Gadd

[Rodge]

I , was there that day and will never forget the line up ..........It was Alex Acuna , Teddy Campbell , Vinnnie Colaiuta and Billy Cobham and of course Steve Gadd . It was an amazing day of drumming and also in the audience was a not yet famous up and coming very young Dave Weckl , who was playing around town alot with French Toast , at the time.

Do you mean "Tommy" Campbell?

[Pocketplayer]

Sober or not, the stuff he did in the 70s is how I will always remember Gadd.

Let's me honest here guys...has there ever been anyone who got more mileage out of his trademark licks?

You go to a Gadd clinic and he plays the exact same stuff he played 20 years ago. I love the guy, but as for
being one to stay fresh, he will never be in the same class and VC or DW...especially DW...good old Dave
is as close to the mark of excellence as one can get. He has a drive and discipline truly attributed to the
word GREAT.

Do these guys ever get tired of playing drums? That would be a great movie...legendary drummer who wakes
up one morning and doesn't want to play anymore.

[Jean-Paul]

IMO without Gadd no DW (especially DW) and VC!

And besides his signature licks he is able to be in command of high profile gigs, he is on top of the "food chain."

If you saw him with Paul Simon, Al Jarreau or Eric Clapton, there's the artist and there's Gadd as their wingman.
Whatever happened, he didn't move an inch and grooved his ass off.

I think it's not fair taking away the credits he should get from his work in the 80's and 90's. The 2010 NSJ festival
in Holland with James Taylor was a bit disappointing but hey, aren't we all getting older?

It's not the madness we see from VC, DW and a bunch of others but in many occasions I cannot watch a full YT clip
with a drummer playing solo. Then I prefer to hear music which cannot sound any better because there's a badass
drummer in command of time, pulling and pushing, who is tasteful and making everybody else better. Nowadays,
the emphasis is technique and speed. And although I like both, let Gadd be Gadd and do his thing as long as he
enjoys it.

[Yussuf]

IMO without Gadd no DW (especially DW) and VC!

And besides his signature licks he is able to be in command of high profile gigs, he is on top of the "food chain."

If you saw him with Paul Simon, Al Jarreau or Eric Clapton, there's the artist and there's Gadd as their wingman.
Whatever happened, he didn't move an inch and grooved his ass off.

I think it's not fair taking away the credits he should get from his work in the 80's and 90's. The 2010 NSJ festival
in Holland with James Taylor was a bit disappointing but hey, aren't we all getting older?

It's not the madness we see from VC, DW and a bunch of others but in many occasions I cannot watch a full YT clip
with a drummer playing solo. Then I prefer to hear music which cannot sound any better because there's a badass
drummer in command of time, pulling and pushing, who is tasteful and making everybody else better. Nowadays,
the emphasis is technique and speed. And although I like both, let Gadd be Gadd and do his thing as long as he
enjoys it.

Amen brother.

[bigbone]

IMO without Gadd no DW (especially DW) and VC!

And besides his signature licks he is able to be in command of high profile gigs, he is on top of the "food chain."

If you saw him with Paul Simon, Al Jarreau or Eric Clapton, there's the artist and there's Gadd as their wingman.
Whatever happened, he didn't move an inch and grooved his ass off.

I think it's not fair taking away the credits he should get from his work in the 80's and 90's. The 2010 NSJ festival
in Holland with James Taylor was a bit disappointing but hey, aren't we all getting older?

It's not the madness we see from VC, DW and a bunch of others but in many occasions I cannot watch a full YT clip
with a drummer playing solo. Then I prefer to hear music which cannot sound any better because there's a badass
drummer in command of time, pulling and pushing, who is tasteful and making everybody else better. Nowadays,
the emphasis is technique and speed. And although I like both, let Gadd be Gadd and do his thing as long as he
enjoys it.

Agree, even Vinnie and Weckl will said without Gadd there drumming will not be the same.........
BTW he still kick ass at 65...... Bravo

[circh bustom]

Being that i was born in the mid 70's and didnt even touch a drumstick till 6 months after Buddy died, Gadd was a mystery to me for a long time. not anymore, but I was young what can i do? having said that, I know that obviously, Gadd has chops but I rarely ever think, "hey lets listen to him blow". I have him on a Noel Pointer record where he barely plays any fills and the groove is crushing. Also, what about "The Hustle" ? very few if any fills yet he had the whole world dancing with that one for countless years.
Funny thing though, when these greats change and evolve their style over the years, we get frustrated that they arent doing what we loved them for in the first place. yet when a drummer does the same thing over and over and over again we dont like it. (example being Steve Smith's solo with Hiromi and A Jackson) Not saying everybody does, im sure someone will pop up with a comment to the contrary, but its just what I see.

[Josiah]

And besides his signature licks he is able to be in command of high profile gigs, he is on top of the "food chain."

that is actually a very untrue statement. Gadd only plays with a very few, all be it, high profile artists, but they are all from "his" day. You'll never seen Gadd on any high profile gig from the last 20 years.

he's not on the top of the "food chain" by any means, it's really more on the bottom and feeding off the stuff from back in the day. He doesnt get or play any high end modern gigs. Period.


He made his mark, and it is a huge mark, inspired many but it's like Lars Urlich or Ringo Star - they ride on the once was.


the guy gets decimated in a straight up trade, the Buddy Rich Memorial is a very explicit example.

an inspiring and progressive player for his time, like most legends, die hard. in modern playing contexts gadd gets toasted every time. his lack of progression and evolution is a giant indicator.


and while his "feel" might be great for THAT ( read OLD ) music. He obviously is not getting the calls for major groove situations.

[larryd]

My bad .............Tommy Campbell , is correct .

[DSOP]

He obviously is not getting the calls for major groove situations.

[Tom Reschke]

the guy gets decimated in a straight up trade, the Buddy Rich Memorial is a very explicit example.



I gotta disagree with that notion. I don't think that he was decimated AT ALL in the trading with Weckl & Vinnie. He played some badass shit (and yes, one or two of his offerings were kinda just, meh...). But I have always thought that if anybody "lost" one that one it was Weckl (his drums sounded weak compared to the other two, a lot of his diddle shit was drowned out by Vinnie and Gadd playing the groove behind him, and since it was he and Vinnie doing the chops thing, Vinnie absolutely clobbered him on that one). Not that this is what the thread's about, but I've got Gadd's back on the BRMC trading for sure.