LEAST FAVORITE DRUMMERS

[Guest the mommy]

hiseman is fine on the pete lemer ESP. nothing mind blowing, but he sounds perfectly decent in that earlier freer context.

[mikeweil]

Yeah. I don't think many people realized that Kay actually did play with Coltrane.

Well ..... that Atlantic was Bags' session, who preferred Kay for his strict timing, and is not the best example for Kay outside of the MJQ - he plays very straight on that one.

Of the sessions he did with others, I like Michel Sardaby's with Heath and Kay very much - the subtlety and the power, and much better recorded than on most Atlantics.

Edited November 4, 2006 by mikeweil

[Jazz Kat]

Actually Kay soloed on that album, which was pretty significent.

[musicmargaret]

Wow, there are so many posts in this thread that I really can't go back and read them all, but my biggest gripe with drummers these days, particularly in the "avant-jazz" world, is guys (well, mostly guys, for whatever reason) clicking and tinging and bonking and clattering and bumping away behind the drum kit, very busy being artsy and cutesy and "sound-sculpture"-ish, and knowing absolutely nothing about what drums are actually for or what they are capable of or their part in human history. Not only no swing, but no rhythms, no groove, no soul, and the thought of tuning their drums has yet to dawn. I'm not free to name any names, but the rest of you might like to!

[Soul Stream]

Good drummers are...and always will be...hard to find. It's amazing what passes for a "jazz drummer" on most local scenes. As far as 'name' jazz drummers I don't care for... I honestly can't think of any. I'm a drum nut in the sense that if they can make music and swing on the drums I'm all in. Guys I always love to hear are Art Taylor and Philly Joe.

[king ubu]

Here is another candidate, i would add Charly Antolini as one of my least-fav-drummers to the list.

Oh yeah - often rolling over the heads without using his own head ....

He'd never make my favourite drummer list, but that swing disc he did with Schlüter and Nabatov (on act) is great, I think!

[sidewinder]

Jon Hiseman

Much more familiar with his work in the late '60s/early '70s, essentially pre-Colosseum. I like him with the pianists, and he's solid on the Jack Bruce Things We Like LP. Maybe he took a turn for the worse later.

That Jack Bruce is nice indeed - but the way he played with Colosseum or the United Jazz & Rock Ensemble bores me.

Check out his playing with Neil Ardley/New Jazz Orchestra and the Mike Taylor Trio. Excellent !

Much more rock-oriented later on, although I quite like his playing with Barbara Thompson (Mrs Hiseman) in 'Paraphenalia'.

[king ubu]

Hiseman is also with Westbrook currently (or has been, fairly recently) - definitely not a boring/bad drummer, I think.

Another comparable (?) person, Tom Rainey - not one I'd have gone far to get discs with him, but with Tim Berne, he's very strong!

[Niko]

still angry at Norman Connors for wrecking the Jackie McLean Trainwreck session

[Matthew]

Han Bennink. For some reason this guy just bugs the crap out of me.

[alocispepraluger102]

Wow, there are so many posts in this thread that I really can't go back and read them all, but my biggest gripe with drummers these days, particularly in the "avant-jazz" world, is guys (well, mostly guys, for whatever reason) clicking and tinging and bonking and clattering and bumping away behind the drum kit, very busy being artsy and cutesy and "sound-sculpture"-ish, and knowing absolutely nothing about what drums are actually for or what they are capable of or their part in human history. Not only no swing, but no rhythms, no groove, no soul, and the thought of tuning their drums has yet to dawn. I'm not free to name any names, but the rest of you might like to!

beautifully said, sister.

[K1969]

He's probably a great drumer technically and it's true that he was till in his teens when he played on Hubbard's hit Red Clay, but had CTi asked thier house drummers like Cobham or Idris Muhammad, it've become become the groove monster it should've been.

[mikeweil]

Who was it on Red Clay - Lenny White? I don't have that anymore. I loved White from the start of his career - groove but more open than the others, and less dense, which I prefer.

[Brownian Motion]

Roy Haynes. He always seemed to be ambushing the horn soloists.

[Larry Kart]

Has anyone mentioned John Dentz? Based on my deliberately limited experience, the guy can hardly play. He ruins every album he's on that I've listened to, and many of them were otherwise promisiing.

[king ubu]

took me a while to get into Haynes (Roach as well - dug Elvin, Blakey, Philly Joe right away), he might be one of the most nuanced and sly ones around... (that to not just say: I'm shocked of his name appearing here...)

[brownie]

King Ubu's right!

Roy Haynes does not belong to this thread

[K1969]

Who was it on Red Clay - Lenny White? I don't have that anymore. I loved White from the start of his career - groove but more open than the others, and less dense, which I prefer.

Supporting Hubbard you've got Joe Henderson, Hancock and Ron Carter. I agree with your description of Lenny White's playing - in the groove but looser than others - a bit like Jack De Johnette. I guess that un reconstructed funk addict like me would've preferred less art and more ass on this particular track. You can't please everyone...

[Noj]

FWIW, I always find myself wanting the drums to be louder on Hubbard's Red Clay.

[CJ Shearn]

Joey Jordison.

[randissimo]

Though he CAN play, Vinnie sometimes overplays like a psychotic bulldozer plowing down everything in his path..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8CDtEVNFNc

[Ken Dryden]

Stix Hooper, who is a thorn in the side of every Mack Avenue recording session in which he took part.

[randissimo]

Stix Hooper, who is a thorn in the side of every Mack Avenue recording session in which he took part.

Interesting... How so? Always liked his playing with the Crusaders..

[aparxa]

Francisco Mela

[Shawn]

My least favorite drummer would have to be Lars Ulrich.

AGREED!!!! He has no sense of time whatsoever...I'm amazed he can even walk.