feel that the drumming is unbelievable. All I can say is classic rock drumming is limited featuring nothing that a basic drummer can't showcase. and if anyone mentions one of the drummers from ac/dc then wow.

Neil Peart. A lot of people like him, again I just can't really feel him. He's good, but for what he does, I think there are better. (Same with Portnoy for me.)

I didn't put many metal drummers up because despite what people 'feel'; metal drumming is, IMHO, far inferior to jazz drumming-especially high callibre jazz drumming. I love metal infact, but I gotta give credit where it's due-to the jazz greats; drummers in the metal genre rely mostly on speed and technique, which though great, is matched, if not dwarfed, by jazz drumming. In some ways it's blown apart by the avant garde/Nu-Jazz (JoJo Mayer) drummers in terms of the brutality and speed.

Metal drumming also severely lacks in variation. Particularly polyrhythms, which I DIE for. There are, of course, a few metal drummers who employ the speed and brutality of metal with finesse and polyrhythmic variation, Tomas Haake for instance; but the idea of breaking out of the box of rhythm is entirely a 'jazz' idea, and that brings me to my next point, claiming jazz drumming is 'limited' is of course a very limited and unaccomplished statement. The entire concept of jazz drumming is to break free of the conceptual 'mold', perhaps for this reason, the genre seems to alienate many, some of whom may claim the music as unaccomplished or constrained when it is anything but.