As a young man back in the sixties, I started playing drums because of Joe, I am now 77 and still playing with my own band. He was simply the best. Thank you Joe.
@@leonel8831 Check out Joe's close friend, Louie Bellson, a pioneer of double bass drumming. Rest assured his playing will astound you. Duke Ellington said of Louie, "He's the greatest musician in the world." (Louis also composed more than 1000 songs during his long career.) 😲!
Joe came to my little town of Chico, Calif. to do a clinic for Ludwig when I was 16. I was his chauffeur for the day. Over lunch we were talking drummers and I said I preferred him over Buddy because of his musicality vs Buddy's more brutish style. He was sincerely interested in my progress and passed along some tips. At the clinic there was a young man with a severe stutter who was having a hard time asking his question. The audience was getting impatient, making noises. Joe shut them down when he calmly said, "Let Keith ask his question." It was a great act of kindness. The whole clinic was terrific. This is a terrific example of Joe's swing musicality. Thank you for sharing.
Who are you to decide how good we get? If you really believe that your musical thinking as stunted. JOE is s god in my mind, it isn't about that. But there are piles of things he just could never have played in his youth or now.
Even when he played aggressively, he was gentle. Unlike Buddy Rich, who viciously attacks his drums like he hates them, Joe always plays his drums with love. Although Joe has left this physical world, he is still my favorite drummer of all time. I'm 73 years old now and started out in a garage band as a self-taught drummer who stumbled across jazz - thanks to Joe Morello - before I turned 18 years old. After finding some professional jazz drummers who taught me, I've been playing jazz and continue to learn more about it everyday. Thank you, Joe.
Joe Morello and Buddy Rich were very different drummers. They were also very good friends. Buddy had great respect for Joe and his chops. They would spend hours together working different rudiments. Part of Joe's gentleness came from the fact that he primarily played with small groups most notably, The Dave Brubeck Quartet and remains my favorite small group drummer. You don't want to overplay with just three other musicians and drown them out. Buddy Rich on the other hand was the quintessential driver of a Big Band. He played with power and endurance unmatched by other drummers. I don't think he played hard as if hated the drums. It was more a question of him being able to play to his limit in a Big band setting without fear of overpowering the band, and no one could play as hard or for longer periods of time than Buddy Rich. He remains my favorite drummer period.
I never saw Buddy Rich as playing aggressively. He definitely played with intensity. But in his big band he never played over the music. He did support every section of whatever he was playing. In my opinion, he never played anything other than what was required. For a different perspective on the playing of Buddy Rich, get a hold of some of his older recordings when he's playing with a quartet. He's almost a completely different musician in those. Small ensembles are different than large ones, of course; but his playing in those small groups is really poetic.
: Buddy Rich never hated the drums. What kind of a stupid remark is that!?! that was his personality that was the way he made love to the drums how dumb your comments I mean look at the difference between their personalities that’ll give you a good indication of how they approach the instrument it’s all about your personality! Buddy, and Joe were completely different personalities so you can expect them to approach the drums differently is very stupid to have said that and shows total ignorance of how personality affects your playing
The only drummer I ever considered to be a truly creative musician. As a drummer in a 60' s band, I thought I was the bee's knees, until that is, going to a Brubeck concert. After experiencing JM' s magic I knew I was never going to make grade and I never touched a drumstick again, ever.
No, a gift from practicing and hard work. There is no father in heaven creating musicians. .. while forgetting about starving dying children. Priorities.. also, I guess you know how to weed out the atheist musicians so you never hear that they are amazing with no god needed... or is that not possible that that could happen...? Just have actual perspective
Some didn't know that Joe was blind. All of this, the sound, touch & feel plus drum solos that made Buddy Rich sweat some under the collar. I miss this man.
Joe!!! Great player. I started drumming at 9 years old in 1962!!!! I learned compounds from Joe, swing from Joe and Buddy, latin basics from girl from Ipanema!!! Basic bossa double is Samba!! It all provided advanced basics!!
One of the tastiest drummers in the business, I remember seeing him with dave back in about 1964. I love the way played with Eugene Wright Never was a big dave but Joe always made me laugh.
Nobody can play like Joe. His rhythmic clock is so precise, that I get lost just listening to him. He's definitely the best on earth to this day.. They don't make jazz drummers anymore.. Greg Potter learned from some of the greats, but Joe, still is King...
So smooth. Relaxed n see kids what practice n good mentoring can do. Confident n learned. Thanks to the late George Haller. Smooth n learn all the rudiments.
Billy Stayhorn was my Great Uncle; I grew up studying Joe Morello! A-Train NEVER gets old! Thanks for posting this! Gonna share it with my Strayhorn Family members!
So sweet. I just started playing around on an electronic kit and am discovering all these drummers I had never known before. Out of all of them so far, Joe Morello is my favorite. Doesn't over play and is so musical. Never get tired of hearing him play.
Buddy Rich hardly said anything about other drummers but he Sid Joe was his favourite, Buddy use to go to see Joe play when in the same town , He would even help Joe set up
This interpretation of A train along with Ed Shaughnessy's interpretation of Shawnee are the class acts of Burnin' for Buddy; they really play "with" the band & let the band shine without theatrical overplaying.
Effortless. Very relaxed. No wasted energy. Like so many of yesteryear's great jazz drummers -- particularly Joe's close friend Louis Bellson-- Morello was the "total package", a musician's musician who didn't feel compelled to play one drum solo after another. Big chops combined with modesty (a character trait not to be found in Buddy Rich's personality). 😎
Joe was a gentleman surgeon and Buddy was a smart-ass butcher. Joe and Louis Bellson were the best! A musician friend of mine said that Buddy gave has band members a 20-minute cussing immediately after each performance. No wonder turnover was so high in his band. Joe has always been my favorite because of his finesse.
We agree, Boomer Guy. Not only was he a prick (albeit a talented prick), he was a supreme narcissist who always bragged about the speed of his left hand. Bullshit! There were plenty of drummers, including Joe and Louis, who possessed great left-hand speed. (Factoid: Louis was naturally ambidextrous.) While Buddy made left-hand independence a big .deal, quite a few lesser-known drummers routinely played at a left-hand speed equal to Buddies. They just didn't make a big deal out of it. (Max Roach was one of them.) 😎
I love buddy rich...he was the reason I started to play the drums.A few years later I heard Take five played by Joe Morello..if I could be any drummer today..I would in my dreams love to play like Joe...eloquent..sonically beautiful to my ears ..He was the definition of ..Cool with out trying to be cool....One more thing ....buddy rich always did drum battles with various drummers ...never did one with Joe Morello ...I wonder why?
@calmac9720 your right ..they were actually good friends and were on the rd.and crossed paths many times...they had such a mutual respect for each other ...also loved louie belson...I follow many drummers today from all genres and ages ...it's an open book...
I was playing joe as kid drums didnt know it was jazz. My grandfather said what are you playing at jazz for I said that's not jazz then of course I found out it was jazz
Joe swinging effortlessly even in his old days. His complete mastery of the drum kit fills me with peace, satisfaction and joy. And motivation to improve as a drummer.
When Led Zeppelin made their first U.S. tour and landed in NY, Bonham immediately went to go see Joe. Joe was his hero because Bonham was jazz trained and you can see and hear this in a lot of Bonham's percussion with Zep.
Bonham wasn't jazz trained, but influenced. He was a self taught drummer, as his son Jason, who has mentioned in some interviews, that he was self taught. His dad taught him the basics, Jason learned the rest on his own.
