[Dixielandjazz] Drummers

[Steve Barbone]

Gosh, it seems as if the drummers are getting a bad rap.

Personally, I love good drummers. I also love good rhythm sections. They
are, IMO, the key to having a good band. We are working with a new guy now,
Mike Piper who is a cross between a Rock & Roll and a modern jazz drummer.
Took to Swing and Dixieland like a duck to water.

He listens to the band and plays his lines, dynamics, accordingly. He
accents while keeping excellent time. He drives the band. And when a horn
solos, he modifies his sound to fit the solo. And when he solos, you can
hear the melody because he puts his solos into logical 4 or 8 bar sequences
as if he is singing the lyrics to the tune. (he also plays bass)

The rest of the band loves him too because he propels us while making it
easy for us to play.

Best of all, he is a great guy, gentleman, and happy as pig in slop to be
able to do his thing as part of a jazz band.

Drummers everywhere, you da man.

Read below, a segment from a National Public Radio Broadcast: June 25, 2005
 
MURRAY HORWITZ, American Film Institute: Hi, I'm Murray Horwitz. You know,
it's always amazing to me how different a piano, a bass, and a set of drums
can sound when they're played by different musicians. The jazz piano trio is
where many fans of this music really dig in and just lose themselves. Some
of the greatest jazz comes from that stripped-down and intimate sound. And
today's entry into the NPR Basic Jazz Record Library is one of the great
jazz piano trios, and one of the great jazz trio piano recordings, "The
Sound of the Trio" by Oscar Peterson.

The Oscar Peterson Trio of 1961 was Peterson at the piano; Ray Brown, the
bassist; and the drummer Ed Thigpen. Oscar Peterson has been quoted as
saying, "The intensity of the playing with this trio left little room for
second thoughts," and this CD is full of that unspoken communication among
the musicians, the kind where they almost finish each other's musical
sentences on the bandstand.

Oscar Peterson is known for his prodigious technique at the piano, and his
tremendous sense of swing. Bassist Ray Brown was still riding high from his
work with the bebop masters of the 1940s and '50s. He and drummer Ed Thigpen
often would hold rehearsals without the piano just to make sure they were as
tight as possible, and you can hear it throughout this recording.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone