Best Drummer Nick Name

Still busy, finishing my drum method book. So, here's another from Owen. Best drummers nick name. Names like Rikki Rocket don't count. That's not a nick name, it's just a bad idea. I'm going to start things off with the drummer from our last post, Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. The man who played on hundreds of classic tunes and brought us the "Purdie Shuffle". He may not look pretty (and really, I think Bernard would like a different adjective to describe his looks) but he sure plays pretty. What do you guys think?

Killer Drum-Bass Combo

Been busy out in the wood shed, so Owen has come up with some great topics. First on his list is great drummer/bass player combos in different genre's. I'll start it off in the R & B category with Bernard Purdie and Chuck Rainey. Here they are with Aretha (and Cornell Dupree) on the T.V. show Room 222. This may be The Queen's (and I sure as shit don't mean Latifah) T.V. debut, haven't been able to confirm this.      Let us know who you come up with.

Best Beatle Drum Beat

Yes, we all know and love the classic drum beats on some of the Led Zeppelin tunes, the killer stuff on Deep Purple records, Queen's We Will Rock You and so on. We're leaving out (for now) anything by someone who can be referred to as a 'cat': Gadd, Colaiuta, Elvin, Garibaldi, Modeliste etc. At present we don't care about chops, speed, flash, complex grooves or Neil Peart - I never care about Neil Peart, although feel free to yourself.
Let's talk about some Beatles drum beats.
This discussion is about Ringo (or anyone else who played drums on a Beatles tune) and which beats we think are the coolest.
The first one that comes to my mind is Ticket to Ride. I love that s**t. Whether it came from Paul or whatever the 'people in the know' say, it is a slammin' piece of work.
What do you think??

Luckiest Drummer List

This could be dangerous territory, but Owen and I started a luckiest drummer list and it's time to go public with it. I'll start it off with someone whom I'm sure is a very cool guy. I'm sure he's funny, down to earth, personable, etc. but Nick Mason has a net worth of $70 million dollars!!!!!! Drumming for Pink Floyd!!!!! I rest my case. Feel free to join in.....

You Gotta Check This Out......

Herlin Riley's solo in this video is a must see.
Go to YouTube and check out "Wynton Marsalis and Herlin Riley
Live 2002 (Part 1)".
It starts with a quick intro from Wynton, then this amazing solo by Herlin.
This is for everyone: drummers, non-drummers, musicians, non-musicians, people who go to the concession stand during drum solos, boys, girls, moms, dads, Democrats, Republicans (O.K. maybe not Republicans), Met's fans, Yankee fans, the whole lot.
I would have embedded it, but it was disabled by request.
Enjoy!

How about best drummers names......

In looking for an old drum book on ebay, I came across the name Dave Tough.
I had heard his name on and off, but this finally made me check him out. Dave played with some heavy hitters like Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, Charlie Christian and Fletcher Henderson, among others. For people interested in learning about drumming or the music and time period in general, he was a very interesting guy.
But - me being me - Dave's name got me thinking about drummers with cool names, so I thought I'd throw some out there and see if anyone else could "beat" me!
(Let's make these guys who could play; Rikki Rockett doesn't count on so many levels).

Besides Dave Tough, how about:
J.C. Heard
Shadow Wilson
Big Sid Catlett
Ziggy Modeliste
Bernard "Pretty' Purdie
And......
?

How Could I Forget Richie?? (Greatest Drummer List)

I know when naming the greatest drummers of all time, one might leave
off one (or maybe even two) really important people. Some people could argue that some on the list shouldn't be, while others should. Fair enough.
But, in my in-depth analysis, I completely forgot about one of my (and Steve Gadd's) picks for greatest drummers: Richie Hayward.
He's one of those guys where you hear one measure and you know it's him. His sound and feel are truly his own thing. A while back, a friend had house seats at Carnegie Hall for Joan Armatrading and asked if I wanted to go. I thought ,"Joan Armatrading... o.k but..."
I went anyway.
Was I glad I did - Richie AND Bill Payne (also from Little Feat) were in her band. What a GREAT night. I highly recommend checking him out if he's not too familiar. I'd start out with Little Feat's
live album 'Waiting for Columbus'.

Update: Unfortunately, Richie lost his battle with liver cancer.
Our thoughts go out to his family.