Drummer. Producer. Legend.
GALLERY:
7 Decades of Drumming...
...70 Strong!
British jazz drummer
Pete Fairclough said
that Steve Gadd
"doesn't play a groove,
he digs a trench."
At the peak of his work in
the New York session scene in
the 1970s, he claims he playing three
sessions a day, giving a decade of
rock music a deep and gentle funkiness.
His best known works are the brain-
bending syncopation of Paul Simon's
"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" and the
slurping hi-hats and monster
fills on Steely Dan's "Aja," but Gadd
has breathed giddy groove into
hundreds of recordings including Van
McCoy's Number One disco
sensation "The Hustle." "Every
drummer wants to play like Gadd
because he plays perfect," said Chick
Corea. "He has brought orchestral
and compositional thinking to the
drum kit while at the same
time having a great imagination
and a great ability
to swing."
-Rolling Stone 100 Greatest
Drummers of All Time
http://www.rollingstone.com
GALLERY: 1940's-1950's
Steve Gadd - 1940's
Steve Gadd was born April 9th,
1945 in Rochester , N.Y.
Four years later he started
his first private studies with
Elmer Frolig at Levis Music,
which was right across the
street from The Eastman
School Of Music.
"My uncle Eddie fostered my
interest in drums. He gave
me a pair of sticks and showed
me how to handle them. We’d
sit together and play along
with records on a piece of
wood. My late father,
Kendall Gadd, would take me
to clubs in Rochester. I got a
chance to hear a lot of
great bands that passed
through town."
-Steve Gadd
www.moderndrummer.com
*Above Photo: Steve & Eddie with their Father (1949).
GALLERY: 1980's-1990's
Paul Simon
Steve's career was
literally in overdrive,
doing Paul Simon's
One Trick Pony movie
and then
Grover Washington's
Live At The Tower Theatre
video. Recordings with
Weather Report, The
Bee Gee's, Manhattan Transfer,
Al Jarreau and Rickie
Lee Jones continued at
a staggering rate.
GALLERY: 1960's-1970's
Steve Gadd - 1960's
Count Basie & Steve Gadd - 1961
Steve Gadd’s parents
took him to local clubs
in Rochester to enjoy live
performances from some
of the jazz greats, like
Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz,
Max Roach, Art Blakey,
Oscar Peterson, Kai
Winding, Carmen McCrae,
and Count Basie.
GALLERY: 2000's-2010's
Peter Gabriel
2002:
Steve played
drums on
Jame's Taylor's
album,
October Road,
recorded in
Rochester, NY.