Modern Drummer is the world’s most widely read drum magazine, is dedicated entirely to the art of drumming and caters to the needs of amateur, semi-pro, and professional drummers.
Warren “Baby??? Dodds: The World's First Great Jazz Drummer
“Dodds was swingin’ so much, I was late an entire set. But I couldn’t leave. I sat down and just stayed.” —Philly Joe Jones “Baby taught me more than all the others. He was the first great soloist.” —Gene Krupa…
Han Bennink: Things No Drummer Has Ever Done
In his video, Solo, Dutch phenomenon Han Bennink does things no drummer has ever done in any performance, much less on video. Han ties ropes around a drumset and then crashes the drums and cymbals together like dominoes spinning in…
Honor Society’s Alex Noyes
Hey, MD. I just touched down in Newark, NJ, after five crazy-hectic months of nonstop touring. Honor Society just completed the first leg of our tour in support of our debut album, Fashionably Late, which came out in September on…
Greg Parrow of Transmit Now
Hello, drummers, this is Greg Parrow, drummer with the band Transmit Now. I’m recently home from a several months on the road—always an incredible experience, but I’ll admit it’s quite nice to be back with friends and family for…
Ray Bauduc: His Own Inimitable Style
Strongly influenced by both Baby Dodds and Zutty Singleton, Ray Bauduc was Singleton’s counterpart in the white Dixieland revival. His style was an intriguing combination of vaudeville, ragtime, and the basic New Orleans rhythms he’d grown up absorbing. Bauduc was…
Timothy B. Schmit’s Herman Matthews
Howdy, MD readers. It’s been a long time, and I think I may have to reintroduce myself. My name is Herman Matthews and I play drums. For the past seven years I’ve been laying down the foundation for the legendary…
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. Roach wasn’t the first drummer…
Elvin Jones: The Great Liberator
When Elvin Jones moved from his home town in Michigan to New York City in 1956, the jazz-listening world wasn’t quite ready for the drummer’s outer-space conception. His loping, circular sense of swing and abstract, barline-blurring breaks weren’t easy to…
Gene Krupa: The Man Who Made It All Happen
If anyone can be considered the founding father of modern drumset playing, it’s Gene Krupa. Krupa legitimized a collection of instruments known as the “traps” at a time when both the instrument and its players were barely tolerated. He led…
Age Of Evil’s Garrett Ziff
To all my fellow drummers out there, my name is Garrett Ziff, I’m twenty years old, and I play drums in the metal band Age Of Evil. First let me share a little of my history. I started playing drums…
Influencer: Alan Dawson
Alan Dawson was an outstanding jazz drummer and a legendary teacher. He was strongly influenced by Papa Jo Jones, and his first break came in the early ’50s with the Lionel Hampton band. By 1951 he was working with Sabby…
Yael: DrumAddict
Hello, modern drum addicts! First off, it’s an honor to be asked to do a piece for Modern Drummer online, and I hope to get to the point where I will finally have my mug in the mag next to…
Buddy Rich: The World's Greatest Drummer
Buddy Rich has been called the greatest jazz drummer of all time—a statement that few would argue with. Buddy was born on September 30, 1917, and his drumming career spanned seven decades, beginning when he was just eighteen months old…
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…
