Danny Seraphine top ten drummer list.

My Top 10 List of Favorite Drummers:

Buddy Rich (I'm still striving to climb that mountain...his hands were/are unmatched, only Billy Cobham comes close).
Jo Jones (the classiest drummer of all time, played with a style and grace unmatched, even today)
Elvin Jones (another giant in a class of hIs own. A true one of a kind.)
Tony Williams (was a modern day Max Roach/Philly Joe Jones, blazed a jazz/rock trail all his own. Another one of a kind cat in the truest sense.)
Mitch Mitchell (an unsung hero who never got his due. Everyone was watching Ginger and Bonham, both were/are great drummers. In my opinion Mitch was more innovative.)
Louie Bellson (father of the double bass drum, absolutely incredible musician. One of the classiest gentlemen to walk the planet.)
Steve Smith (one of the most complete drummers on the planet. Great technician as well as educator. Always pushing the envelope to further the art form.)
Tony Royster Jr. (the future, as long as he remembers the masters and what they all gave us.)
Dave Weckl ( a true master of his instrument. A combination of all great ones.)
Gregg Bisonette (a modern day Louie Bellson, plays every style equally well, he's also great inspiration and role model for today's young drummers. Because he's so versatile, he doesn't get the credit he deserves.)

Really good list. It would be hard to dispute the right of any of your choices to be there.

Glad to see Billy with Buddy. I think they have both been the most influential players in their generations among so many other great players. I also believe they have been the most influential of any generation

It's good to see Mitch Mitchell get some props. He was far more important to me than either Baker or Bonham as good as they were. When I heard Jimmi Henxrix Experience for the first time in 1967 I was flipped by what Mitch was doing...... in a rock trio.

This is Danny Seraphines list.
He sent it to me in an email and posted it on his facebook page.

Woody wrote:This is Danny Seraphines list.
He sent it to me in an email and posted it on his facebook page.

I don't care who's list it is I'm not going to argue about anyone he selected.

Thanks for the clarification on the original source. I skim read too much. I missed it obviously on my first pass.

Funny that in a Downbeat readers poll, back in the early 70's,Buddy Rich lambasted Billy Cobham and said that up and coming drummers like Danny Seraphine were better than what Boomer had to offer.
I guess it has come full circle that Danny mentions Billy as being up there with Buddy as the top drummers on his list...........LOL!!!!
Karma comes around and bites you in the ass.

Well, I only partially agree with what
Danny said about Buddy's hands being
unmatched. Speed being the issue, there
are players with faster hands. Virgil is one.
But the thing that would always floor me was
Buddy's left hand! The way it would dance on
the snare non-stop with power and precision.
You could hear every note.

Buddy is a guy that I could easily call the
worlds greatest drummer. The only thing that
keeps me from doing that is his specialty in
big band and nothing else. had he played
several styles, this could have been a very
easy call for me. I think Buddy was probably
the most natural player. He just sat down and
sort of did it. He never practiced and never
sounded like he needed to.

Also, I like what Danny said about Gregg Bisonette.
Highly underrated! Gregg can play anything and I
thought his performance at the Buddy Rich Momorial
Tribute in 1989 was the best of the series. He has a
way of soloing where there are no dull or dead spots.
He keeps you interested with what he's doing the entire
time. Surely a player that does not have the recognition
he deserves.

Not that it matters, but are these the top ten Danny likes, or the top ten he believes are the top ten drummers of all time, calling them "favorites"? I don't know a lot about Danny, but from what I have read in articles I'd think these were drummers who influenced him, not necessarily who he believes are the ten best drummers at the instrument.

Indeed, there are many drummers now as fast as Buddy and faster, if speed matters to people. But that left hand playing horn lines ... it's like he had two brains, one just for his left hand. Many drummers don't realize what that man actually did with his left hand. People key in one one handed rolls and all that, but his accent playing has few, if any equals.

Buddy put down Billy? Of course, when asked about young drummers, Buddy chose players in bands with horns, like Danny and Bobby Colomby, and he didn't like drummers with a lot of drums. Until Palmer actually sat down with him and expressed his own approach to the instrument, Buddy had nothing nice to say about Carl as I recall it.

In Buddy's defense of playing styles, for most of his life there were no other styles to play other than jazz and big band. He loved Big Band. In seeing the Buddy Rich memorial videos most of those guys do not do what big band drummers do when in that seat. You can see it isn't their thing. They infuse playing styles from their own genres, whether rock and/or fusion. They don't really play a pure big band style. Buddy's band was all about taking other genres and making BB charts out of them, which I have always enjoyed listening to. He had some great arrangers. When you see Bozzio and Peart discussing the true merits of playing fast, authentic dotted eighth notes, and others discussing Buddy's left hand and abilities to play BB jazz, you realize it's a true technique that stands above what most drummers can do now.

Steve Smith. I believe, is the epitome of a master at the instrument. He has truly delved into it like few drummers have.

Gregg Bissonette is a true chameleon. He really does have quite a resume' of authentic genres he can play. I don't know that that puts him in a general drummers' top ten, as such, but if it's just a list of Danny's favorites ...

Did Danny state what benchmarks he employed to make the list?

No, he didn't explain why he chose these drummers.
This is a list of his top ten drummers. I don't think that Tony Royster Jr. was around to influence his playing back then.

The things Buddy did on the drums will likely
be a benchmark for however long drumming
remains. Think that Buddy was one of those
guys who really couldn't explain why and how
he was able to do what he did. He strikes me
as someone that would ask you CAN'T do it or
what all the fuss about.

And this is what I mean by calling him the most
natural player behind a set of drums. He just did
it. Kinda like Forest Gump, not a whole lot of
analyzing, just, Oh okay, bam, you mean like that?
A very gifted man, indeed.

I understand about the music he played of that
time. My mentioning it as the only music he played
wasn't a crituque. It was simply to point out it was
the versitile factor in the diverse genras, or lack thereof
that keeps me from considering him the absolute best of
the best.

I'll say this however. If you took the players considered
to be the best in the world, put them in a room together
with Buddy and told them to just trade bars and let it fly,
I can honestly think of none who would knock him over.

I wonder what Buddy would have thought of Dennis and other guys with those chops and speed? I sure don't see Dennis shaking once the first flurry is on tape. Man, think of the flow of adrenalin in such a scenario, and what it would cause. Spontaneous combustion.

I think Buddy kinda liked Dennis. Dennis
said that it was Buddy who told him about
practicing on pillows... For some reason or
another though, Buddy had it in for Billy.

Buddy had it in for Billy because Billy won the Downbeat readers poll and dethroned Buddy.
I guess he's a sore loser.

Yeah, I hear ya, Woody. But one would think
that the hatin wouldn't stem from something
so trivial... But I guess wer'e talking about
egos being out of control, and no one in that
situation can expect to be resonable.

Hey, I'd be curious to know what others here would put down for a personal top ten favorite listing. Anybody willing to post one? Guess I should start?

Man, that is actually quite a mental task.

I've always considered these five the most prominent upon me:

Rich
Baker
Palmer
Cobham
Williams

But now, another 20 or 30 years along, players who have voices which speak/have spoken to me (there really could be so many more):

Roach
Clark
Gurtu
Wackerman
Greb

Aside from personal likes or dislikes, life has a way of chiseling our preferences. Personally, I've found it unwise to compare each other with each other. All too often, business politics has a way of fostering and supporting those who either ek out their own resources or get the platforms to continue efforts. I can almost guarantee that there are musicians in this world that could "smoke" those who are known. Not because they are "better," but because they just know their craft and bring to bear what is necessary. These are the unsung heroes who have already been true to what they wanted to do - and do it well.

"I can almost guarantee that there are musicians in this world that could "smoke" those who are known."

Without question.

You know, I tried to get into this in the past.
But the reality is these "top ten" lists are quite
silly, really.

They amount to no more than personal preferrence.
There's room for all of these players and they've all
contributed in their own right. It's a place that can
never be full. There will always be space for those
who dare to count themselves worthy through deed.

I agree with that. It's just a way to glean what effects us individually, even from a personal, retrospective viewpoint. Just why DO these various players speak to me? Why do other drummers speak to others? In seeing those drummers that effect others I gather insight into how other drummers think and create.

List the top ten people in your life. List the top ten favorite foods you like. List the top ten favorite places you have been, favorite bands, favorite anything, etc., etc. Even for Christians, why are there a possible top ten passages that we hold dear to us? Thousands of promises in Scripture, yet some seem to literally jump off the page when we read, as though God has spoken to us personally, intimately, effectively.

Lists mean what you make of them. Just something to ponder, and humans like pondering things, which is why they make lists.

Even for Christians, why are there a possible top ten passages that we hold dear to us? Thousands of promises in Scripture, yet some seem to literally jump off the page when we read, as though God has spoken to us personally, intimately, effectively.

Well, Asaph I would think in the above case that certain scriptures
we read have special meaning and significance to circumstances
we may be going through or may have gone through. The Word
is quick (alive) and addresses us in this manner constantly, which I
believe is God's purpose.

Amen. How true. I believe the same principle applies, to a lesser degree and effect, of course, with other things or people that have made deep impressions upon our being through life.

Why did Billy Cobham explode upon me and not Steve Gadd? Why Carl Palmer and not Bill Bruford or Alan White? For some people Charlie Watts is the beginning and end of what drummers should do and satisfies their listening experience. I hate the Rolling Stones, always have, and if Billy played with the Stones, he'd have been playing something totally different than MO and made no impression upon me at all. So, for whatever reason Danny Seraphine chose to post his list it is a view into him, something he wanted to share. I see some merit to such lists in that framework.

I reckon... I prefer not to catagorize.
Each player did their thing and made
their contribution that apparently worked
in the situations they were in. Sure, some
players have more of an impact on me than
others. But who's to say in many cases if
roles were reversed that it would be better
or worse.

Everyone's list is going to be different....
That makes the merit personal I would
imagine. Outside of that, right or wrong,
good or bad, it doesn't amount to much.

D. Slam wrote:You know, I tried to get into this in the past.
But the reality is these "top ten" lists are quite
silly, really.

They amount to no more than personal preferrence.
There's room for all of these players and they've all
contributed in their own right. It's a place that can
never be full. There will always be space for those
who dare to count themselves worthy through deed.

AMEN to that!!!

Ahem... my favorite drummer is ME! That way I stay out of trouble for expressing my opinion. LOL!

While I would whole heartedly agree that any top ten list is by and large personal preference; I think it's fun to see who is listed as and influential player that in some way shaped the playing of others.

When I see a list and stumble across someone who I had not considered as terribly important to me I often take pause. I consider the person listed that is not on "my list" and give a listen to see if there is maybe something I missed in their playing. Sometimes I'm enlightened by the experience and other times I have my former opinion confirmed.

I never look at a list like this as an absoute standard. But a method of evaluating the influence of particular players on the larger "drumming community". Buddy Rich, Louis Bellson, Billy Cobham,Danny Seraphine, Bobby Colomby, Elvin Jones, Chick Webb, Davey Tough, Shelly Manne, Mel Lewis, Max Roach, Papa Jo, Sonny Payne, Klook, Mitch Mitchell, John Bonham, Keith Moon, Ginger Baker, Ringo, Hal Blaine, Clyde Stubblefield, Zigaboo Modeliste, Gerry Brown, Harvey Mason, Lenny White, David Garabaldi, Jack DeJohnette, Tony, Dennis Chambers, Larry Bright, and many others all influenced me to various degrees. Sometimes I would be knocked out by what someone did but I would have no idea who they were. But I don't look at it as a competition. Different artists painting different pictures of the same scene sometimes.

I remember one of the Brecker Brothers albums where they had Billy Cobham, Harvey Mason and maybe a couple of other guys play "Some Skunk Funk" and then they chose the tracks that they thought best represented what they wanted to hear on that tune. As I recall they chose Harvey Masons's tracks. They liked that he "painted" the best.

Whatever happened to Larry Bright? I found a video of his in a store one day, years ago for five bucks or something. Thought I'd get it and check it out. That guy can play. He was doing the gospel chops kind of thing way back, if I remember what's on that video correctly. I haven't seen it in many years now. But he was doing cool stuff. I had never heard of him, and wonder how his career went since then.

Asaph wrote:Whatever happened to Larry Bright? I found a video of his in a store one day, years ago for five bucks or something. Thought I'd get it and check it out. That guy can play. He was doing the gospel chops kind of thing way back, if I remember what's on that video correctly. I haven't seen it in many years now. But he was doing cool stuff. I had never heard of him, and wonder how his career went since then.

I don't know. I have a video of him doing a clinic here about '94/'95 and he was kill'n it. But I lost touch. Sweet guy who could really play.