Jazz music doesn’t go back much beyond 110 years and for some people it started with Louis Armstrong about 90 years ago. In that brief time the pulse of jazz has been articulated in the big bass drums of marching bands, the left hand of an accomplished stride pianist, a powerhouse thumping of 4 strings of an upright bass or the blend of the bass with electric.
The strongest role of time keeper has been held more often than not, by the great drummers starting back with guys like Baby Dodds and Zutty Singleton, who grew up in New Orleans.
These two early jazz drummers were tremendously rhythmic. Dodds brought an evenness of touch to his playing to compensate for problems that had not been worked out by sound engineers trying to capture big bands sound. Zutty brought more attention to the snare drum.
The early drummers stuck to keeping the pulse, they kept working off the downbeat of the 1st beat; they held the band together and often played under them as support. These early drummers held back the band from letting loose and diminishing the groove. They truly made the music swing.
During those early days, someone that grabbed the attention of the jazz world and is still a household name among jazz aficionados is Gene Krupa. Gene learned from the earliest of drummers and took their subtleties and embellished on them.
At the later part of Benny Goodman’s career he was asked who was his favorite drummer and he barely gave any of his drummers much mention. The only one that received Benny’s total respect, despite often clashing with him personally was Gene Krupa.
Krupa was a gentleman and when he lost a cutting contest, he wasn’t afraid to admit it. He just took it as a lesson to benefit from. The one night he tipped his hat to another terrific drummer was when the Goodman Band, which Krupa was a part of, went up against another band whose drummer was the leader. Benny had been holding court and declared the King of Swing by many tabloids and opinion polls. So, it was with a lot of pride on the line that Benny took on someone else who also was known to all the regular patrons of the Savoy Ballroom as “The King of Swing”.
A Drummer Was Once The King Of Swing
If you were to think of what drummer could possibly be the King of Swing, your mind may round up the usual suspects and right away you could be yelling out “It must be Buddy Rich!” or “Art Blakey”, Elvin Jones, Alphonse Mouzon and Billy Cobham were not on the scene yet, so who could it be?
If you had heard a recording of Chick Webb, you might expect that judging by the brilliant quick fills, the flurries the powerful bass drum and those cymbals crashing, the man stepping out from behind the drums at the Savoy would be a big muscular guy and not someone that stood under 5 feet tall, possessed little use of his legs and had a painful and deformed back.
But, Chick Webb’s virtuosity was a huge influence on Krupa as well as Buddy Rich, who said about Webb that he was “the daddy of them all”.
Webb out of necessity had his Gretsch drum set customized and his drums were put on racks, which was very innovative at the time and observed as a major enhancement.
For those that are searching for someone to study for their technique and their understated shear artistry, it would be hard to find anyone better than Count Basie’s drummer Papa Jo Jones. He wasn’t flashy like some of his contemporaries, but his use of the hi-hat and amazing subtle attack was revolutionary.
As Bebop music began to be popular, rhythms were changing and someone that made that happen was Kenny Clarke that accented beats within a measure. His approach was adopted by both Max Roach and Art Blakey as well as Elvin Jones, John Coltrane’s fiery drummer.
As music developed in the style of cool jazz, some outstanding drummers came out of that school as well and they were Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnnette and Elvin Jones was part of this group too.
Drumming today often takes on lots more in the way of coloring the music as well as taking on long solos. There are great players that love their predecessors and play with the same style that made swing popular. Some women have even become keepers of the flame so to speak. Two such terrific players are Cindy Blackman and Terri Lyne Carrington.
Musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Mel Torme learned to play drums to get close to the feel and excitement of the pulse of music. Their understanding of the drums role in music made their contributions even greater. If we wish to learn music, we need to open our ears to the rhythms of the drum.
Tags: drum solos, flurries, quick fills, time keeping