ginger baker, keith moon, carl palmer and cozy powell

Bonzo, Keith Moon, Carl Palmer, equally similar in length of career/brilliance

some of my faves had short careers, like Ginger, MMitchell, Buddy Miles, Corky Laing - ie, knew little of their overall stuff

But yes, my Mt Rushmore would have tobe Charlie, Ringo, Butch & Jaimoe 

All those great Stones records - little tops their late 60s-early 70s output - Salt of the Earth was mentioned b4, how brilliant is Charlie in That one - great great musician

Levon Helm

Bernard Purdie

Clyde Stubblefield

Butch & Jaimoe (they count as one)

Honorable mention: Al Jackson Jr

Elvin Jones

Art Blakey

Max Roach

Ringo

John Bonham

Richie Hayward 

Zigaboo Modeliste

John Bonham 

Stanton Moore

Steve Jordan

Butch and Jaimoe

John Bonham

Steve Gadd 

Neil Peart 

( When reading interviews with Neil Peart and Phil Collins both after having great things to say about other drummers, said Buddy Rich is probably the greatest drummer we've had. So I'm including Buddy though he was such an egotistical jack a**)

Buddy Rich 

Buddy Rich
Ginger Baker
Butch
Art Blakey

In no particular order.

Ian Paice

Bill Ward

John Bonham 

Keith Moon

Butch Trucks/ Jaimoe

Matt Abt's

John Bonham

Billy Cobham

Stanton Moore is a good one. I've seen him sit in with the ABB a few times and I love Galactic. 

Matt Abts is great.

One I haven't seen mentioned is John Bonham's son Jason. 

Marc Quinones is great. I think he kinda flew under the radar playing with Butch & Jaimoe.

@lee Yeah when you have to choose four or five great drummers or another instrument, as soon as you have your list, you suddenly think of or someone points out other musicians who are great too:) 

Maybe that is why Rolling Stone had a list of 100 guitar players...and even with that many there were a couple I thought should have been on it that didn't make it. 

Buddy Rich, who certainly felt he was the best drummer or one of the best, said Chick Webb was the daddy of them all. Webb died in 1939 at 36 years of age and played in the house band at the Savoy Club in 1930's Harlem, New York City. I have yet to find any footage of Chick Webb. 

He is fast and his jazz band rocks!! But in the 1930's and 40's those uptown bands in Manhattan were always a little hotter and a bit more swing than the midtown and downtown bands! 

It's hard for me to 'hear' most drummers since I usually am primarily listening to the guitars/vocals in rock music.  Ginger Baker and Bonzo are two really grab my attention.  They cut through and stand out.

Krupa, Rich and a bunch of jazz guys nobody ever heard of!

For the "rock" guys, Carl Palmer, Ginger Baker, Stewart Copeland and (of course) Butch and Jaimoe.  Also, Chris Fryar (Zack Brown/Oteil and the Peacemakers).

I've heard Jaimoe brag about Max Roach, Buddy Rich and Butch Trucks. Indeed Jaimoe said some of the coolest stuff he has done on the drums was in response to something Butch Trucks played. 

Can you hear some Jaimoe here and there? 

When I saw Frank Sinatra with Count Basie in Manhattan in 1968, Sonny Payne was the drummer. Sonny is also on Frank and Basie's Live At The Sands 1966 which was a big seller. 

Pretty Purdie is another of my favorites.

And I was reading one of my old Drummer World magazines and in one from 1970 as to the fastest drummer playing Buddy Rich said that would be Buddy Rich!

Elvin Jones

Tony Williams

Dave Weckl

Jaimoe/Trucks

Will be different tomorrow.

@aiq When places like my bank give those questions designed to help retrieve your account information, I can never use the "favorite singer/band" question because I know the answer will be different in a matter of days or even hours!

Back to topic:  there's also a TERRY Williams (Rockpile, Dave Edmunds, Dire Straits etc) who's a darn good drummer.

Posted by: @aiq

Elvin Jones

Tony Williams

Dave Weckl

Jaimoe/Trucks

 

Will be different tomorrow.

Weckl is amazing - I almost put him on my list but went for "pioneers"

A great educator, too

Chevy Chase was actually a pretty good musician.  Drums?  How about Chevy as the drum?

@jszfunk  Here is Animal in a drum battle with....according to Buddy Rich...the greatest and fastest drummer in the ENTIRE HISTORY OF MUSIC....BUDDY RICH HIMSELF!!!!

Go over to the 6:00 minute mark and see the FASTEST DRUMMER ON EARTH before 1987. Anyone this fast now?

This leaves Steve Gadd, Neil Peart, Ginger Baker and Butch Trucks way back there in the dust. 

Looks as if you're gonna need to click on YouTube at the bottom of the gray box. 

@rusty I imagine Jaimoe could be in this band. Top notch, top shelf jazz players. 

I watched this video carefully last night and if you are a drummer or like drumming, Buddy puts on a drum clinic here. Absolutely outstanding drum technique and timing. 

Neil Peart and Phil Collins said Buddy is probably the best we've ever had.  But he was a jazz and big band freak going back to the late 1930's and was apparently an egotistical hard nose in real life. Died in 1987. 

I'm big fans of a number of great drummers but Buddy as best I can tell was the best. 

Butch/Jaimoe

Roger Hawkins

Benny Benjamin

Al. Jackson

@linus Those are all good drummers. Very good as a matter of fact. The Butch/Jaimoe combination was my favorite. 

Apparently Buddy Rich was the granddaddy of them all. Technically I agree with Neil Peart and Phil Collins that Buddy was the best we've had. 

But Buddy himself mentions Chick Webb as the one everyone in the late 1930's and 40's tried to emulate. Chick Webb played in Harlem and died young. 

Sonny Payne who was with Count Basie is another favorite. 

But Buddy Rich is the best I ever saw or watched on TV and YouTube. So it wasn't surprising when I saw Phil Collins say Buddy is the best drummer we've had so far. 

I admire flashy drummers, but I love guys who create a perfect pocket.  Benny Benjamin could have just as easily been Uriel Jones, Pistol Allen or Al Jackson.  As a bass player, those are my kind of guys.

Happy Birthday to Buddy Rich 🎉 born on this day in 1917. 

Buddy is often regarded by many including Neil Peart, Phil Collins and Buddy Rich as the greatest drummer we've had so far. I think he was. 

Read earlier that Phil Collins met Buddy Rich in the 1980's and Buddy had seen Genesis on TV and liked Phil. Phil ask Buddy for advice and Buddy said to get rid of the two bass drums and only use one and focus more on your high-hat and get looser on the ride cymbal. 

Buddy said the two bass drummers are BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM...and it's noise and not music. Getting real good on a high-hat adds so much to getting in there and playing some real music. 

Buddy said he has played with the greatest musicians in the world and when you're on that level you have to be tight, precise and in the groove at all times. And you can do it with 4 or 5 drums, high-hat, ride cymbal and a couple of crash cymbals. Don't need a lot of drums especially more than one bass drum.