Editors Note – its not often that one gets to read and edit an article written about a well known historical figure, let alone a well known historical drumming figure, written by someone who actually knew them well. Such is this Groovers and Shakers article – Bob Henrit was a contemporary of Keith Moon, and
I do know Billy Cobham, having toured with him in 1971 when Argent supported Mahavishnu Orchestra on what was probably their first American tour. This was at a time when they were at their frightening best and nobody really wanted to tour with them(!). Nothing about Mahavishnu was usual, but one of the most unusual
Quite a few of the drummers I’ve been writing about in G&S have one thing in common – Roy C Knapp. He isn’t famous for playing with anyone famous – unless of course you know the names of the ‘proper’ orchestras in which he played drums and tuned percussion in any of the 17 theatres
Earl Palmer has a history which anyone would envy. If you were writing a Hollywood screen- play about a famous drummer who came from humble beginnings, his life story would fit the bill perfectly. He was born on October 25th, 1924 and began his performing-life as a tap dancer on the streets of the
Murrey Mizzell ‘Buddy’ Harman was born in Nashville on December 23rd 1928 when Music City must have been a completely different, much smaller and far more rural place. His parents were both musicians and his mother was actually a drummer. He assumed the first name Buddy as an homage to his favourite drummer –
John Russell ‘Jack’ Parnell was born into a showbiz family in London’s Paddington on August 6th, 1923. His mother was an accomplished classical pianist who accompanied his father, Russ Carr, who was a ventriloquist - as indeed was Jack’s grandfather Fed Russell. One of his uncles was Val Parnell who ran all the theatres for
James Marcus Van Eaton was born in Memphis on December 23h, 1937 and about 20 years later was responsible for playing drums on a record which exploded onto the music world more than any other song had done up until then. The song in question was “Whole Lotta Shaking Going On” by Jerry Lee Lewis.
Jo Jones was born on the 7th of October, 1911 in Chicago and I was fortunate (and surprised) to meet him while helping out in his friend Frank Ippolito’s ‘Professional Percussion’ in New York sometime in 1970! He is generally held to be the most important drummer of his time, mainly because he caused the
‘Ed’ Cassidy was born in 1923 and appears in this series on two counts. The first is by virtue of being ‘rock’ music’s oldest drummer, and the second is by being the first person in the sixties to have an exceedingly large drum kit. I’m not sure if anyone’s going to catch him up on
We had planned many weeks ago that Remo would be our ''Groovers And Shakers'' subject for May 15th 2016. His passing on 25th April was a shock to us all, but in tribute to Remo's massively influential life we knew we had to go ahead as planned. Remo had made us very welcome at the
