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Earl Palmer Web Tribute

Earl Palmer
The History-Maker

This past September 19, Earl Palmer, one of the most-recorded drummers of all time, passed away at the age of eighty-three. Earl was one of the featured artists in our recent Drum Gods II collector’s issue, so in honor of his genius and amazing career, we’d like to share the piece with you here. And be sure to look for extended coverage of Earl’s legacy in an upcoming issue of Modern Drummer magazine.

If you said that Earl Palmer is famous for being the most recorded drummer in history, you wouldn’t get too many arguments. But you’d also only be telling half the story.
    As house drummer at Cosimo Matassa’s J&M Studio in New Orleans in the 1950s, Palmer played on some of the most popular recordings of that oh-so-important time period when jazz morphed into R&B, and then into rock ’n’ roll. If there were a Bible Of Rock, and it had a chapter called “Genesis,” the main characters would be Fats Domino, Little Richard, and the great Earl Palmer–led rhythm section that helped shape their music–and guide the direction of rock rhythm-making for the next several decades.
    In 1957 Palmer moved to Los Angeles to broaden his horizons and to try his hand at the growing studio scene there. Though he was already a bona fide star from his work in The Big Easy, Earl wisely took lessons to hone his chops and help him adapt to the California studios. That studying paid off, as Earl was embraced by the LA studio movers ’n’ shakers not only for his killer grooves, but for his ability to quickly supply what was needed in any number of musical settings. That reliability resulted in Earl recording a startling number of records in the ’60s and ’70s–and not only pop and R&B cuts, but TV and movie dates, and sessions with the great crossover singers of the time like Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand. Earl’s first-call status even extended into the next generation of rock stars, like The Byrds and Neil Young.
    So while the sheer number of recordings Palmer made is overwhelming, it’s the breadth and historical significance of those records that is truly mind-blowing. And though many of those records came out with nary a mention of who is in fact playing on them–giving proper credit in liner notes wouldn’t become the norm until the late ’60s–you can be sure that during the golden age of studio recording, Earl Palmer was as common a presence on the Top-40 as any musician who came before or after him.

Making Waves At Home–And On The Road
    It’s often noted that Earl Palmer’s New Orleans upbringing was what led him to becoming such an important part of so many recording sessions. But it can’t be ignored that much of Palmer’s early experience was gained while playing the Vaudeville circuit with his mother and his aunt, which he did until he joined the service when he was seventeen. Still, Palmer told Modern Drummer in 1983, no matter how far from home his music would take him, there would always be some New Orleans in his style: “There’s a little bit different approach to the feel of the music and the rhythm, particularly for rhythm players, in New Orleans,” Palmer insisted. “There’s always something somewhere in their playing that has that old New Orleans parade feel. The first thing you could tell was how a drummer played the bass drum.”

On The 4
    On the excellent Warner Brothers video New Orleans Drumming, Earl played some great examples of that uniquely busy New Orleans bass drum approach. He also explained another important aspect of New Orleans music: the accent on beat 4. “Whatever figure you play on the bass, there’s always an accent on the 4,” he said. “Sometimes you might play a two-bar figure that builds up to a big accent on the fourth beat of the second bar. And that’s really the basis that makes New Orleans drummers different. Even when they don’t accent it as hard, if they’re playing in another idiom of music, that feel is always there. The older drummers before me in the parade bands were doing it, and the younger drummers like Smokey Johnson, Zigaboo Modeliste, and Johnny Vidacovich, they’re always thinking that way, whether they’re playing that type of music or not.”

Where Straight And Swing Meet
    An aspect that made Little Richard’s music particularly unique was the existence of swung and straight notes in the same tune, specifically Richard’s straight-8th piano feel rubbing up against the swing feel that Earl and the rest of the rhythm section were playing. What on paper sounds like a recipe for sonic disaster in fact results in one of the most exciting rhythmic concepts imaginable–when played by the right players.
    On the New Orleans Drumming video, Palmer had this to say about those early Little Richard sides: “You hardly noticed on Richard’s records that it was a mix of shuffles and straight 8th notes, because Richard’s straight 8ths were so predominant on his piano, and the rhythm was so good. I think the excitement and intensity of his thing overshadowed that, and you never really noticed the difference.”

Simple–And Sophisticated
    “One of my favorite times in music,” Palmer told Modern Drummer in 2005, “was learning how to make the change from jazz to rock ’n’ roll. I found that rock ’n’ roll was about playing a solid backbeat. Today, you play all the way through a piece. But there were times, like in the old big bands or even in Dixieland, where they weren’t playing any backbeat. The only time you’d hear it was in an out-chorus. But I took that and played it all the way through a rock ’n’ roll song.
    “Also back then,” Earl went on, “many drummers would use one cymbal to ride on throughout a song or behind different soloists. There was no change in color. I really tried to think about changing colors to suit different parts of the song.”

Catching The Bug
    Even history’s most influential musicians had to start somewhere, and for Earl Palmer, it was the early jazz drummers who set him on his life’s path. “Bob Barbarin [brother of Louis Armstrong drummer Paul Barbarin] was my first teacher in music school when I started studying formally,” Palmer recounted to MD. “Another influence was Sid Catlett. Nobody gave him credit for what I consider his greatest aspect: He was an all-around drummer. You can hear him on all kinds of records.”
    Palmer went on to mention early influences like Chick Webb, Louie Bellson, Buddy Rich, Shelly Manne, and Max Roach. But the drummers who literally threw the switch for the young drummer were Art Blakey and Vernell Fournier. “I got out of the service December 10, 1945, and the following week I went to a concert where Billy Eckstine’s band was playing. The local band that played before them was Dooky Chase. Vernell Fournier was playing drums in Dooky’s band, and Blakey was with Billy Eckstine’s band. I heard both of those drummers that night and said, ‘That’s it, I’m going to play drums.’”

Learn It All
    When asked in 1983 what advice he would give drummers, Palmer suggested this helpful approach: “Read everything you can find to read, and not just drum parts. Drum parts are pretty much the same. But in saxophone, trumpet, clarinet, and violin parts, the syncopation will change more than the average drum part, so to sharpen the eye, read those parts.
    “Mainly, have humility with your instrument,” Palmer summed up. “If you don’t, it’s going to be in bad taste. You can play in great time, you can read your tail off, but if you’re playing too loud, then it’s the worst-sounding instrument in the band.
    “And make the rest of the guys know that you’re responsible for the time,” Earl added. “You’re going to catch hell for when it’s bad, and you seldom get the glory when it’s good. But somehow establish the understanding with them that if they all play the time you’re playing, if it’s good and consistent, then you’ll all be in time. You have to have a little bit of a take-over attitude without being overbearing, for the good of the time feel. In that instance, you’re the leader.”

Earl In Another Context
Earl Palmer is so historically significant, his image alone communicates a certain depth of meaning, a timeless hip factor. At least that’s what some famous musicians half Palmer’s age apparently feel. The alternative rock band Cracker’s video for their 1996 song “I Hate My Generation” features clips of significantly older–but clearly still-vital–performers, including some quick cuts of Earl playing drums. Wikipedia’s entry on Earl includes a funny quote from an Addicted To Noise story about the video: Cracker singer David Lowery recalled that when asked about his ability to play along with the song, Palmer shot him a look and said, “I invented this shit.”
    Josh Davis, a.k.a. DJ Shadow, obviously agreed with that sentiment when he asked Earl to appear in the video to his track “Midnight In A Perfect World,” from his groundbreaking all-sample album Entroducing (also ’96). Among the cuts Davis sampled for the track was “The Human Abstract” by legendary arranger David Axelrod, a frequent employer of Palmer back in the day. Earl plays the role of “Professor” in the video. Perfect casting, obviously.

For more on Earl Palmer, go here: www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/library-155/1221976454302610.xml&coll=1&thispage=1, www.earlpalmermemorial.com/, or www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-palmer21-2008sep21,0,7831070.story.

Also check out the tribute to Earl at Hudson Music: www.hudsonmusic.com/site/features/45-features/153-earl-palmer


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