Good question AZBill. I'm trying to get opinions on your favorite sounding jazz drum set, to your ears, that you have heard on a recording, vinyl or disc. Of course, it's hard to ignore the quality of musicianship, engineering, stylistic preferences and a particular performance. The varied opinions will create a variety of debates. I'm mainly interested in the drummer and what brand of drums he or she was playing.

Roy McCurdy with Cannonball Aderley

Max Roach "St. Thomas" on Sonny Rollins Saxophone Colossus. Love that tone!

So far it's Gretsch 9, Ludwig 5, Rogers 3, Slingerland 2, and Yamaha 1 with Buddy, Blakey, Morello, Bellson, and Philly Joe getting multiple votes

Morello, Ludwig, Take Five.

There are literally hundreds of others, a few already mentioned here. Morello's execution on the tune is impeccable, his tool of choice, Ludwig.

I grew up with Brubeck's iconic album, 'Time Out'. In fact it was the very first jazz album I purchased.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yvHWyvexZA[/ame]

Ha, haaaaa!!!! Well, Animal did have a nice drum tone on that recording. And Rita Moreno? Aye, yay, yay!!!!! Smoking!! (sorry)

B

Well not an end of life event. YouTube not correctly providing the correct Link.

Search "youtube Gene Krupa Buddy Rich"

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ5B7yqDYbA[/ame]

I have a bunch of my dads 45'and 78's records. It's all BR/Krupa from the day. Anyone know the best way to get them digital?

Not sure why they got SDJ shoes but killer solo's.

Anybody still play in a suit and tie :-)...

Thanks!!

Creighton

double post

regrets,

I think the question was about the sound quality of the recording, not necessarily implying anything about the drums per se. Recording methods, studios, miking, head selection, stick selection, and yes the player himself has a lot to do with this, almost certainly more than the type of drums themselves. I'm not sure the brand of drums is necessarily relevant: however, given the number of 50's jazz drummers in NY who used smaller Gretsch jazz kits (the famous remark about taxicabs comes to mind) and recording exclusively in smaller studios, and the number of such recordings represented by the admittedly small sample thus far, I can certainly see why Gretsch would appear to be the "winner". But I just don't think it's relevant. I'll give you an example, with two recordings mentioned in the posts: Blues Caravan, Buddy Rich, produced by Creed Taylor (Buddy loved the sound of these drums on this recording by the way) and Big Swing Face, Buddy Rich, produced by Richard Bock and engineered by Wally Heider. They are both Rogers kits, almost certainly the same size and configuration (ignoring for a moment the unproven rumor that Buddy was actually using a Fibes snare outfitted with Rogers hardware!!) and they sound not at all alike. In fact, a third recording, Swingin' New Big Band, sounds different from the first two, and again, it's a Rogers set. So, I just don't think the brand of drum is relevant to what makes a great jazz recording of drums. Interesting, yes, Relevant? Eh, not so much.