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Steve Gadd

Steve Gadd, b. Rochester, New York, April 9, 1945. Uncle, a drummer in the army, encouraged him. Drum lessons from age seven; sat in with Dizzy Gillespie at 11. Studied music at Eastman College, Rochester, playing in wind ensemble and concert band, and at nights in a club with Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Joe Romano and Frank Pullara.

After college, drafted into army and spent three years in a military band. After the army, gigged and worked with a big band in Rochester. 1972, formed a trio with Tony Levin and Mike Holmes, going to New York with it. The trio fizzled out, but Gadd began to work extensively as a studio musician.

He also played with Corea's first Return to Forever. 1970's and 1980's, toured internationally, recorded with Paul Simon and with Al Di Meola's Electric Rendezvous Band. By the end of the 1970's Gadd was the most in-demand and probably the most imitated drummer in the world.

In Japan transcriptions of his solos were on sale, and all the leading Japanese drummers were sounding like him. Chick Corea commented, "Every drummer wants to play like Gadd because he plays perfect... 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."

Steve Gadd is one of the most sought-after studio musicians, in the world. Regarded as the most influential drummer in contemporary music, Gadd can play anything, easily bridging different musical styles. His feel, technique, and musicality on such tunes as Paul Simon's "Fifty Ways", Steely Dan's "Aja", and Chick Corea's "Nite Sprite" were so awe-inspiring and his concepts so innovative that they instantly assured his special position in the history of the percussive arts.

Awards

Steve Gadd has won many prestigious awards in recognition for his outstanding, versatile work in music world. In 2002, he was presented Drummer’s Collective Award. In 2003, he won Zildjian American Drummer’s Achievement Award. In 2005, Gadd received honorary doctorate from renowned Berklee School of Music. In the same year, he was inducted in the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame.

Gear

Steve Gadd's name was for many years synonymous with the Recording Custom kit. Indeed the association led in no small part to the RC9000 becoming the most popular professional kit in the world during the 1980s. Steve popularize small 10 toms and introduced floor tom-tom stands. He still likes birch tom-toms, but recently has preferred a maple bass drum. His Clapton kit comprises 22x14 Maple Custom Absolute bass, 12x8 and 13x9 hanging, and 14x12 and 16x14 floor-mounted Birch Custom Absolute toms. Other times he uses a small 10x7.5 tom, which he made famous in his studio days, and drops the 13 tom. For live work he prefers his steel 14x5.5 signature snare drum. There are five other Steve Gadd signature models in the series.


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Liner Notes

Larry Goldings and Melinda Sullivan choose to groove on Big Foot

Read "Larry Goldings and Melinda Sullivan choose to groove on Big Foot" reviewed by Leo Sidran


Sometimes what seems at first to be a departure can turn out to be a new arrival. When Larry Goldings and Melinda Sullivan met shortly before the COVID pandemic, they had no way of knowing just how impactful it would become for both of them. By 2021, they had begun meeting in Goldings' backyard to play together and they posted videos of their jam sessions to social media. The project was immediately recognized by musicians and journalists who ...

6
Liner Notes

Ron Carter: Anything Goes

Read "Ron Carter: Anything Goes" reviewed by Arnaldo DeSouteiro


Ronald Levin Carter (born Ferndale, Michigan, on May 4, 1937) needs no introduction. Let's just say that he is the bassist's bassist. On Ron's hands, the bass and the man become the same entity, the same person. Played by Ron Carter, the acoustic bass sounds like... Ron Carter! That's why he is one of the three top bassists in the music history. However, if Ron needs no introduction, his Anything Goes album does. Recorded on June & July, ...

5
Liner Notes

CTI Acid Jazz Grooves by Various Artists

Read "CTI Acid Jazz Grooves by Various Artists" reviewed by Arnaldo DeSouteiro


The CD you are holding in your hands is a very special compilation. It's the celebration of CTI as one of the most “sampled" labels on Earth! For the past ten years, many CTI tracks have been cut up, sampled, scratched and looped to create new songs for a new audience. Many of the selections on this album (all of them produced by Creed Taylor and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder) represented the basic inspiration and major influence in the ...

4
Liner Notes

Steve Khan: Arrows

Read "Steve Khan: Arrows" reviewed by AAJ Staff


By Steve Khan With The Blue Man not selling as well as Tightrope, Dr. George Butler requested that I have a co-producer for the next CD. I was lucky to be able to land the engineering / production talents of my old and dear friend, Elliot Scheiner. Elliot and I had recorded together on countless sessions, but perhaps most people link us together because it was Elliot who recommended me to Donald Fagen and Walter Becker for AJA, which, of ...

40
Album Review

Steve Gadd, Eddie Gomez, Ronnie Cuber, WDR Big Band: Center Stage

Read "Center Stage" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Mixed emotions must underline this review. Center Stage, featuring bassist Eddie Gomez, drummer Steve Gadd and baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber with Germany's superb WDR Big Band conducted by Michael Abene, was recorded in Cologne in January and February 2022. Sadly, Ronnie Cuber passed away in October, shortly after the album was released. If this was Cuber's last hurrah, it thunders loudly above the rooftops, as his solos (on each of the album's nine numbers) and melodic passages ...

1
Album Review

Rob Silverman: Drumology Volume 3

Read "Drumology Volume 3" reviewed by Jim Worsley


The beat goes on. Yes, that was a big hit for Sonny & Cher back in 1967. However, here it references the third volume of drummer Rob Silverman's Drumology series. The formula seems to be working, so why not keep pounding them out? Again all proceeds go to the Neil Peart Fund for brain cancer research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. And the core band stays intact, with Silverman being joined by brother Michael Silverman on piano and keyboards, bassist Larry ...

8
Album Review

Hermine Deurloo: Riverbeast

Read "Riverbeast" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


On Riverbeast, Dutch harmonica player Hermine Deurloo winds her way through a wide variety of musical settings. And with Kevin Hays manning the piano, Tony Scherr holding it down on guitar and bass guitar, and Steve Gadd behind the kit, there's no place she can go where a comfortable feel won't follow. The album opens on Deurloo's “The Man with the Hat (on the Train)," a setting using a Steely Dan-worthy foundation to support a simple and catchy ...

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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Steve Gadd's birthday today!

Steve Gadd, b. Rochester, New York, April 9, 1945. Uncle, a drummer in the army, encouraged him. Drum lessons from age seven; sat in with Dizzy Gillespie at 11. Studied music at Eastman College, Rochester, playing in wind ensemble and concert band, and at nights in a club with Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Joe Romano and Frank Pullara. After college, drafted into army and spent three years in a military band. ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Steve Gadd's birthday today!

Steve Gadd, b. Rochester, New York, April 9, 1945. Uncle, a drummer in the army, encouraged him. Drum lessons from age seven; sat in with Dizzy Gillespie at 11. Studied music at Eastman College, Rochester, playing in wind ensemble and concert band, and at nights in a club with Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Joe Romano and Frank Pullara. After college, drafted into army and spent three years in a military band. ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Steve Gadd's birthday today!

Steve Gadd, b. Rochester, New York, April 9, 1945. Uncle, a drummer in the army, encouraged him. Drum lessons from age seven; sat in with Dizzy Gillespie at 11. Studied music at Eastman College, Rochester, playing in wind ensemble and concert band, and at nights in a club with Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Joe Romano and Frank Pullara. After college, drafted into army and spent three years in a military band. ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Steve Gadd's birthday today!

Steve Gadd, b. Rochester, New York, April 9, 1945. Uncle, a drummer in the army, encouraged him. Drum lessons from age seven; sat in with Dizzy Gillespie at 11. Studied music at Eastman College, Rochester, playing in wind ensemble and concert band, and at nights in a club with Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Joe Romano and Frank Pullara. After college, drafted into army and spent three years in a military band. ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Steve Gadd's birthday today!

Steve Gadd, b. Rochester, New York, April 9, 1945. Uncle, a drummer in the army, encouraged him. Drum lessons from age seven; sat in with Dizzy Gillespie at 11. Studied music at Eastman College, Rochester, playing in wind ensemble and concert band, and at nights in a club with Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Joe Romano and Frank Pullara. After college, drafted into army and spent three years in a military band. ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Steve Gadd's birthday today!

Steve Gadd, b. Rochester, New York, April 9, 1945. Uncle, a drummer in the army, encouraged him. Drum lessons from age seven; sat in with Dizzy Gillespie at 11. Studied music at Eastman College, Rochester, playing in wind ensemble and concert band, and at nights in a club with Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Joe Romano and Frank Pullara. After college, drafted into army and spent three years in a military band. ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Steve Gadd's birthday today!

Steve Gadd, b. Rochester, New York, April 9, 1945. Uncle, a drummer in the army, encouraged him. Drum lessons from age seven; sat in with Dizzy Gillespie at 11. Studied music at Eastman College, Rochester, playing in wind ensemble and concert band, and at nights in a club with Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Joe Romano and Frank Pullara. After college, drafted into army and spent three years in a military band. ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Steve Gadd's birthday today!

Steve Gadd, b. Rochester, New York, April 9, 1945. Uncle, a drummer in the army, encouraged him. Drum lessons from age seven; sat in with Dizzy Gillespie at 11. Studied music at Eastman College, Rochester, playing in wind ensemble and concert band, and at nights in a club with Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Joe Romano and Frank Pullara. After college, drafted into army and spent three years in a military band. ...

3

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Jazz Musician of the Day: Steve Gadd

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Steve Gadd's birthday today! Steve Gadd, b. Rochester, New York, April 9, 1945. Uncle, a drummer in the army, encouraged him. Drum lessons from age seven; sat in with Dizzy Gillespie at 11. Studied music at Eastman College, Rochester, playing in wind ensemble and concert band, and at nights in a club with Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Joe Romano and Frank Pullara. After college, drafted into army and spent three years in a military band. ...

3

Event

The World’s Greatest Drummer Concert 2015 Featuring Steve Gadd

The World’s Greatest Drummer Concert 2015  Featuring Steve Gadd

Source: A & R Marketing

The World's Greatest Drummer Concert returns on Tuesday 26th May 2015 at the Derngate Theatre, Northampton. Since the very first World’s Greatest Drummer Concert in 2007, the event has featured some of the finest drummers alive today. However it has always been organisers Ian Palmer's ambition to showcase the drumming of the legendary Eric Clapton's longtime sticksman Steve Gadd who is now confirmed to play the show. This will be Steve Gadd’s first drumming show in the UK for more ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Big Foot

Colorfield
2024

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Electric Chick...

Verve Records
2023

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Center Stage

Leopard
2022

buy

Drumology Volume 3

Autumn Hill
2022

buy

Riverbeast

ZenneZ Records
2020

buy

Videos

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