When I was a kid (yes, it was quite a while ago) I started out as a drummer. Partly for that reason, I find that I am frequently watching the drummer when I see a band. I enjoyed seeing Greg Kanz play in the Ron DeWitte band. Greg didn’t take any solos, but he is a superb supportive player both musically and visually.
There used to be a bad joke. Asked about the size of his band, the leader would say "we have five musicians and a drummer." The drummer is a musician, of course, and plays a very important role. First, he (or she) must make the arrangement swing. A jazz drummer has a more difficult role, though, in that he must intuit where the improvising soloist is going and augment or punctuate what the soloist is doing–and must do this tastefully and tactfully, without getting in the soloist’s way and disrupting the flow.
Jon Wilson, the drummer with the Eddie Piccard Quartet, is very good at backing the wide variety of songs that Eddie plays. I also enjoy his strong support when I am soloing. And Jon is himself a very musical soloist. Listen to his work when we play Samba De Orfeu.
And while we’re talking about drummers, here’s a solo from the guy I first saw when I was about 14: Buddy Rich.
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