326 - [Daniel Glass Show]: Deconstructing Earl Palmer, Pt. 1 - Drummer's Resource: Conversations with the world's greatest drummers and music industry pros.
November 8, 2017

326 – [Daniel Glass Show]: Deconstructing Earl Palmer, Pt. 1

In this session, Daniel deconstructs the style of the legendary drummer Earl Palmer, showing just why Palmer is often called “the architect of rock’n’roll drumming.” Part One covers the years 1949-1957, and looks primarily at Earl’s groundbreaking years in New Orleans, where he blended street beats with a jazz influence to create iconic rock drum parts for the likes of Little Richard, Fats Domino, Lloyd Price, Smiley Lewis and many others.

What’s covered in this session:

  • Earl’s early life and influences growing up as a child performer in New Orleans in the 1920s and ’30s.
  • Understanding the importance of the bass drum in New Orleans music.
  • Understanding how the trials of growing up black in an intensely racist environment led to the development of Earl’s fiercely independent personality and drumming style.
  • Analysis of 14 key songs that show how Earl pioneered many of the elements of rock’n’roll that we take for granted today, including: backbeats on 2&4, straight 8th grooves, complex bass drum figures, 16th note tom-tom fills, crashing on beat “one” at the end of a fill.

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