GOT DRUM? (Or, THE GREATEST DRUM SOLO EVER RECORDED?)

“On ‘IT’S A RAGGY WALTZ’, particularly, I feel all of us achieved the goal of playing polyrhythmically and polytonally in a swinging groove that was as natural as if we were in 4/4. ... I play best when Gene is happy, when Desmond is determined – and,” [he smiled] “Morello is recovering from the flu!”

~ Dave Brubeck

Joe Morello may have been just one pocket protector short of being classified as an A-list nerd, but NO ONE played the drums better!

I was raised on three things: Rock music, and the shouted demands, “Turn it down!” and “Comb your hair!”

In my day, in my musical era, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin was considered a beast when it came to drumming. A little later, Neil Peart of the band Rush came to be thought of as Rock music’s premier drummer. ...*YAWN*

I usually drop right off to sleep, but I have trouble staying asleep. Maybe I should keep a tape loop of John Bonham’s drumming playing next to my bed. That just might keep me asleep.

I’ve only owned one Rush album in my life. As a teenager, I purchased their 1977 release ‘A Farewell To Kings’ but I really couldn’t stand Donald Duck’s vocals, so I never bought another Rush record. I’ve heard some of their later songs on radio and I kept hearing how great Neil Peart was on drums, but... I just couldn’t hear it.

So one night, several years ago, I asked my buddy LC to loan me a compact disc with what he considered to be Neil Peart’s best drumming. He gave me (I think) a ‘Live’ recording and told me which track to play. I played it. It was OK – better than I expected, but it still wasn’t enough to convince me that Neil Peart was all that great.

The problem was that in 1981, I discovered Jazz and began to realize how weak and underdeveloped most of the Rock music I’d been raised on really was.

I had already been exposed to Jazz from my childhood because my parents liked some of it: From Pa I got Louis Prima; from Ma I got Cannonball Adderley. But it didn’t really stick, because there were no electric guitars.

So what happened in 1981? I went to see the movie ‘AMERICAN POP’ with my buddy Marty. We both dug it, and shortly afterwards I bought the movie soundtrack LP:

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Included on that album was an instrumental titled ‘TAKE FIVE’ by The Dave Brubeck Quartet. The more I played that album, the more I began to notice the peculiar drum solo in ‘Take Five’. After awhile it became my favorite cut on that album because the drum solo was so unique. In fact, there was one particular place in it that always made me laugh out loud... for real! I could scarcely believe it, as this was the first time I’d ever found “humor” in an instrumental music piece!

Even though I had heard some fairly decent drum solos up to that point (most notably on a Santana album I’d owned for a number of years), I always felt the drums were meant to keep time and add a little texture to a song, but I had never fully embraced the idea that drums could or should be considered solo instruments. That was until I discovered JOE MORELLO and his legendary solo in The Dave Brubeck Quartet’s hit ‘Take Five’.

It was ‘Take Five’ on the ‘American Pop’ soundtrack album that really opened my ears to Jazz and drums. As I began to explore more types of Jazz and the master musicians of that form, I came to truly appreciate drumming that went well beyond the rather boring hammering-away-at-the-skins that I had previously encountered in the Rock genre.

I discovered Buddy Rich, Shelly Manne, Billy Cobham, Jimmy Cobb, Wynton Kelly*, Steve Gadd, Art Blakey, and Gene Krupa. But ultra-quirky Joe Morello has remained my all-time favorite.

The other day, my friend LC and I were discussing some favorite record albums recorded “Live”. You’ll find that commentary HERE. 

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Earlier today, I listened to both discs from ‘THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET AT CARNEGIE HALL’, and I can say that without a shred of doubt, this album would HAVE to make any list of ‘Favorite Live Albums’ that I composed.

It’s not entertaining in the way a Todd Snider album is because Todd says a lot of funny things between songs. And it’s not high-octane electric like Thin Lizzy’s ‘Live And Dangerous’ is.

But speaking strictly about the music the album contains... nothing is better! I mean, we are talking about some of the most accomplished, creative, and gifted musicians on the planet. They improvise so creatively that even the band’s frontman, Dave Brubeck, listening to the recording years later, is mystified about how he and his 3 band companions managed to transcend the tunes, the esteemed forum, and Joe Morello’s flu bug, and took these tunes, and the audience that heard them that night, to some new, undiscovered territory of the mind. It’s not loud, it’s not flashy and colorful; there are no smoke bombs and strobe lights but, in my opinion, ‘THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET AT CARNEGIE HALL’ is as good and complex as instrumental music can get! It also includes what I consider the best drum solo I’ve ever heard.

Take it away, Joe!...

‘CASTILIAN DRUMS’ (Disc 2; Track 4)

Album: ‘THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET AT CARNEGIE HALL’ (1963)

Drummer: JOE MORELLO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LBZJk5Kfgw

~ Stephen T. McCarthy
Doggtor of Jazzological Studies, 
Bourbon Street University

POSTSCRIPT: In my opinion, Rock music’s most underrated drummer is probably TONY BROCK of ‘The Babys’. Brock never overplayed, but he hit hard, had a great beat, and always used the perfect amount of cowbell!

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