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Archive of The Greats
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Sonny Greer: Duke Ellington’s Crowd Pleaser
Sonny Greer was born in 1903 in Long Branch, New Jersey, and studied drums with vaudeville drummer J. Rosemond Johnson. His first professional job was as a youngster in a pit band in Red Bank, New Jersey. Within a few years he was working in the pit orchestra at the Plaza Hotel in Asbury Park….
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George Wettling: The Ultimate “Chicago style” Accompanist
George Wettling was one of the leading proponents of the early “Chicago style” of jazz drumming. A tasteful, imaginative, unobtrusive player, Wettling quickly built a reputation as the ultimate band drummer.
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Chick Webb: The First True Drumming Idol
Chick Webb simultaneously defined drumming during the swing era, while also paving the way for the “modern” jazz movement of the 1940s…
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William “Cozy” Cole: The Father Of Coordinated Independence
Cozy Cole, an incredibly adept player, was strongly rooted in the rudimental style, but he contributed much to jazz drumming…
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The Greats: Art Blakey
It’s safe to say that nobody swung harder than Art Blakey. Just check out any recording with the hard-bop pioneer at the throne, and you’re bound to find the drummer’s primal groove at work…
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“Papa” Jo Jones: Drumming’s Fearsome Father Figure
It’s been said that modern drumming made its first step towards maturity when Jo Jones arrived in New York in 1936 with the Count Basie band…
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Roy Haynes: The Hippest Of The Hip
It’s taken the jazz community nearly half a century to catch up with the inventive and super-hip stylings of Roy Haynes—the oft-proclaimed “father of modern drumming.”
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Warren “Baby” Dodds: The World’s First Great Jazz Drummer
After leaving Oliver, Dodds worked with Freddie Keppard, Johnny Dodds, and Lil Armstrong, and later recorded with Louis Armstrong’s Hot Seven…
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Ray Bauduc: His Own Inimitable Style
Bauduc was a skilled, fiery soloist who knew how to combine showmanship with musicality. A loose, relaxed player, he was one of the first to utilize two small toms on the bass drum, and has also been credited with inventing a pedal tom-tom that was operated like a timpani…
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Max Roach: Setting Standards And Raising Bars
If you were to ask any jazz historian to name who they feel is most responsible for setting the standards in bebop drumming, 99.9% of the time you’re going to get one name: Max Roach.
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Influencer: Alan Dawson
Alan Dawson was an outstanding jazz drummer and a legendary teacher. Alan was known for his ingenious use of rudiments, his melodic approach to drumming, and an extremely advanced level of hand and foot coordination.
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Philly Joe Jones: One Of The Greatest Hard Boppers
Philly Joe Jones is one of the greatest of the hard boppers. His contributions to the art of jazz drumming are immeasurable. He was a virtuoso with a pair of brushes, and a genius at turning the rudiments into fluent musical ideas. More than any of his peers, it was Philly Joe’s time feel that defined the idea of swing in the 1950s…
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Remembering Jim Chapin
Remembering Jim Chapin
1919–2009
The venerable drum teacher passed away this July 4, leaving behind thousands of acolytes–and a million great stories -
Mick Fleetwood
Decades after helping Fleetwood Mac become the biggest pop phenomenon of the ’70s, Mick is still keeping time like only he can.
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Earl Palmer Remembered
In drumming, the terms legendary and innovator are thrown around far too often. Yet Earl Palmer deserves both of these titles.
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Steve Reid: Flow Master
Steve Reid has performed and recorded with more artists than most drummers have shed sticks. From James Brown and Miles Davis to Jackie McLean, Four Tet, Fela Ransome Kuti, Chaka Khan…
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Max Roach
Simply put, Max Roach brought jazz drumming into the modern age. Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell revolutionized jazz with new melodies and concepts; Max matched these musical geniuses with startling rhythms and reactive, action-packed drumming that still influences drummers on a profound level today….
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Jeff Porcaro: A Tribute
Ten years after his passing, the drumming and music community still feels the loss of the studio giant.
