House of Drumming.com

Some of my 'lesser-known' heroes are:

- Grady Tate (played w/EVERYBODY, but I really dig him on Getz' Sweet Rain)
- Steve Ellington (Hal Galper, Jamey Aebersold... a personal mentor to me)
- Will Kennedy (love his stuff w/the Yellowjackets)
- Toss Panos (lesser known to most... but probably well known here, but he's my personal favorite of the grease groovers)
- Steve Potts (on a lot of blues stuff nowadays, plays with Booker T... Al Jackson Jr.'s cousin... killer groove)
- Eddie Christmas (Baaaaaaaaaad dude from NOLA, plays with Jon Cleary)
- Johnny Vidacovich
- Paco Sery (got turned on to him here actually, some great youtube stuff out there of him with Zawinul)
- John Riley
- Richie Hayward (everybody knows him from Little Feat, but he did a lot of really great groove stuff on blues sessions that never went mainstream... Tinsley Ellis' "Slingshots and Boomerangs" comes to mind right now)
- Jamal Thomas (I first saw him w/Maceo Parker, ever since I've taken a big interest in his playing)
- Nat Townsley
- Noel Okimoto
- Ed Thigpen

I should stop there but there are so many. It's a big world with a lot of great music!

Mickey Curry. He has played such solid drums on so many classic tracks. Good drumming too, not simple bashing.

Chris Parker. His playing on the breaks on SNL was really tasty, also played on tons of stuff.

Tony Thunder Smith. Played on the live Beck Hammer stuff. Distinctive playing, I pocked up on tom rimshots from him.

Great playing by Marotta. That was A ballsy groove.

Rodge wrote:Rick Marotta plays on a lot of songs that I really love, but each time I see him playing live, I'm wondering how he did it...

Ha! You could say that about a lot of drummers, Rodge. It's artful sloppiness, I guess.

I guess he's a vibraphonist now, but Jason Marsalis' Music in Motion is a sweet album I often return to. There's nothing revolutionary about his playing. I just find him really tasty.

Gaddabout wrote:Rick Marotta is a guy that has always done it for me. He's sneaky and clever. I think I just like the way he thinks. He gets accused of stealing from Gadd, but I think they used to be roommates in NY and Marotta swears Gadd stole that stuff from him.

I'm embarrassed to admit that a couple of decades ago I described Rick to my brother as "a simple Steve Gadd."

I'd love to get my hands on a list of songs where they played together.

Here's one I know of:

[youtube][/youtube]

Gaddabout wrote:

Rodge wrote:Rick Marotta plays on a lot of songs that I really love, but each time I see him playing live, I'm wondering how he did it...

Ha! You could say that about a lot of drummers, Rodge. It's artful sloppiness, I guess.

Exactly !!!

Deen Castronovo...
When I was young, I was shocked at his incredible double bass...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8ueln1fm68[/youtube]

Merel Bregante with Loggins and Messina

Enrique Pla with Irakere

Aaron Comess of the Spin Doctors, love him, big early influence. Phil Collins! All that 70s stuff he did, I love - LOVE the drum sound from Trick of the Tale era Genesis too, not sure I've ever heard anything I prefer.

A 'local' one is Gideon Letch, a friend who I was fan of before a friend of, if you see what I mean. I used to be so serious behind the drums; he taught me (through example! Rather than lessons...) to relax, laugh, enjoy it. Hugely grateful to him for that.

My unsung hero list:

Jon Christensen THE ECM drum guy:
When I watch the beginning I always wish I could ask him his opinion on stick heights and Moeller strokes at 310 bpm.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nSeNG2-mgQ[/youtube]

Dave Houghton from Joe Jackson's band:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el66jnuItYc[/youtube]

Rick is great but so is his kid brother Jerry:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbE_3Tx2UFY[/youtube]