[
Date Prev][
Date Next] [
Thread Prev][
Thread Next]
[
Date Index][
Thread Index][
Author Index]
Earl Palmer and the Backbeat: was : Rhythmic Randomness vs. Melodic Randomness
- To: micdave@hiwaay.net
- From: "Rick Walker" <looppool@cruzio.com>
- Subject: Earl Palmer and the Backbeat: was : Rhythmic Randomness vs. Melodic Randomness
- Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:55:35 -0800
Thanks for the post and the heads up, Dave,
Man, oh man, I didn't realize the Earl Palmer had passed away.
That makes me so sad. I got to meet him and talk to him
in New Orleans for the PASIC there, years ago. He was a great guy
and an inspiration to me.
When did he die and how old was he?
He started it all, man!!!
I studied with Dr. John's drummer, Ricky Sebastion and have been a huge
fan of
Nahlins 2nd line music and other southern and early blues/rock/r&b/funk
traditions
all of my life.
I once had a fantastic 2 hour drunken conversation/sharing of notes at one
of the PASICs with
Galactic's youngish New Orleans drummer, Stanton Moore, who is considered
an expert in New
Orleans drumming history and the origin of the drumset. I learned
several things from him and I
taught him a couple of things he didn't know himself.
I was blessed to be at the New Orleans PASIC when there was a three hour
lecture on the history of
New Orleans drums by Earl, Herman Riley and Johnny Vidocovich.
I heard things in those oral speeches that I had never read in the several
histories of New Orleans
music and the history of the drum set that I had read.
So much of that history is still orally passed on. I have yet to read a
book that is comprehensive on
that history, but of one thing is certain............Earl Palmer can be
credited with the introduction of
the loud backbeat on snare in modern music....................may this
legendary innovator long be
remembered (though I think, regrettably that he may not be.)
At that clinic he talked about how he tried to reconcile the swung feel of
the upright bass player
and the 16th notes played (Jerry Lee Lewis styled) on the piano by playing
a groove that was exactly
in the middle between the triplet and the straight feel.
He said that if he played perfect 67% swing (as in jazz and shuffles)
that the music sounded horrible.
I sounded equally as bad if he played straight at 50% with his 8ths notes.
By playing somewhere in
the middle (probably between 56% and 58% swing on those early tracks)
that it all grooved.
He called it the 'wiggly area'.
He said that after their incredible successes with Fats Domino and Little
Richard at Cosimos Studio
in New Orleans that people would rent the studio out to just to get some
of that gold record juju.
He said the black musicians who came in were convinced that they had
played regular shuffles (67%
swing) and the white musicians who came in were convinced that they had
played 50% or straight
8ths................He said they sat back and laughed that nobody could
figure out what he had actually
done.
If you go back and listen to those early records, there is a stunningly
sophisticated and complex
polyrhythmic feel that can either be heard as straight or swung.
I spent a couple of years playing every single percentage of swing using a
drum machine as
a template so taht I could play comfortably with even such a small amount
of swing that most
musicians would hear it as being straight.
There's a lot of mojo in those grooves that aren't perfect.
If you want to hear someone nail that shit to the wall, reference the
drumming of
Lean Mean WIllie Green with the Neville Brothers. He has so many subtle
variations on the
swung feel and with the 2nd line simulations provided by all the members
of the Neville Brothers
playing 2nd line rhythms, freely on different cowbells that is a
murderously funky (and unusual
rhythm section).
For anyone interested and I can highly recommend this set for non-drummers
as well as drummers,
you can refer to the three DVD set of the History of New Orleans drumming
by
the Drummers Collective. It's fascinating stuff but I wish they had
produced a video of that
amazing PASIC clinic.
Long Live Earl Palmer!!!!!!
Joko mo fee na ney!
--