TS: Steve Gadd vs. Jeff Porcaro

Q: How many drummers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A: Three. One to do it and two to talk about how Steve Gadd would have done it.

Actually, Vinnie Colaiuta is the greatest drummer of all time.

Once checked out an alb by some 'conglomerate' called something like 'the New York Jazz Session Kings', w/ Gadd on drums - it was like the bloody Brecker bros, only even worse!!

Bernard Purdie is God.

Did I happen to mention before that Vinnie Colaiuta is the greatest drummer of all time?

That's the typical mid 70s LA sound (and the template for the snare sound in the Linndrum).

The damped sound can sound good - funk and disco records mostly have an amazing, creamy drum sound. Rock records from that period tend to have a coarser less pleasant sound for some reason. 'Do You Think I'm Sexy' is a good example of a bandwagon disco record without the proper disco sound on the drums.

oh shit, i always thought steve gadd played drums on "i keep forgettin'", but i guess it's jeff porcaro. so bad.

Vinnie Colaiuta is a born again Christian, so minus lots of points. Also, I can't think of any signature Vinnie Colaiuta beats. I guess he plays drums on "Nightshift," by the Commodores.

Jeff Porcaro's "Rosanna"-shuffle is awesome. But so is a lot of Gadd's stuff, like his Paul Simon material ("50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" is paradiddlerific). Both play on so much terrible stuff that's it's easy to take them for granted, even when they make the impossible look easy. Tough call.

Steve Gadd, I hear, is addicted to crack. I am not making this up.

About Colaiuta's ability to play Zappa's notoriously complex music, guitarist Steve Vai told the following story:
“ He's one of the most amazing sight-readers that ever existed on the instrument. One day we were in a Frank rehearsal, this was early '80s, and Frank brought in this piece of music called "Mo 'N Herb's Vacation." Just unbelievably complex. All the drums were written out, just like "The Black Page" except even more complex. There were these runs of like 17 over 3 and every drumhead is notated differently. And there were a whole bunch of people there, I think Bozzio was there. Vinnie had this piece of music on the stand to his right. To his left he had another music stand with a plate of sushi on it, okay? Now the tempo of the piece was very slow, like "The Black Page." And then the first riff came in, [mimics bizarre Zappa-esque drum rhythm patterns] with all these choking of cymbals, and hi-hat, ruffs, spinning of rototoms and all this crazy stuff. And I saw Vinnie reading this thing. Now, Vinnie has this habit of pushing his glasses up with the middle finger of his right hand. Well I saw him look at this one bar of music, it was the last bar of music on the page. He started to play it as he was turning the page with one hand, and then once the page was turned he continued playing the riff with his right hand, as he reached over with his left hand, grabbed a piece of sushi and put it in his mouth, continued the riff with his left hand and feet, pushed his glasses up, and then played the remaining part of the bar. It was the sickest thing I have ever seen. Frank threw his music up in the air. Bozzio turned around and walked away. I just started laughing.[1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je_iqbgGXFw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ6tzbKsKKk

Jeff Porcaro was such a chill dude who was anti-drum solo, and that makes me love him more. (This q&a session is so good.)

great video! He's totally enjoying himself at the end. So fun to watch.

Gadd, otoh, created drum solos for people who hated drum solos

Enjoyed every second of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwyO1qr0edI&feature=youtu.be

I just recently clued in to the fact that Steve Gadd and Tony Levin play on the first Kate and Anna McGarrigle record, which seems kind of weird at first but totally made sense when I listened to it again.

Also in some upstate new York fusion band iirc. That may have been their break actually.

Gadd was also addicted to crack for a long stretch, I heard, though tragically Jeff's bizarre gardening accident trumps that.Rip.

What is it with established musicians who take to heavy drugs late in their careers? Herbie Hancock was a crack addict in the 90s, and Charlie Watts (who didn't so much as drink on Stones tours) became addicted to heroin in the mid-80s.

I just recently clued in to the fact that Steve Gadd and Tony Levin play on the first Kate and Anna McGarrigle record

Seek out the stuff they did with Margie Joseph too.

XP probably has to do with slowing pace of touring, boredom, and wanting to recapture highs of performing

any excuse to post this vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFVzqrfMTRI

Start at about 4:39 for the lead-in to the solo. Rest of the tune is not that exciting to me.

Porcaro plays on Pink Floyd’s “Mother!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzFWSYFX4J8

I love that Kate Bush fell in love with Gadd and just *had* to start using him with Director’s Cut.

Sometimes I have mixed feelings about Gadd as a session drummer. He's great with Steely Dan and on 50 Ways, but beyond that it's hard for me to think of sessions I really love with him on them. Some of it may be his sound. Still one of my favorite drummers to watch.