The World's 100 Most Influential Drummers
This list has been growing and changing over the past year, based on feedback from various drummers who have stopped by and made suggestions. The point of this list is to serve as a resource for drummers who want to increase their knowledge about who has come before them. I hope that the recordings recommended on this site will serve as good "starting points" for people wanting to learn more about the drummers listed here. Please contact me with any comments, suggestions, or questions, or particularly if you can recommend representative recordings that fill in the blanks that still remain. Thanks for your interest!
-Steve Anisman |
|---|
Classic Jazz
This section is intended to represent jazz drummers who primarily played and recorded before 1970. |
|---|
Player |
Group |
Album |
Track |
| Louis Bellson | | | |
|---|
| Art Blakey | Jazz Messengers | Free For All | |
|---|
| Sid Catlett | | | |
|---|
| Jimmy Cobb | Miles Davis | Kind of Blue |
|---|
| Baby Dodds | | | |
|---|
| Al Foster | | | |
|---|
| Billy Hart | | | |
|---|
| Louis Hayes | | | |
|---|
| Roy Haynes | Roy Haynes Quartet | Out of the Afternoon | Raoul |
|---|
| Billy Higgins | | | |
|---|
| Papa Jo Jones |
|---|
| Philly Jo Jones |
|---|
| Elvin Jones | John Coltrane | A Love Supreme | Pursuance |
|---|
| Gene Krupa | Benny Goodman | Sing Sing Sing | Sing Sing Sing |
|---|
| Shelly Manne | | | Cherokee |
|---|
| Joe Morello | Dave Brubeck | Time Out | Take Five, Blue Rondo a la Turk |
|---|
| Bob Moses |
|---|
| Lewis Nash | Clark Terry | Havin’ Fun | Flintstones |
|---|
| Buddy Rich | Buddy Rich |
|---|
| Max Roach | Max Roach | +4 |
|---|
| Ed Thigpen |
|---|
| Dave Tough |
|---|
| Back to Top of Page |
|---|
Modern Jazz
This section is intended to represent jazz drummers who primarily played and recorded after 1970. |
|---|
Player |
Group |
Album |
Track |
| Alex Acuna | Lyle Mays | Lyle Mays | Highland Aire |
|---|
| Joey Baron | John Zorn |
|---|
| Brian Blade | Joshua Redmond |
|---|
| Dennis Chambers |
|---|
| Jon Christensen |
|---|
| Billy Cobham | Glass Menagerie |
|---|
| Vinnie Colaiuta | Frank Zappa | Joe’s Garage |
|---|
| Jack DeJohnette |
|---|
| Peter Erskine | Peter Erskine | Peter Erskine |
|---|
| Futureman | Bela Fleck | Live Art |
|---|
| Danny Gottlieb | Pat Metheny Group | Pat Metheny Group (White Album) | Lone Jack |
|---|
| John Guerin | Joni Mitchell | Court & Spark |
|---|
| Omar Hakim | Sting | Dream of the Blue Turtles | Shadows in the Rain |
|---|
| Gary Husband | Alan Holdsworth | IOU | Where Is One |
|---|
| Harvey Mason | Herbie Hancock | Head Hunters | Chameleon |
|---|
| Marvin "Smitty" Smith |
|---|
| Jeff "Tain" Watts |
|---|
| Dave Weckl | Chick Corea Elektric Band | Elektric Band | Got a Match? |
|---|
| Paul Wertico | Pat Metheny Group | First Circle | The First Circle |
|---|
| Maurice White | Earth, Wind & Fire | All 'n All | Fantasy |
|---|
| Tony Williams |
|---|
| Back to Top of Page |
|---|
Rock
This section is intended to represent rock drummers from every era. |
|---|
Player |
Group |
Album |
Track |
| Ginger Baker | Cream | | |
|---|
| Carter Beauford | Dave Matthews Band | Under the Table and Dreaming |
|---|
| John Bonham | Led Zeppelin |
|---|
| Terry Bozzio | Frank Zappa | Zappa inNew York | The Black Page |
|---|
| Bill Bruford | Yes | Fragile | Long Distance Runaround |
|---|
| Danny Carey | Tool | Opiate | Opiate |
|---|
| Phil Collins | Genesis |
|---|
| Stewart Copeland | Police | Regatta de Blanc | Walking on the Moon |
|---|
| Liberty Devito | Billy Joel | The Stranger | Scenes from an Italian Restaurant |
|---|
| Steve Gadd | Steely Dan | Aja | Aja |
|---|
| David Garibaldi | Tower of Power | Tower of Power | What is Hip? |
|---|
| Micheal Giles | King Crimson | In the Court of the Crimson King | 21st Century Schizoid Man |
|---|
| Manu Katche’ | Peter Gabriel | So | In Your Eyes |
|---|
| Stan Lynch | Tom Petty |
|---|
| Mitch Mitchell | Jimi Hendrix | Electric Ladyland | All Along the Watchtower |
|---|
| Joseph Modeliste | The Meters | Funkify Your Life | Cissy Strut |
|---|
| John Molo | Bruce Hornsby | Harbor Lights | China Doll |
|---|
| Keith Moon | The Who | Who Are You | Who Are You |
|---|
| Rod Morgenstein | Dixie Dregs | Divided We Stand |
|---|
| Ian Paice | Deep Purple | When We Rock, We Rock, and When We Roll, We Roll | Hush |
|---|
| Carl Palmer | Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Tarkus | Tarkus |
|---|
| Neil Peart | Rush | Hemispheres | La Villa Strangiato |
|---|
| Simon Phillips | Pete Townshend | White City | Give Blood |
|---|
| Jeff Porcaro | Toto | Toto IV | Rosanna |
|---|
| Danny Seraphine | Chicago | Chicago Transit Authority | Questions 67 & 68 |
|---|
| Steve Smith | Journey | Escape | Escape |
|---|
| Ringo Starr | The Beatles | White Album | |
|---|
| Robert Wyatt | Soft Machine | Live at the Paradiso | 10:30 Returns to the Bedroom |
|---|
| Back to Top of Page |
|---|
Solo Stuff / Distinctive Drum Parts
I was thinking of this section as the one where drum parts would go that everyone would know - even (maybe especially)
non-drummers. The kind of song that someone would come over your house, see you had a drumset, and in an attempt
to seem like they knew something about drums, would ask you if you could play "...", since it was a drum part that they
might actually recognize if you played something that sounded even remotely like it. Kind of a collection of tunes in which
the drum part is basically as famous as the song. |
|---|
Player |
Group |
Album |
Track |
| Ron Wilson | The Surfaris | The Surfaris | Wipeout |
|---|
| Cesar Zuiderwijk | Golden Earring | Moontan | Radar Love |
|---|
| Hans Cleuver | Focus | Moving Waves | Hocus Pocus |
|---|
| Garry Peterson | Guess Who | American Woman | American Woman |
|---|
| Joe Morello | Dave Brubeck | Time Out | Take Five |
|---|
| Johnny Badanjek | Edgar Winter | They Only Come Out at Night | Frankenstein |
|---|
| Liberty Devito | Billy Joel | Stranger | Just the Way You Are |
|---|
| Steve Gadd | Paul Simon | Still Crazy After All These Years | 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover |
|---|
| Carl Palmer | Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Brain Salad Surgery | Karn Evil #9 |
|---|
| Neil Peart | Rush | Moving Pictures | Tom Sawyer |
|---|
| Neil Peart | Rush | Moving Pictures | YYZ |
|---|
| Jeff Porcaro | Toto | Toto IV | Rosanna |
|---|
| Jay Dorfman | Sweet Smoke | Just a Poke | Silly Sally |
|---|
| Frank Beard | ZZ Top | Tres Hombres | La Grange |
|---|
| Charlie Watts | Rolling Stones | Hot Rocks 1964-1971 | Honky Tonk Woman |
|---|
| Ringo Starr | Beatles | Abbey Road | Come Together |
|---|
| Chris Sharrock | Icicle Works | Icicle Works | A Whisper to a Scream |
|---|
| Bun E. Carlos | Cheap Trick | Live at Budokan | I Want You to Want Me |
|---|
| John Bonham | Led Zeppelin | Zoso | Rock and Roll |
|---|
| John Bonham | Led Zeppelin | Coda | Bonzo's Mantreux |
|---|
| Joey Kramer | Aerosmith | Aerosmith | Walk This Way |
|---|
| Larry Mullen, Jr. | U2 | Under a Blood Red Sky | Gloria |
|---|
| Larry Mullen, Jr. | U2 | War | Sunday Bloody Sunday |
|---|
| Gary Mallaber | Steve Miller Band | Fly Like an Eagle | Take the Money & Run |
|---|
| Gary Mallaber | Steve Miller Band | Book of Dreams | Swingtown |
|---|
| Alex Van Halen | Van Halen | Van Halen II | Dance the Night Away |
|---|
| Alex Van Halen | Van Halen | 1984 | Hot for Teacher |
|---|
| Don Brewer | Grand Funk Railroad | American Band | American Band |
|---|
| Click here for a page of these parts transcribed (NOT YET AVAILABLE) |
|---|
This list is always changing and improving - please contact me with suggestions, and if you can, help me fill in the blanks. E-mail me at Steve.Anisman@vtmednet.org
Last Updated:
