The jazz drumming is the art of mixing jazz style of music with drums. The technique of jazz drumming started in the early 1900s and had continued for over a long time. New Orleans was one place where jazz drumming was very familiar. One of the main tasks of the players is to propel the songs along with the other people who are playing the song.
The following are some of the top Jazz drummers in the world:
- Buddy Rich.
- Maxwell Lemuel Roach.
- Elvin John.
Buddy Rich:
Bernard Rich was popularly called as buddy rich. He was an American Jazz drummer and also led a band. Buddy Rich is one of the most influential drummers in the world and has played with many famous bandleaders like Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Count Basie, etc. Buddy was born to an American-Jewish family and had the skills of playing drums right when he was small. His father began to notice him playing beats with the spoons in his hands.
At a very young age, he started playing as a bandleader. In the year 1937, he played with a big group with Joe Marsala. At the age of 21, Buddy Rich started recording with Vic Schoen Orchestra. He became quite famous by this time and later he was called to perform in the Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra. The Tommy Dorset band was a turning point in his life because it is when he played with the Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra he had the chance to meet with Frank Sinatra.
Maxwell Lemuel Roach:
Maxwell Lemuel Roach was also an American Jazz drummer player and a pioneer of bebop. He worked with many other genres but became quite famous with jazz drumming. He has collaborated with many famous players like Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz. Eric Dolphy, Booker Little, etc. Max started playing at the church at the age of 10.
In the year 1942, Roach began to play in jazz clubs on the 52nd Street and the 78th street and Broadway for Georgie Jay’s Taproom. Roach’s first recording was in the year 1943. Later he went to Manhattan School of Music and learned classical percussion. After his studies, he co-founded the Debut Records along with a bassist named Charles Mingus. He later became very popular and was known as one of the best jazz drummers of all time.
Elvin John:
Elvin John got interested in drumming while watching a circus band march when he was young. Initially, he served in the United States army from the year 1946 to 1949. Elvin’s brothers were also jazz drummers, and he recorded with them too. In the year Elvin John was inducted into the modern Drummer hall of fame.
He first began his professional career in the year 1949 with a gig in Detriot. Later he went to play with artists like Miles Davis and Wardell Gray. He then released a record called Blue Moods on Debut records. In the year 1960, he joined John Coltrane and played in the band until the year 1966 and quit the band as he did not like the polyrhythmic style of playing. In his later part of his career, he was listed in the Life Magazine as the world’s greatest rhythmic drummer.