The other day I was listening and watching Steve Gadd, playing on the Dave Grusin, NY/LA dream band, video, filmed in Japan. What blew me away was the fact that Steve Gadd, played 8th notes on the hihat, 1&3 on the Bass drum & 2&4 on his snare and in my opinion blew away Virgil D., Vinnie C., Dave W., Tomas L., Marco M. and the list could go on and on!
I don't know why I feel this way?
Was it the music?
Was it the drummer?
At the end of the day I don't think it matters. What matters is the music was sending a message and I was recieving it!
I also get a similar feeling listening to Dave Weckl's band!
Why is that? Weckl's music is so much busyer than the Grusin Music.
I think I'm trying to say that music is a language with many dialects. Don't beat up Weckl's music, he has developed his own dialect.
I asked one of the owners of the Baked Potato when Virgil & CAB was playing recently (guys seen every major player since 1980)who stood out on drums over the years. Without hesitation, he said there was this one show back in the 80's and Steve Gadd was on drums. I will never forget that gig.
It was the drummer! [img]wink.gif[/img]
Gadd is & always HAS been the STUFF, baby. [img]wink.gif[/img]
& like Vinnie, Virgil, Dennis, Novak, Husband, etc, Weckl is an extension of Gadd, & others AW; but mostly, HIMSELF...
Well said, Stone.
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ June 04, 2004 10:12 PM: Message edited by: FuseU1 ]</font>
Hey Guys,
Come on, music and drums are not competition !!!
We 're not suposed compare the musicians each other !!!
It's not like the olympics game !!!
It's about sensibility.
We play like we are and we all are so different...
Please, we have to respect everybody because all the great musicians that we like give the best of themself for the music, the people and for us...
Each other is important to each other for the music story, and everybody is nothing without the other one...
It's just my opinion.
I find that we talk to much comparing genius against genius, what's that ?
Sorry...
Good points. I think the reason we tend to rate or compare greats to greats is because it's somewhat unavoidable. It's probably human nature. I think there is a strong undercurrent of respect for these guys and more than a little envy too. That may contribute to the slight criticism or tendency to rate certain players. Plus, those players who are primarily based on technique, "the fast gunslinger syndrome", beg for it by virtue of what they do.
My opinion: For every full or part-time fusion drummer, it all starts with Gadd. Mason, Porcaro, Vega, and many others - sure, but Gadd's the prototype. He has an incredibly deep pocket, and practically wrote the book on ghost notes, two-handed ride/hi-hat patterns, the inventive use of rudiments applied to the kit, ratamacue licks and linear triplets, etc. Plus, Gadd always sounds soulful and musical, probably because he doesn't overdue the chops thing.
Brad
Great points Shawn & V.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I would say that Erskine, Hakim, Vega, W Kennedy [& the many others] each have this attribute AW.Gadd always sounds soulful and musical, probably because he doesn't overdue the chops thing
I don't think that the majority of folks in here truly think that music is a sportlike competition; they just like to express their opinion on certain principles, that's all *...
...for instance, on the Weckl thing, I have NO doubt in my mind that he could 'back down the burner' & play a 'simple' phat pocket in any situation...take a tune like 'A Simple Prayer' or 'Panda's Dream,' both off 'Synergy'...there are others on his other discs AW...the chopsfest isn't the ONLY thing this monster is capable of...but, & like Virg, his own band is a personal extension of his ability...& why not? He worked long & hard for it, so more power to him, IMHO, & that's why i dig him so much...he strived to be the best he can be, while being both musical AND within precision timing, & THAT'S the statement he is making...[& don't think for a minute that Dave & the other greats that we have today didn't listen to a lot of Gadd, either [img]wink.gif[/img] ...& Vinnie & Buddy loved Gadd too...any serious drummer since Gaddd has listened to more than enough Gaddmeister...
*..however, there are always the inevitable, occasional 'drive-bys'...but they don't last long in here [img]wink.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ June 06, 2004 05:40 PM: Message edited by: FuseU1 ]</font>
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