Bernard Purdie

Episode 14: David Frangioni & Billy Amendola feature interview with Mickey Curry + Dawson’s Shop Talk interview with Steve Stecher & review on two Doc Sweeney snares. David Frangioni & Billy Amendola talk with Mickey Curry about his career & records, his way of playing the drums, and the set …

My background is heavily steeped in jazz and rudimental drumming, but I grew up listening and jamming to lots of heavy metal and classic rock and roll.

I’m Mick Rain from Pezband sending a big shout out to all my drummer friends around the country and in other parts of the world.

Hello! Roger Earl here, writing from Long Island, New York, my adopted home. I grew up in SW London during the ’50s and ’60s, listening to American music like Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Muddy Waters, and Chuck Berry.

Hello fellow MD drummers! We recently returned from an amazing two-month American/European tour with the great Michael McDonald and I’m excited to be home with my family again.

Bernard Purdie, the famed drummer known for his work with Aretha Franklin, Steely Dan, and hundreds of other top artists, is partnering with Modern Drummer on the audio premiere of “Cool Down,” the title track to his brand-new solo release. “The album’s producers, Pete Shand [bass] and Brian J [guitar], …

Hello Modern Drummer, I’m Michael Blicher. I play the saxophone but drums are what I should really be playing—I love them!

Hello! On July 31, we played our first show as Donald Fagen and the Nightflyers, kicking off a two-month tour (twenty-eight shows) around the US and Japan. It was a monumental night for my bandmates and me as we had spent the last eight months preparing and a lifetime dreaming …

This past April 21, Eric Slick, the drummer for the ’60s-influenced indie-rock band Dr. Dog, released his debut solo album, Palisades.

The June issue of Modern Drummer magazine features an interview with three-time Grammy Award–winning producer Russ Titelman who in his long career has worked with musical giants including Little Feat, Randy Newman, James Taylor, Brian Wilson, Cyndi Lauper, Graham Central Station, Rickie Lee Jones, George Harrison, Chaka Khan, the Bee …

Drummer Nick Zamora’s driving feel, blazing yet apt chops, and Motown-inspired grooves are supporting the Houston, Texas, soul collective the Suffers on their current March tour. Since forming in 2011, the ten-member group has enjoyed a steady rise in popularity, thanks in part to television appearances on such shows as …

This past September, Los Angeles–based indie folk-rock group Dawes released their fifth studio album, We’re All Going to Die, a record teeming with drummer and vocalist Griffin Goldsmith’s deep pocket and solid grooves.

Longtime New York City drummer Tony Leone is currently on the road with the Chris Robinson Brotherhood.

Brooklyn-based indie-rock band We Are Scientists’ fifth album, Helter Seltzer, released digitally this past April 22 and physically on June 3, is an advanced-level course in hook-ology.

Hey, MD readers! My name is Nick Cesarz and I play drums in Vinyl Theatre. We’re an alternative rock group based out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin….

Over the course of his forty-year career traveling the globe to teach, perform, and conduct clinics, Dom Famularo has interacted with some of the finest drummers and drum instructors in the world. The following list contains many of those names, organized by country/continent. If you’re looking for top-notch drum instruction, …

Greetings drummers of the modern age! We are Salvador Placencia and Garrett Ray, percussionist and drummer for the band Fool’s Gold from Los Angeles. We thought it would be fun to interview each other to give you a little insight on who we are and what we’ve been up to …

Vic’s Drum Shop in Chicago has been selected to receive the 2014 Outstanding Retailer Award from Vic Firth. The award was presented to drum shops across America that achieved double-digit sales growth last year with more than $25,000 in annual sell-through of Vic Firth products….

Hey drummers! I’m Geoff Daking of the Blues Magoos. I started playing in the early ’60s in Delaware. When I was in high school I came to New York City on weekends to see Monk, Cannonball, and Coltrane with those great drummers like Elvin Jones. I moved to Greenwich Village …

Check out performances by Bernard Purdie, Kenny Washington, and all the other drummers featured in the April issue of Modern Drummer, plus tracks featured in Critique, Rock Perspectives, and more….

Some great things have happened in my career, but being featured in the current (April 2015) issue of Modern Drummer is a dream come true, especially as I’ve also just discovered that both MD and I were born in 1977….

See what’s in, and where to order, the April 2015 issue of Modern Drummer magazine featuring Bernard Purdie.

“Rock Steady??? combines a super-solid groove and some classic funk techniques with a special twist. Click to check out In the Pocket columnist Jim Payne’s take on how to master it….

In part two of our miniseries on the ruff, we discuss the four-stroke version. It takes a certain amount of precision, which is also what makes it so cool. Click for a video demo.

Our October 2014 Spotify Playlist kicks off with some great live cuts, including cover star Ian Paice’s famous solo vehicle, “The Mule,” from Deep Purple’s seminal in-concert recording, Made in Japan….

These exercises are inspired by the master jazz drummer Elvin Jones. In Elvin’s world, everything was a triplet.

The International Regina Drum Festival will take place September 26–28 at the Exchange and the Club, located at 2431 8th Avenue in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada….

Check out this video clip of the band Soule Monde, featuring drummer Russ Lawton and keyboardist Ray Paczkowski, both members of the solo group led by Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio. The clip was filmed in July 2013 at the Slide Brook Lodge & Tavern in Warren, Vermont, a favorite haunt …

The road I took to get here was definitely curvy. Out of college, I toured with Lacy J. Dalton, and after that I worked extensively with local guys in Nashville, playing clubs, colleges, and even some cruise ship tours….

Tom Grosset of Toronto became the second person in history to break 1,200 single strokes (hits) in sixty seconds, at this year’s WFD World’s Fastest Drummer Extreme Sport drumming event held during the Summer NAMM Show in Nashville this past July. Grosset, who played 1,208 single strokes, broke the previous …

The results are in for the longest-running, most prestigious drummer poll in the world. Without further ado, here are your winners for 2013….

An educational clinic and concert, featuring Bernard “Pretty??? Purdie and friends and the Pat Clark Band, will take place on Sunday, June 2, 2013 from 1 PM to 5 PM at the Darress Theatre located at 615 Main Street in Boonton, NJ. Presented by the Purdie Good Company and Drummers …

Click here to check out a video demonstrating many of the half-time shuffle grooves transcribed in the Rock Perspectives column in the April 2013 issue.

We asked the members of the MD Education Team if they think it’s important for their students to study jazz. Here’s what they had to say….

Hey, all, Russell Simins from the one and only Blues Explosion here. I play drums and write music with bandmates Jon Spencer and Judah Bauer, two of the greatest guitarists I know, and I know a lot of them.

We asked the members of the MD Education Team if they think that reading skills are crucial. Here’s what they had to say….

What’s up, MD readers. I recently got back from touring with Sami.The.Great, and I’m getting ready for the release of the new record by the Nightmare River Band.

We asked the MD Education Team if feel could be taught. See what they had to say….

Ray Lucas is one of the unsung heroes of American music. An early accomplice of Jimi Hendrix, Lucas spent long hours jamming and performing on stage with the future guitar god. He also backed many of the top R&B and soul artists of the ’60s and ’70s, including Aretha Franklin, …

A few months back Michael and I finally had time to jam out in one of the studio sessions I had planned. We mesh really well together and are musically in sync, so when we get together it just works. I love classical styles and blurring it with contemporary music, …

Drumming news from around the web for December 2011.

When I was really young my parents took me horseback riding, and the sound and feel of the rhythm got stuck in my head. It was then I knew I wanted to play drums. I come from a musical family: My mom was the lead singer/songwriter in an alt-rock band, …

Hello! Ahh…drums! How else can you smash heads with a stick and not go to jail? I started playing at about fourteen years old, when my dad got me my first drumkit. It was a Groove Percussion kit, and I really beat the thing to a pulp…

George “Buddy??? Miles—nicknamed after “the world’s greatest drummer,??? Buddy Rich—was born in 1947 in Omaha, Nebraska, and got an early musical education listening to the jazz that was played at home. At the same time, Buddy was listening to the R&B sounds of drummer Al Jackson Jr., who was the …

Greetings, fellow MD readers! My name is Sarab Singh, and this is my first-ever blog post for MD. I am truly honored and grateful to be doing this! A bit about myself: I live in Brooklyn, New York, got my music degree from the University of Miami, and am a …

by Billy Amendola More—way more—with the fusion and pop maestro. In a continuation of our interview with Narada Michael Walden from the November 2010 issue of Modern Drummer, the fusion and pop drumming/producing maestro reflects on his early days, teaching, spirituality, playing in odd time signatures, and coming full circle …

I don’t care so much about difficulty or technicality. I like style, passion, creativity, and all that kind of stuff. Here are some videos that always challenge and inspire me no matter how many times I watch them….

Bernard had an interest in rhythm early and purchased his first drumset by the time he was 14.

My name is Jason “Malletman??? Taylor. I’m a vibraphonist and protégé of the late, legendary Lionel Hampton…

My name is Jason “Malletman??? Taylor. I’m a vibraphonist and protégé of the late, legendary Lionel Hampton…

On Tour And On Stage: 9 Lives (+9, +9 More). MD’s editors just can’t keep a list of their favorite albums short–even in service of a can’t-resist pun. Twenty-seven live albums you gotta have.

Hi everyone, my name is Jon Radford and I play drums for the Dynamites featuring Charles “Wigg??? Walker, a funk and soul band out of Nashville, Tennessee.

My name is Hawk Lopez and I’ve been with Crown Of Thorns since 1994, when I was recommended to Jean Beauvoir by Ozzy Osbourne drummer Randy Castillo….

My name is Hawk Lopez and I’ve been with Crown Of Thorns since 1994, when I was recommended to Jean Beauvoir by Ozzy Osbourne drummer Randy Castillo….

Jon Wysocki has been laying down his tasteful, well thought–out grooves with the chart-topping band Staind for thirteen years. The group, which hails from Springfield, Massachusetts, also includes lead singer/guitarist Aaron Lewis, lead guitarist Mike Mushok, and bassist/vocalist Johnny April. They’ve recorded six studio albums and four number-one singles, and …

I've most recently been on tour with Robin Trower, with whom I've recorded a live double CD,.

Twenty-four year old Thomas Pridgen unleashes the most rabid drumming in recent memory on The Mars Volta’s The Bedlam In Goliath. Of course, the band’s fans have come to expect madness and mastery from the innovative Long Beach, California group…

Hey everyone, Jayson Brinkworth here writing from Canada. If this magazine doesn't get you fired up about playing drums, you must not have a pulse!

Hey everyone, Jayson Brinkworth here writing from Canada. If this magazine doesn't get you fired up about playing drums, you must not have a pulse!

I’m convinced that, ten years from now, we’re going to look back at 2007 as an unusually fertile time in music and in drumming.

In the February 2007 issue of Modern Drummer, we ran a feature called “Double Drumming’s 25 Greatest Hits.??? At the time we asked MD readers to submit their own favorite double-drum performances, which we’d post online at a later date. Well, the time has arrived, double-drum fans—the floor is yours!

Soon after moving to the New York area in the early ’80s, Carl Allen landed a dream gig with post bop trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. That gig established the then nineteen-year-old drummer as a leading light among a select group of eager young musicians who were looking to breath new life …

Not many people get to do exactly what they love and get paid for it – much less with two of the biggest artists in the world. Mickey Curry toured and recorded with Hall & Oates at the peak of their career, laying down a solid backbeat with perfect feel …

Drummer Kevin Frank, singer Walt Lafty, bassist Brian Weaver, and guitarists Nick Perri and Mark Melchiorre of Silvertide created quite a buzz in their hometown of Philadelphia. In fact, the band was so hot, it led to an all-out label bidding war that veteran music mogul Clive Davis won. That’s …

When twenty-five-year-old Eric Harland was a teenager, he weighed an astonishing 380 pounds, making him a target of cruel children, mean-spirited teachers, and sometimes, his own family. “I would walk into a clothing store and the employees would just laugh,” recalls the Texas native. “Man,” they would say, “we don’t …

If you live anywhere in Canada or the northern states, you’re going to recognize Wilson Laurencin from the television show Open Mike With Mike Bullard. And you don’t have to wait the whole show to catch a glimpse of Wilson, either. The camera’s constantly on the house band as they …

Jack DeJohnette has remained one of the world’s premier drummers by always looking forward, and never losing the passion. Oh, and by playing some of the most uniquely beautiful drums ever.