Jazz Times: Stryker on the Ellington Drummers -- Greer and Woodyard

[Mark Stryker]

 

Really enjoyed writing this one. 

https://jazztimes.com/features/columns/chronology-sonny-greer-and-sam-woodyard-drum-for-the-duke/

[clifford_thornton]

Yes!

I hope someday we all get to hear the Dave Burrell-Sam Woodyard duets, originally planned for Horo release but scuttled as the label folded.

[Mark Stryker]

18 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:

Yes!

I hope someday we all get to hear the Dave Burrell-Sam Woodyard duets, originally planned for Horo release but scuttled as the label folded.

I wasn't aware of these. Thanks.

Edited November 11, 2022 by Mark Stryker

[AllenLowe]

Many years ago, probably Mid 1970s, I wandered into Gregory's, a piano bar on the East Side of NYC. Brooks Kerr was scheduled to play, and when I walked in I saw that Scott Hamilton was also there, plus a bass player whose name I can not remember, and Sonny Greer! I almost fell over; even back then he was kind of a mythical figure. He set up a very small drum set, and played very nicely.

I mentioned this to Scott not long ago, to see if I was hallucinating, and he confirmed it actually happened.

[Mark Stryker]

11 minutes ago, AllenLowe said:

Many years ago, probably Mid 1970s, I wandered into Gregory's, a piano bar on the East Side of NYC. Brooks Kerr was scheduled to play, and when I walked in I saw that Scott Hamilton was also there, plus a bass player whose name I can not remember, and Sonny Greer! I almost fell over; even back then he was kind of a mythical figure. He set up a very small drum set, and played very nicely.

I mentioned this to Scott not long ago, to see if I was hallucinating, and he confirmed it actually happened.

Sonny played that Brooks Kerr gig for a long while I think. Would have loved to hear him in person. 

[JSngry]

I've heard some over the years say that Greer didn't REALLY swing, not like Jo Jones or Chick Webb or any of those guys, and I guess, sure, ok, whatever.

Me, I call bullshit on that, because ultimately swing, even/especially in its more "abstract" forms, is about pocket. And jesuscrisco, Sonny Greer had pocket.

My Exhibit A will be the almost universally disdained "Kitty" one of the supposedly "desperate" Ellington singles from the last days of the 40s band. It's so universally unloved that there's no YouTube video of it now (and the one that used to be there was buried deep in the bowels of that beast). Maybe it's still there?

Anyway, it's Ray Nance all the way, and Ray Nance at his Floorshow BEST. And Sonny Greer is locking into it HARD. Especially when Johnny Hodges gets a solo on a bridge, with band punctuation. Oh my GOD, Sonny Greer is hitting a backbeat so deep in the pocket that it gives even the fattest asses room to move with glory, gaiety, and GROOVE.

Sonny Greer didn't REALLY swing?

Bullshit.

[Mark Stryker]

19 hours ago, JSngry said:

I've heard some over the years say that Greer didn't REALLY swing, not like Jo Jones or Chick Webb or any of those guys, and I guess, sure, ok, whatever.

Me, I call bullshit on that, because ultimately swing, even/especially in its more "abstract" forms, is about pocket. And jesuscrisco, Sonny Greer had pocket.

My Exhibit A will be the almost universally disdained "Kitty" one of the supposedly "desperate" Ellington singles from the last days of the 40s band. It's so universally unloved that there's no YouTube video of it now (and the one that used to be there was buried deep in the bowels of that beast). Maybe it's still there?

Anyway, it's Ray Nance all the way, and Ray Nance at his Floorshow BEST. And Sonny Greer is locking into it HARD. Especially when Johnny Hodges gets a solo on a bridge, with band punctuation. Oh my GOD, Sonny Greer is hitting a backbeat so deep in the pocket that it gives even the fattest asses room to move with glory, gaiety, and GROOVE.

Sonny Greer didn't REALLY swing?

Bullshit.

Thanks for this. It made me me go back to my records to refresh my memory of "Kitty" -- glad I did. Greer is rocking. 

[JSngry]

I love that record. 

[AllenLowe]

20 hours ago, JSngry said:

I've heard some over the years say that Greer didn't REALLY swing, not like Jo Jones or Chick Webb or any of those guys, and I guess, sure, ok, whatever.

Me, I call bullshit on that, because ultimately swing, even/especially in its more "abstract" forms, is about pocket. And jesuscrisco, Sonny Greer had pocket.

My Exhibit A will be the almost universally disdained "Kitty" one of the supposedly "desperate" Ellington singles from the last days of the 40s band. It's so universally unloved that there's no YouTube video of it now (and the one that used to be there was buried deep in the bowels of that beast). Maybe it's still there?

Anyway, it's Ray Nance all the way, and Ray Nance at his Floorshow BEST. And Sonny Greer is locking into it HARD. Especially when Johnny Hodges gets a solo on a bridge, with band punctuation. Oh my GOD, Sonny Greer is hitting a backbeat so deep in the pocket that it gives even the fattest asses room to move with glory, gaiety, and GROOVE.

Sonny Greer didn't REALLY swing?

Bullshit.

well, here's the proof that you are right; not only is Greer on drums, but he swings and has a great solo:

 

[mikeweil]

I never understood why all "swinging" should sound the same. It is part of jazz individualism just as tone/sound and phrasing. Greer swung in his own way. Take Vernel Fournier, whose ride cymbal certainly was not standard.