my 5 favorite jazz drummers

[turnipmonster]

1) tony williams - when I was younger I read miles davis' autobiography "miles", and after hearing him rave about how tony williams made him start practicing again, etc, I really wanted to check him out. so I go down to the cd gettin' place and pick up the first record I see, "in a silent way", which features an all star cast with tony on drums. unfortunately, tony plays one high hat beat for the whole album [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]. great music, not a great intro to tony.

the next record I picked up, miles davis' "1964: Four and more + My Funny Valentine" changed my life and made me want to be a jazz musician. an 18 year old tony williams lights a fire under the whole band and does more with his right hand than most drummers do with two. his drumming on this record is some of my favorite music ever and is just incredibly explosive, it's like electric current. his style is fully formed and completely unique, and the amazing thing is it's never static. he never plays the same beat twice and keeps it swinging the whole time.

2) roy haynes - roy is the only drummer I can think of where I know I'll like an album just because he's on it. the first album I heard with roy on it is pat metheny's "question and answer", a great trio date featuring pat, roy and dave holland on bass. the mix favors roy and his ultra clean, popping drumming. he's another drummer whose endless creativity really lights a fire under everyone else, he can play a lot of things and still manage not to get in the way. it's fitting he's the only drummer to ever sub in john coltrane's classic quartet.

3) elvin jones - the first jazz record I ever got was john coltrane's "live at birdland" with elvin on drums. I couldn't believe how loud and intense it was, it hooked me immediately and for a long time I couldn't listen to records with less energy. elvin's amazing feel and constant polyrhythms are like listening to a fractal.

4) art blakey - my favorite art blakey record is definitely "live at birdland" with the young trumpeter clifford brown. if anyone could ever drive a band and push everyone to play beyond themselves, it's art. another guy who played super loud and intense, but with a more conventional style. he laid into the beat and pushed it so far ahead you kept thinking he'd skip one, but dropping a beat just wasn't in art's vocabulary.

5) bill stewart - bill is the only guy I've ever heard who's ideas are so jaw droppingly unique and witty he can make people he's been playing with for 15 years laugh in amazement. he is constantly implying different beats under what's going on and is one of the most creative drummers I can think of. his concept is completely unique.

[Wynton]

Are you soliciting other lists? If so, here are mine, off the top of my head (and subject to a change depending on my mood). In no particular order:

Elvin Jones
Art Blakely
Billy Higgins
Jimmy Cobb
Tony Williams

If you let my list continue:

Max Roach
Alan Dawson
Jack DeJohnette
Philly Joe
Paul Motian
Ed Blackwell
Art Taylor
Roy Haynes

[turnipmonster]

excellent list! the only alan dawson I've heard is with jaki byard, can you recommend some good places to hear him?

[turnipmonster]

hopefully other people will add lists and provide commentary along with an album recommendation.

[Wynton]

I don't have a ton of Alan Dawson, but I love everything I've heard.

Aside from the Jacki Byard recordings, I have him on the Booker Ervin records (like "the song book," "the blues book", "the freedom book" and "the space book"). Those albums are phenomenal. He also appears on some Dextor Gordon records, but I can't remember which ones.

I actually think he's woefully underrecorded.

[turnipmonster]

you know tony williams studied with him as a kid, right?

[Wynton]

Actually, I had no idea. That's interesting.

I knew that Dawson spent a lot of time teaching (at Bridgeport perhaps?), which is probably why he didn't record more.

[KDawg]

[ QUOTE ]
Actually, I had no idea. That's interesting.

I knew that Dawson spent a lot of time teaching (at Bridgeport perhaps?), which is probably why he didn't record more.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is true, he spent most of his life teaching, which is why he didn't record as much as his talent demanded. I also fully agree with having motian in there. One of my favorite groups is the Keith Jarrett american group from the 70s.

To more add on the names that got mentioned, Jeff "tain" Watts, Ralph Peterson(who is a riot to be around), Tony Reedus(another guy who is tons of fun to be around), and Brian Blade are guys that are part of the newer generation that are just great to listen to.

For me, it has always been about Max Roach. It was his interplay with Sonny Rollins on Saxophone Collosus that really got me into jazz and inspired me to take my playing seriously. As a Saxohponist I have always liked a strong drummer behind me and just how well Max and Sonny fit together just blew me away