Ecstatic Drums

Looks like we (?) got some musical tag-bonding going on again (check the comprehensive Blissblog for round-ups). 

Rock* rhythm sections? Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, no contest. Perhaps unsurprising they'd be overshadowed by the mercurial, storming sui generis charisma of Hendrix, but as far as I'm concerned, the Experience may the greatest rock unit of them all, incorporating everything great about the genre's past while burning a path for its (then) future. Hendrix's more pedestrian outings with other sidemen demonstrate how his 'real' band were the only ones who could manage to keep up. Together, they made Cream, Led Zeppelin and the Who look like inflated, glossy poseurs; and the late, great Mitch Mitchell outclassed Moon, Bonham and Baker (Black Sabbath's Bill Ward would apply Mitchell's 'broken breaks' approach to their greatest moments). I suspect Mitchell's still underrated legacy may be due to a lack of anecdotes about abused girlfriends or cars dunked in swimming pools. Good. Maybe a lack of tabloid idiocy contributed to his versatility on the old skins. Either way, he's as awesome to hear as he was 25 years ago. A jazz kid like Charlie Watts, he applied the lessons of that genre with gusto; not by plodding away for 50 years like he'd rather be somewhere else, but by rocking and jazzing the shit out that kit.

Which brings us to jazz as jazz. Undoubtedly the genre of drum virtuosity, the list would be too long to do justice to within a blog post (it could be the subject of an entire blog, for years): Max Roach, Buddy Rich, Tony Williams, Sunny Murray, Philly Joe Jones, Gene Krupa, Billy Cobham, Ed Blackwell, Art Blakey etc. etc. The ecstatic peaks of jazz have relied on too many musical Shivas to list really. So, sticking to my own tastes, I'd say I'm partial to the 'freer' corners of 60s playing. The era of civil rights and black power led to a certain Afro-consciousness that gave us any number of wondrously relentless percussive clusterfucks, of which the below (drummer Joe Chambers, percussion by Nadi Qamar and Renaud Simmons) is a favorite:  

But when push comes to shove, I'd nominate Elvin Jones. As with Mitchell, the genius of his band leader has overshadowed him; but check him from about 9:50 here. Could he keep up with Coltrane? Fuck yeah. So much so that the brass section follows that solo by whooping and cheering. 'Ascension' may be too epic and intricate to showcase via Youtube, but if you find that piece a test of your endurance - how do you think it felt for Jones? He didn't tire for a minute.

*As the funk drummer, James Brown's very own genius Clyde Stubblefield deserves a mention. However, his sound became so influential and ubiquitous in the late 20th century, it felt kinda redundant to post any of his tracks. You'll likely hear him somewhere this week, I'm sure.