jazz
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.
Tony Reedus: Influential Jazz Drummer
Reedus was known for consistently lighting a fire under musicians of every stripe. “Tony was not only a great drummer who played with exceptional depth of feeling that was very danceable,” recalls esteemed jazz drummer Lewis Nash, “he was also…
Ed Thigpen: “Mr. Taste"
Ed Thigpen, an important element in the music of jazz luminaries including Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald, was known as “Mr. Taste.” Thigpen was most noted for his brush technique and articulate sense of pulse and swing. Thigpen was born…
Jim Capaldi: Traffic’s Reluctant Drum Wonder
Jim Capaldi, best known as drummer, singer, and lyricist with the British band Traffic, was one of the most identifiable and multi-talented musicians to come of age at the tail end of the British Invasion of the mid-’60s. Hooking up…
Shadow Wilson: Unsung Hero Of ’40s/’50s Jazz
Though not a major influence in the same sense as Max Roach and Kenny Clarke, Shadow Wilson was nonetheless in considerable demand during the ’40s, and he fit in admirably with all the groups he played with during his relatively…
Rick Henry of Havana Rocks
My name’s Rick, and I’m the drummer for Yorkshire hard rock outfit Havana Rocks. I thought it would be cool to share some info about me and the band with all the MD readers. Well, what can I say, I…
John Bonham: The Soul Of Rock Drumming
The greatest rock ’n’ roll drummer in history was a soul drummer. Despite all the deserved attention paid to his brilliant soloing ideas, his rhythmic sophistication, or his bass drum prowess, John Bonham was, above all else, a groover. Drummers…
Earl Palmer: An Original, By Any Measure
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…
Vinson Valega: New York City Jazzer
Hey there, MD readers! Thanks so much for checking out this blog entry. I’m happy to give a big shout-out from the New York City jazz scene, which is still going strong and attracting the most amazing musicians from all…
Chris Johnson — Touring With Rihanna
Yo, what up, MD? This is ya boy Chris Johnson from Los Angeles, California. Like many others in this field, I started playing in church—my dad’s church, to be exact. So I was always there to play, practice, and everything.…
Alexis Razon of Vinyl
To start, it is an honor to write for an outstanding magazine that caters to drummers and percussionists worldwide. MD is a great resource for the drumming community. My first introduction to drumming started at ten years old. The age…
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…
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. Wettling took the conceptual and stylistic elements of Baby…
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. One of the first players to develop his own brand of hand and foot coordination, he mastered the technique thoroughly,…
"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. Within a few years, “Papa” Jo became the idol of hundreds of drummers across…
