Little drummer boys

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Since ‘tis the season I thought I would lighten things up for the first time in a long while and make a post about amazing drummers whose playing I love and admire. Without further delay…

Favorite drummers:

Ginger Baker: The original drummer for the 60s power trio, Cream. He has gone on to have a scintillating solo career, too. Some of his best work can be heard on Ginger Baker’s Air Force, Horses and Trees, and many other releases. You might also know his playing from Blind Faith. Of all of the thousands of drummers that I have heard over the years, I think that Ginger stands out as the most amazing. Why? First of all, his drumming is melodic; if such a thing can be said of a drummer. When he is playing you get this sense of a propulsive movement that is like Ginger singing a song to you. Second, Ginger simultaneously sounds hard and thumping, as well as soft and gentle. I think he accomplishes this by beating the heck out of his dual kick drums, while gently working his cymbals. Wow! Third, Ginger is master of the odd time signatures. The very famous Cream song, “White Room,” is in 5:4 time. At the time the song was released, 1968, it was very unusual for a song not to be in the standard 4:4 time. Later, in his jazz band, Ginger would play in really strange signatures like 13:8! Crazy! Of course, what this does it make the music interesting and unpredictable. As the logical brain has a hard time wrapping itself around such a complex rhythm, it shuts off, and then the creative brain is allowed to flourish. Fourth, Ginger is famous for making his own drum kits so that they sound exactly how we wants them to sound. Very cool!

Essential track: “White Room” off of Cream’s “Wheels of Fire.”

*****

Jimmy Chamberlain: He was the drummer for the Smashing Pumpkins. His playing is unbelievably aggressive and hard. My favorite Jimmy Chamberlain quote is that when he was asked what he thought about when he played the drums he said, “Boring a high speed drill through your head!” [Stunned silence.] However, despite the high octane, God of War, drumming, Jimmy also has the soft and gentle gene as well. Somewhat similarly to Ginger Baker, Jimmy considers rock ‘n roll drumming to be the poor man’s genre and he prefers jazz drumming. This skill and complexity comes out in many Pumpkins tracks.

Essential tracks: “Geek U.S.A.” off of the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Siamese Dream.” Jimmy puts on a literal clinic for how drummers should sound. Holy Guacamole he is good! The other track that is essential is off of an obscure Pumpkins’ B-side called, “Set the Ray to Jerry” off of the 1979 extended CD-single. You can also track it down in a box set entitled, “The Aeroplane Flies High.”

*****

John Bonham: You probably all know that he was the drummer for 70’s supergroup, Led Zeppelin. While Bonham doesn’t sound as loud to me as Jimmy Chamberlain, though he is close, the range of Zep’s music demanded that he have tremendous range as well. Led Zeppelin’s music ranged from proto-heavy metal, to hard driving blues, to Medieval folk songs, to romantic ballads, to spaced-out psychedelica, to full on rave-ups. John Bonham is very famous for having done an extended drum solo with his bare hands that resulted in his hands bleeding all over the drum kit. I used to think that this was obnoxious machismo. However, I know now that he was loving doing what he was doing so much that he was oblivious to the pain. He just had a rhythm stuck in his heart that he had to get out; he just had to express. Most rock ‘n roll drummers cite Bonham as their primary influence and it is easy to see why if you examine his entire body of work. Just like the two previous drummers, Bonham loved jazz drumming for its complexity. The other members of Led Zeppelin credit John with having introduced jazz, funk and reggae influences into the musical lexicon of the group.

Essential track: “D’yer Maker” from Over the Hills and Far Away. The drums absolutely drive the song and they range from full on assault to gentle, romantic meanderings. Amazing!

*****

Honorable mentions: Keith Moon of the Who; Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience; Buddy Miles of A Band of Gypsys; Barrett Martin (a personal friend) of the Screaming Trees, Tuatara and others; and Kevin Haskins of Bauhaus.

*****

Happy Holidays everyone!

Jason