Greatest Drummer Eva!

[gusmahler]

[ QUOTE ]
cwsiggy:
There are a couple of CDs called "Burning For Buddy" which are big band tributes to Buddy Rich where a bunch of famous rock drummers (mostly rock drummers) play a bunch of big band songs. Among them are Neil Peart, Bill Bruford, and Steve Smith (Journey). I don't know if it indicates those guys are "worse", but it definitely sounds "different".

[/ QUOTE ]

I have the first one, it's pretty cool. You can definitely hear the difference between a jazz drummer and a rock drummer. The most obvious difference is that the rock drummers keep a steady beat on the snare, which is something that the jazz drummers on this album don't do.

With respect to Steve Smith, he actually has a jazz band also, called Vital Informaion. Here's there web site: http://www.vitalinformation.com/

[gusmahler]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I have a serious question. Is Jazz drumming really that muych harder that what Neil Peart does? I mean really, don't you think Neil or anyone of his caliber could play anything Jazz can throw at him with no effort?

[/ QUOTE ]

in a word, no. Many rock drummers load up their kits with too many Toms and Cymbals, a Jazz Kit at most usually has only 3 cymbals, a floor tom, Hi-Hat, Bass Drum, and a Snare.

[/ QUOTE ]

While true in the past, a lot of the "fusion" type jazz drummers have much bigger kits than in the past.

Here's Dave Weckl's setup:


Steve Smith:


Everything else you said is spot on. I think a key aspect of jazz drumming that is different is that limb independence seems to be more important in jazz drumming. While that does happen in rock drumming, limb independence (keeping different beats with each hand and each foot) seems rather common in jazz. A common jazz pattern is keeping the time on the ride with the right hand, while periodically accenting other beats with the snare and bass drum, occassionally while keeping time with the high hat.

[turnipmonster]

fwiw leon parker, one of the best jazz drummers on the scene today, is famous for showing up to his gigs with just a ride cymbal.

[nutfloppa]

[ QUOTE ]
it's pretty well accepted that virtuosity on instruments increases every generation

[/ QUOTE ]

This might be true for some instruments but I believe most of them have peaked generations ago. Look at guy like Charlie Parker. Players today struggle to do what he did back in the 40s. Classical soloists and jazz guys have pretty much gone as far as you can go many years ago. I understand where you are coming from with that statement. As new types of music were developed it took time for players to become proficient at it. But unless new instruments are developed or a new style of music comes along and you look at virtuosity in terms of that specific style, musicians today are about as good as it gets.

[ QUOTE ]
as far as rock guitarists, most guitarists in the 60s were quite sloppy

[/ QUOTE ]

This is pretty much true for rock guitarists back then but rock music was in its first generation. An exception to this would be John McLaughlin back in the late 60s/early 70s and Al Di Meola. In terms of virtuosity in rock guitar they were comparable to the guitarist of today. Once the 80s hit not much has changed.

[gusmahler]

Here's a good link to drum videos from a bunch of different drummers:

http://drummerworld.com/drummersolo.html