I thought this was funny!

[Nikk]

Yeah I completely concur. Vinnie schooled everybody that night. His shit was so hip. His drums sounded amazing. Gadd...well, Gadd is Gadd. The guy contributed so much to this game but it's sorta like comparing Ali to Mike Tyson. While Ali is a total forefather badass, a modern fighter like Tyson woulda probably knocked him out in ten seconds. I guess this sorta happens naturally under the evolution of art. My old percussion teacher went to college with Gadd at Eastman in NY and said he was always a total badass. There was one time my teacher said he walked into one of the school's rehearsal halls and there was Gadd with nothing more than a conga and a cowbell grooving his ass off. He said it sounded like a million bucks. Amazing. Just an interesting anecdote.

[Dazzler]

He played Huey Hogg (Boss Hogg's nephew). I know, I'm sad for knowing that, but I thought it was funny!

Hehe! What a great piece of noncense trivia! I'm gonna get Milage out of that one!


Interesting comments about the first Buddy Rich vid. When I studied at Leeds College of Music in England, Bobby Shew who played lead tumpet on that gig came and did a workshop. I asked him what his memories of that concert were. His reply was interesting as he said that when Weckl and Vinnie were blazing their warmups backstage, Gadd sat quietly clicking his sticks and singing his two tunes to himself making sure his tempos were correct.
To me that speaks volumes. Without a doubt his tunes sat more than any others played that night. The band played far better behind him and obviously felt far more comfortable. His version of 'Keep The Customer Satified' was one of the most beautiful examples of a mid tempo big band shuffle I think I've ever heard.
When listening to Vinnies 4 bar break on 'You Gotta Try', while at the same time as being jaw dropping, creative and technically stupid, what he plays makes the band shit themselvres! It took me a while to be able to count through it as he was throwing the time all over the shop! When playing with 20 musicians behind you and having to make sure that they ALL come in at exactly the same time, having to state the time clearly is a must. That was the beauty of Buddy, while flying round the kit and displaying his ridiculous chops, th band were always confident about his time and conesequently, they sounded great accordingly. If Buddy had done what Vinnie did all the way through his tunes, his band would have sounded shocking as they would have haved to count furiously through every break instead of feeling it comfortably.
As for 'who smoked who' that night, I must have missed something. Can someone please tell me: since when did playing music become a competitive sport?

[Plaid]

The Infamous Tape 2. I think we've all discussed this tape numerous times, and it's always a great reference point for all three of those guys. At first, I would have straight up said that Vinnie "smoked" all of them, but after having it for 13 years now, it occurred to me some time back that Gadd is indeed just as effective as Vinnie at bringing the house down in his own way. All the people I've shown this video to have made just as many good comments about Gadd as they have The Vin. Though I'm sure he probably wasn't trying to do this, I thought Gadd's bars of solos in the trio were PERFECT segways into Vinnie's stuff damn near every time. Oh, and as far as the BR band keeping up with Vinnie's stuff, I think Vinnie's sense of time is just so unique that damn near everyone he plays with kind of has to adjust to that "Vinnie Time" (if you will). That's not at ALL to say his time is bad.....FAR FROM IT. He just has one of those minds with a gift for unique interpretation, which is why I find pretty much all of his recordings to be fascinating at the very least. (don't mean to make my post sound like a Vin-worship thread...sorry if it does). The bottom line is that Tape Two contains footage of the three biggest influences on modern drumming.....period.

[shedder]

every non-drummer i show that video to always says gadd is the best. interesting.

[Nikk]

Gadd doesn't do it for me here. For me to enjoy him, it has to be on the 70s/early 80s stuff with his lovely cardboard box sound.

[harmonized]

Vinnie, of course, did a great job, but Gadd's performance gave me the goosebumps. What he played during the "solo's" section was just plain COOL. Not technical, but slick as shit.

Weckl has the technique. Vinnie has the chops and feel. Gadd has it ALL.

[royerin]

Some good points there Dazzler. It must have been interesting for the BR Band to have that kind of player behind them. Personally I don't like the Weckl section, and in terms of feel, Gadd does it for me. I love what Vinnie is doing - he's doing his thing, and who doesn't dig that? - but I feel there are a couple of moments where it just doesn't come together as smoothly as it does with Gadd. At the end of the day though, I learned a shiteload from this tape and it's a MUST for those who haven't seen it.

[beats]

Gadd's band spot felt the best. Vinnie's spot was interesting. Buddy did some fucking around a'la Vinnie in that 'live from Montreal'DVD. Weckl; i dont really have an opinion about his segment.Kinda predictable Dave stuff for the time,but he certainly wasnt bad.

I posted about this tape b4. Very sound comments at that time. BUT alas..Vinnie commanded my imagination with his...um ...freakish output in the final 'Trade 4's' portion. My non drummer-musician friends always demanded a rewind to watch Vincent-he blew their minds with his ability. My non musician friends loved Gadd. They thought Vinnie was playing noise(lol). Both parties had no comments on Weckl.

Vinnie's 4's, remain, to this day some of the most inspirational,mind boggling,creative,innovative solo drumming ive ever seen in my life. When my few students reach a certain proficiancy, i'll show them that segment,as it stands as a true classic drumming moment.

To this day,i still maintain the theory that Weckl was soooo outclassed by Vinnie on that night,in that he seriously rethought his skills, and thusly seeked education to elevate his drumming. As it stands 2day,Weckl is 100 times the drummer he used to be. Which quantifies my belief that Vinnie was(and still is) incredibly ahead of his time.

Does Gadd still employ those gay-ass triplet tom fill 2day?

Much love and respect.........beats

[Plaid]

Beats, in the few times I've heard Gadd since the BR vid, I've seen him do those triplets, which are easily the most un-musical thing he does (the first thirty seconds or so of his solo in the first tune are GREAT.....I don't think he should EVER go for chops, though some of his fours were just awesome), and I'm not sure why he does them the same way still. To be honest, I don't think Gadd should be offered anymore solo spots when he performs. He should just play the songs (maybe with some solo-ish breaks), and be done with it. It's obvious that the man has influenced damn near everyone who plays drums these days (and if not by him, than by someone who has him as a major influence), but I personally don't find his playing very interesting anymore since he hasn't seemed to have really built on what he's already innovated. Of course, since he was the innovator, I guess he doesn't really have to...right????

[FuseU1]

Uh... RIGHT. [img]cool.gif[/img]