Worlds Greatest Drummer 2009
 | | Pete Cater Big Band |
World’s Greatest Drummer 2009 at Lichfield Garrick Theatre
With Ian Palmer, Steve White, Neal Wilkinson, Jeremy Stacey, Karl Brazil, Jon Brookes & Pete Cater |
 | | Ian Palmer (Session Great) |
The World’s Greatest Drummer concert - now in its 3rd successful year and dedicated to the great drummers from yesteryear - Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa and Louis Bellson.
With their passion for all things drums and drumming, Ian Palmer and his drumming buddies from Birmingham used to dedicate a night a year for a drummer’s meet and talk about their drumming heroes and music of that era. Keen to perform the material and enjoying the whole event, they were encouraged to take it further, and with the investment of time and money, ‘The World’s Greatest Drummer’ event was born.
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 | | Jeremy Stacey (Sheryl Crow) |
Check out Ian Palmer’s recent interview about the event: http://www.mikedolbear.com/story.asp?StoryID=2023
This year’s performing drummers included some of the best U.K. session drummers - Ian Palmer (Session Great), Steve White (Session Great), Neal Wilkinson (James Morrison), Jeremy Stacey (Sheryl Crow), Karl Brazil (Robbie Williams), Jon Brookes (The Charlatans) & Pete Cater and his Big Band who provided a vibrant sound and contained members that were fortunate to perform with the late great Buddy Rich. All drummers gave up their time to support the event and Jeremy Stacey flew back from the States to support the event. |
 | | Mike Dolbear reads letter from Zildjian family |
Mike Dolbear was asked to compere the event and shared his anecdotes, experiences and read tributes sent via email from the U.S.
The evening’s first half featured Peter Cater, Ian Palmer, Neal Wilkinson and Jeremy Stacey interchanging their performances and culminated with Ian, Neal and Jeremy performing ‘Skin Deep’ – a great closer for the first set. |
 | | Pete Cater (Big Band Leader) |
Other tracks performed in the first half included ‘Where Or When’ performed by Pete Cater and Todd Gordon, a great crooner. ‘In A Mellow Tone’ and ‘Wack, Wack’ with Neal Wilkinson, ‘Big Swing Face’, ‘Love For Sale’ and ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’ featuring Todd Gordon with Ian Palmer and ‘Soul Kitchen’ and ‘Rotten Kid’ with Jeremy Stacey.
The event was also a charity raiser for the Teenage Cancer Trust and the second set kicked off with a short speech from them highlighting their cause and a raffle prize giveaway of a Mapex snare drum signed by all the performing drummers, and sticks used on their performances – over £540 was raised for the trust on the night. |
 | | Karl Brazil (Robbie Williams) |
A great dedication and tribute was read out by Mike Dolbear from John DeChristopher from the Zildjian company and reads as follows:
“Gene Krupa is responsible for elevating the drummer''s role from "timekeeper" to that of a featured soloist within the band. His charisma on and off the bandstand broke new ground for drummers. His great swing beat, perfect timing, amazing showmanship, and movie star good looks made him a celebrity. Gene had a long and fruitful relationship with the Zildjian Family. Many of today''s standard cymbal models such as the Ride, Crash, Splash are the result of Gene''s collaborations with Avedis and Armand Zildjian. The late great Armand Zildjian told me many wonderful stories about him and Gene and their long friendship. |
 | | Jon Brookes (The Charlatans) with Liz Stanley (Guest Vocalist) |
Buddy Rich is widely acknowledged as the greatest drummer of all time. Buddy''s technical prowess on the drumset cannot be overlooked. To this day, he did things on the drumset that no one can do. Besides his technical abilities and blinding speed, he could swing like few others and knew how to drive a big band. I was fortunate enough to see Buddy perform many times and each time I left with a newfound inspiration to play better. Although Buddy was a jazz drummer, many of today''s rock drummers have been influenced by his playing. Although Buddy had a reputation for being "gruff" at times, he had a long and mutually reverential relationship with Avedis and Armand Zildjian. In fact, we have one of Buddy''s last Slingerland kits on display at the Zildjian Factory - a gift from Buddy to Armand Zildjian. |
 | | Steve White (Session Great) |
Louie Bellson was the younger of the three and passed away February 14th of this year. He possessed many of the skills that Gene and Buddy possessed: A beautiful swing beat, perfect time, incredible chops, and although he wasn''t the showman Gene was, or as fast and technically proficient as Buddy, Louie was the complete musician. He was a great composer, writer, bandleader, educator and innovator. Louie was the first drummer to incorporate two bass drums in his set-up. Louie suggested to Armand Zildjian that he combine a heavy bottom cymbal with a medium thin top and "New Beat Hi Hats" were born. He wrote several popular and influential drum books, gave drum clinics and seminars and was always giving back to drummers. Louie had a long and enduring relationship with three generations of the Zildjian Family: Avedis, Armand and Craigie and Debbie. Through my 20 plus years at Zildjian, I was very close with Louie. All the things people say about him are true: He really was the nicest man you''ll ever meet".
– John DeChristopher (Zildjian)
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 | | Neal Wilkinson (James Morrison) |
The second half featured Karl Brazil, Jon Brookes and Steve White who all stepped up to the mark throwing their best tribute to the greats.
Check out Karl Brazil’s interview here
Performing memorable tracks as ‘Slow Funk’ and ‘Mercy, Mercy’ with Karl Brazil, Jon Brookes with guest vocalist Liz Stanley with ‘The Beat Goes On’ and ‘Big Mama Cass’ was his party piece, Pete Cater and Todd Gordon on ‘I Left My Heart In San Francisco’ and Steve White putting his stamp on ‘Keep The Customer Satisfied’ and ‘Dancing Men’. In true tribute fashion the evening ended with all the drummers throwing in their artistry on Gene Krupa’s ‘Leave Us Leap’ – a drumming highlight and a fitting end to the show.
The show’s success is greatly attributed to the hard work of organiser and coordinator Liz Stanley and the smooth stage management of Martin Oldham who orchestrated the entire background organisation to make this event work and more importantly a sell-out! |
 | | Mapex snare donated to the Teenage Cancer Trust |
£541.48 was raised for Teenage Cancer Trust, which will go towards the West Midlands Appeal which has been launched to provide age appropriate facilities for young people aged 13-24 diagnosed with cancer from the West Midlands.
Nearly two and half hours of full on big band music with class performances made it an event not to be missed and comes as a ‘must see’ recommendation. For all enthusiasts, this event should definitely be one for the 2010 calendar.
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Review Report: Jerome Marcus
Photography: Jerome Marcus
Additional Photography: Christine Pastor
Website: www.jeromemarcus.com
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