My Favourite 12 Best Jazz Drummer

The order is determined alphabetically. There are absolutely missing items in the list. Jazz music is a long-standing music genre. Therefore, you can write the names of drummer who you think should be in this list in the comment section.

[@emreak6572]

I promise to everyone who comments on this video that I will prepare a video before I die, including all the names written in the comments. 🤞

[@K0J0K]

don't forget me, kojok

[@kaanjusuf]

Don’t forget Mitch Mitchell

[@juju8405]

go for it

[@davidgibbs381]

Joe Morello and Lenny White?

[@jazzguy1304]

Joe Morello not the best but among the bests, love him.

[@avdonkpass5173]

Art blakey

[@SELMER1947]

Chick Webb, Jo Jones, Cozy Cole, Sid Catlett, Baby Dodds, Zutty Singleton, Alvin Burroughs, Jimmy Crawford, Lionel Hampton, Sonny Payne, Louie Bellson, Max Roach, Sam Woodyard, Grady Tate, Buddy Rich....

[@7karlheinz]

Yeah, I love all those especially the early players!

[@boomerguy9935]

Joe Morello was responsible for the first jazz album to sell over a million copies because of his drum solo. Papa Jo Jones could make his drums talk. Fastest is not always the best. It's all about the music.

[@danielcastillo4537]

Where's Joe Morello?

[@SantiagoBsAs]

Was going to ask the same. And some place for old Gene Kruppa

[@chrislinhares7311]

Hey, they can't be all on there. Besides, he said HIS favorite drummers.

[@alexmook6786]

Great list....JoJo is incredible, but I would kick him off the list and put Bellson on there. What about Krupa?

[@caitoteam]

No puedo creer que no hayas incluido a Gene Krupa y Joe Morello ... es imperdonable

[@mikefisher9992]

I fully expected to see Joe Morello in there.

[@BennyCFD]

I totally agree..................................................................

[@stoklund]

Elvin Jones, Art Blakey, Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette , Brian Blade, Bill Steward, Joe Morello , Papa Jo Jones, Philly Joe Jones, Roy Haynes, Billy Higgins, Paul Motian, Buddy Rich, Mel Lewis, Dave Weckl, Steve Gadd, Jeff Hamilton Eric Harland Ari Hoenig Jeff Ballard Nate Smith Danny Barcelona Louie Bellson Kenny Clarke Jimmy Cobb Peter Erskine Al Foster Art Taylor Ed Thigpen Kenny Washington Kenny Clarke... ect.

[@elvinjones2572]

alan dawson john riley colin bailey

[@gnpd07]

You cant' include Weckl and Gadd without Vinnie Colaiuta.

[@kevinguillaume7895]

Yep! Quite true!! 🥁

[@ellisweiner6405]

Good point! I'd take Vinnie over Gadd, now that you mention it.

[@TheEleatic]

Making lists is fun. Reading other people's lists is less fun.

[@joeerickson9404]

That's why I watch them instead.

[@gary-yj6sr]

that's funny

[@vestibulate]

Sid Catlett. Kenny Clarke. Roy Haynes. Bellson. Philly Joe. Papa Jo. Tony Allen. Sunny Murray. Ed Blackwell, of course. So many.

[@rafaelsantos-xn7wi]

I think here is the best List!!!

[@ellisweiner6405]

Roy Haynes! I heard one solo from him on an album and it changed by understanding of drums forever. Yes!

[@hectormann1843]

Roy Haynes?? 😉

[@papersleeves]

Anyone have a link to the entire Elvin Jones clip? What a maniac 🥁🥁

[@richardwhite7208]

Max Roach ,buddy Rich , Tony Williams , Billy Cobham , Toni Allen ,Clyde stubblefield , Mike Clarke, Lenny White , Ginger Baker ❤

[@JurSic1]

and Phil Seamen !

[@richardwhite7208]

@@JurSic1 yes an outstanding drummer in Britain set standards

[@jeffreyalexander7504]

Steve Gadd and Jo Jo Mayer make your list of "jazz" drummers, and Philly Jo Jones didn't? .....are you sure about that?

[@aidanschram9652]

This list feels like it was made by a rock drummer who just discovered jazz. Jojo mayer and steve gadd jazz drummers ?🤔🤔. You're missing Philly Joe Jones, Kenny Clarke, Roy haynes, Jimmy Cobb, Billy higgins, Art taylor, etc.

[@scottdouglas935]

i think gadd deserves to be in there, even just based on his work with chick corea

[@aidanschram9652]

@@scottdouglas935 Yeah I guess he is technically a jazz/rock drummer but he is not one of the first that comes to mind when I think of jazz

[@TheEleatic]

@@aidanschram9652 As you say, you can't point out the shortcomings of a list to someone who is not familiar with jazz history.

[@mrjehupitchfork]

Amen. Half this list had me saying wtf?

[@johnmiles4370]

I couldn't make a greatest list with just 12 ,there are so many great jazz drummer's out there that deserve to be on (the list) and some of these are not really jazz drummer's sorry , but nice clips anyways🥁🥁🥁

[@williamdavis1803]

Any list like this should include Louie Bellson. I mean the guy invented the double bass drum technique! What about Gene Krupa...... Not a thought out list.

[@boomerguy9935]

For what it's worth in regard to my personal #1 drummer, Joe Morello, he was John Bonham's favorite drummer which is why he had so many jazz licks with polyrhythms in his rock playing. How could Joe be left out of this list?

[@starclass6564]

One of my favourite is surely Buddy Rich, his left hand probably the faster ever, but for the color and complexity of drumming I like a lot Omar Hakim, which maybe can be in the best 20.... ?

[@marcusschroder5717]

I miss Dennis Chambers and some other guys. But a good list thx

[@Huntington2012ify]

Some here do not belong. Where is Joe Jones, Roy Haynes, Joe Morello, Antonio Sanchez, Philly Joe Jones and Eddie Gladden?

[@sethwexler6910]

Expand the list. No Philly Joe, Papa Jo Jones, Roy Haynes, no Louie Bellson???? Especially Roy Haynes?!?!? Common now.

[@sethwexler6910]

Wait. No Morello? Aughhhhh!

[@coled2048]

All are extraordinary drummers! Some very notables are missing. Max Roach is inventive, Steve Smith has the chops, but Buddy Rich still stands out in this list.

[@youngmordek]

alphabetical or not, it's fitting to start w/ art blakey--he's the king.

[@randyelliott9152]

And on a very basic kit!!,not a lot of doodads.

[@hansmann677]

This is a list with some jazz drummers on it, the others are not jazz drummers really. Some important names are missing, too: Joe Morello, Roy Haynes, Shelly Manne, Mel Lewis and many others. Most people, drummers and non-drummers, only look at speed and technique in a drummer, not musical sensitivity and creativity, not the overall qualities of a drummer as a member of a group, as a musician. Comparing drummers only on the basis of speed, technique and chops, which is what most people do, is like a pissing contest that teenagers indulge in! Not interesting! Drumming in my view is not only about solos and showing off speed and chops, but about creating music together with a band!

[@milfordmkt]

Couldn't have pick a better dozen myself. Good to see DeJohnette in there.

[@865sticks]

What about Rufus Speedy Jones? he was a great drummer and you didn't mention him.

[@wilfbentley6738]

I'm disappointed that Ginger Baker didn't make the list.

[@scottmoyer1357]

Where is Vinnie, Alan Dawson, Terry Bozzio and a host of others?

[@jmydy]

What is the song name played by Peter Erskine? It's superb.

[@edoardozampetti4601]

the modernity of Tony Williams...

[@peterquednau5601]

I just suggest four additions (in alphabetical order): Curt Cress, Jon Hiseman, Gene Krupa and Alphonse Mouzon. In 1978 I watched and listened to a monster show of top drummers in the Stadthalle in Wuppertal, Germany. It started with Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia featuring her Husband Jon Hiseman on drums. In one of his solos he kept the tempo on his bassdrums, slowed down with his left hand and speeded up with his right. He seemed to be absolutely free. I don't have to describe the features of the 2nd and the 3rd bands, 'cause they exposed the talents of Tony Williams and Billy Cobham.

[@rogermansour6085]

Great choices, however you forgot Gene Krupa, Louis Bellson, Sonny Emory, Vinnie Coluata

[@plainjane34]

Sonny Emory is amazing.

[@edwardskinner651]

Any list of great jazz drummers that doesn't include Gene Krupa or Joe Morello is certainly not a great list.

[@david65026]

Or how about Louis Bellson

[@pendragonU]

AMEN, that list is an anti-Christ list in my very humble opinion, Gene was simply The GOAT The stuff he could do with his drums or anything that could make a sound was of someone not of this Earth... also his understanding of timing and complex derivations of sounds to build together was (no pun) unbeatable. Making a same note in two dozen different ways but remaining the same, with drums is what someone like Bocuse could do among master chefs of all time, each great and unique, but then there is that level that makes you The Pope in cuisine, same with master Krupa. He could play even in ways NOT HIS OWN, like Mozart could outperform Salieri or Bach and Beethoven himself with just one or two listenings. That good that he can beat you at your own beat (pun fully beated). You are born that gifted, you dont get to it just by training and getting better. You are just great and then play as the Greatest because you were gifted that key ingredient that makes the difference. Not faster and chaotic noise maker, just a performance you may mimic but not the sensibilities to come up on your own. There's a difference between highly trained monkeys and a human touched by the Angels himself, even if not done an to deserve it. That Divine wunder

[@ultrahero2115]

Krupa and Joe are important sure, but downright boring in comparison to a lot of the drummers on this list.

[@ChicWebb]

@@ultrahero2115 sorry you are so bored.

[@haywoodjablowme7792]

Yeah they’re great drummers but don’t compare to drummers like Elvis, cobham, and Williams

[@davemo65]

Hard to believe Smith wasted that extraordinary talent on Journey.

[@sharokrokni5317]

Not wasted,making great music, album,sell millions of tickets, brilliant songs, a superb guitarist and sublime singer with a fantastic keyboardist, play 50,years,please to billions on air,

[@TomGriffin-v5h]

Couldn’t agree more

[@RocknJazzer]

Bad list, most of them are not jazz. Fusion players usually dont count as real jazz drummers (tho some can play both legit, with these players there was a big divide between the two styles of players, less so now). I like most all these players but most of this is fusion, which is equally great in it;s own way but does not the reach the level of artistic expression of pure jazz playing. Also this list even for the jazz drummers is too much emphasis on solos and chops, but the real magic happens in the comping.

[@danidevicio245]

Ok. Where is your list???

[@RocknJazzer]

@@danidevicio245 There are tons...too many to mention, here is a few: Brian Blade, Bill Stewart, Mark Guiliana, Ari Hoenig, Nate Smith, Barry Altschul, Jon Christensen, Joey Baron, Adam Nussbaum, Steve Davis, so many more I left out, I could go on and on.

[@heldercavalcante2672]

Totally agree, Elvin Jones would be on the top of my list, subtle and powerful. Some grooves like in Little Lady and A Love Supreme are so expressive without tons of notes.

[@rec7446]

Well… I was thinking “jazz” contains fusion

[@RocknJazzer]

@@rec7446 @rec It's the other way around. Fusion contains jazz by default. Jazz does not contain fusion by default, some does, but most serious jazz eschews fusion playing and players, to the extent the two camps (jazz players vs fusion players) are often at odds with each other and refuse to play together. As a musician I see it all the time

[@MrFchank]

Wrong!! Buddy Rich is the GOAT!!

[@65drummer1]

I wish the recording of Billy Cobham was better. That guy I listened to on his solo album and he sounded like thunder.

[@mtyemti]

Max Roach on "St. Thomas."

[@eternitypartone2832]

Nice compilation, thanks very lot! But I personally miss Alan Dawson.

[@kookamunga2458]

I blew a stereo speaker listening to Art Blakey . He was a force of nature . Salsa /Afro-Cuban drummers Ray Barretto and Mongo Santamaria should be on this list . I think Jaki Liebezeit is also an insane drummer of Jazz tradition but played in the band Can .

[@marcroigcebrian]

Personal list .art blakey,gene krupa,buddy rich,jo jones,elvin jones,joe morello,paul motian,philly joe jones,al foster,steve gadd,roy haynes and jake hanna

[@Ds_Drums]

I like Papa Jo Jones, I also see someone mention joe morello and thought oh yea him too. There are bunches of great drummers out there it is hard to pick from.

[@MandinoRock1814]

Art Blakey, Max Roach, Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes, Kenny Clarke, Jack DeJohnette, Tony Williams, Billy Higgins, Billy Cobham, Al Foster

[@TheAaustin1984]

So glad to see Tony Williams in there. Seven Steps to Heaven is amazing.b

[@cliffordsalmon6342]

Al Foster for wall of sound with Miles in the 70's. Also props to Buddy Rich for playing with a 3 piece suit on...

[@sirjer73]

It always amazed me seeing the jazz drummers in suits and ties under hot lights in probably hot cramped settings, just going to work on the skins. I was like their cleaners bills had to be enormous!!!

[@timnavarrette3274]

Steve Smith wow!!! All these jazz players are so fn gifted!

[@abidababida7096]

i started playing drums when i was 8. i’m 54 now. Dave Weckl is… in my opinion… the bedt drummer i’ve ever heard.

[@Mooseman327]

Tony Williams, Max Roach, Billy Cobham, Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes, Philly Joe Jones, Kenny Clarke, Chick Webb, Jack DeJohnette, Alphonse Mouzon, Jo Jones, Manu Katche, Billy Higgins, Steve Gadd, Buddy Rich, Bob Moses, Brian Blade, Paul Motian, Jimmy Cobb.

[@alexandremello6913]

It is amazing how hard Tony Williams used to hit the drums. Those flams were powerful.

[@jamesmccarthy6370]

No krupa, Vinnie, Bellson, Jojo Mayer jazz drummer???

[@sandy3482]

my brother went to high school with Steve Gadd, when I was about 8 or 9 I went to my brother high schools music festival and Steve Gadd was playing out in front of the school orchestra, from that day on I knew I had to be a drummer

[@Dems-fk8sh]

I really love Art Taylor's play on "My romance" with Hampton Hawes. He's my favorite drummer.

[@josephgiarraffa6379]

Nice stuff A lot of innovators at the time I have my favorites but when it comes down to it no one here is in the league of Buddy Rich Things evolved but never will u see Buddies special gift

[@DavidCooper-ve2ci]

Why does everyone complain about the list...it's a list of his favourites...he never claimed that it was an all time list...grow up

[@sanjaygokavi5720]

Good list. Please let me nominate to the vast and wonderful recommendations among the comments - JEFF PORCARO. Listen to him playing on Pink Floyd's Mother, apart from his amazing work with TOTO.

[@StonefieldJim4]

Hearing all these drummers alongside each other it really struck me how Erskine stood out, to my ears anyway, as a uniquely subtle player, whose solo playing never verges on tiring listening, which even the greatest drummers are guilty of (that's why people hate drum solos).

[@GenXUnderground]

isnt he playing buddy rich?

[@damneh8688]

Certainly one of the most musical ones of the lot.

[@eleithias]

I was reading this comment and couldn't see the video, but I listening to the video, and I immediately knew when Buddy Rich came in. THAT'S how much he stands out!

[@ellisweiner6405]

Okay. Thanks for this. Some writer once said, the purpose of lists like this is to disagree with them. I would only not include Gadd. He's one of the 3 greatest studio drummers of all time (w/ Hal Blaine and Jim Keltner), but he's not a jazz drummer. I'd add Billy Higgins or Joe Jones or Papa Jo Jones. The rest, yes. Delighted to see Dave Weckl there, who is my current fave. Thank you!

[@didierbrasquies5886]

Kenny Clarke, Max Roach, Billy Higgins, Grady Tate, Art Taylor?????????????

[@7karlheinz]

Ainsley Dunbar while with Zappa on Waka Jawaka & The Grand Wazoo! My only question (which I'm not going to eat!) is whether his playing on those LPs were from charts by Zappa or if he was totally responsible for creating those drum parts???

[@tomamyx3980]

And... over the past 40 plus years - Jeff Hamilton

[@dallasstiles118]

Thanks for mentioning him

[@doremi9]

He is so tasteful, a real musician.

[@LeandroDiaz273]

Tony Williams y Elvin Jones.... superb...!!!!!! 🔥🔥🔥

[@mikelogan8474]

Tony Williams was the best i ever heard,,,Erskine the most serene..

[@bigduke6428]

So your videos, while nice, are concentrated on chops and speed. Mostly. I rather hear f great notes than 100 mediocre ones And then phrasing and hearing the melody in the drum solo. Now that’s a jazz musician and not just a drummer.

[@gratitude62]

I am amazed at all the complaining about about one or anothers favorite few not being in the list and thus the list is invalid somehow. I found this to be an obvious constraint with an easy solution. There is no 1 GOAT. There are many GOATS, and too little space on likely any KZbin compilation to name them. GOATS come in herds and bunches. If dissatisfied add to our collective appreciation, show us who you admire. Seems like most people on this thread look forward to anyone enriching the presentation.

[@chatscindy6602]

Weckl, Gadd and Smith are great drummers, no question, but they're drummers who play jazz occasionally( today's jazz greats are more the likes of Jeff Watts, Bill Stewart, Brian Blade etc). And if the likes of Papa Jo and Kenny Clarke aren't making the all-time list, then the list isn't worth taking seriously imo. In fact, you could narrow the all-time greats down to just two or three ; players who had such a profound influence on the instrument, played in such a way, that changed whole concepts of playing : Kenny Clarke, who is credited as being the first to have put the time on the ride cymbal, and Elvin, who broke away from crunching 2&4 on the hihat with a pretty static ride cymbal pattern to playing in a freer, more broken way, accenting the ands on the ride, with the other three limbs supporting the ride as he saw fit. Both Kenny and Elvin really were pioneers of the instrument.

[@49sighs]

Update : Billy Kilson Nate Smith Dafnis Prieto Eric Harland Dennis Chambers.....and....and....

[@rogermansour993]

WHAT ABOUT SONNY EMORY. LOUIS BELSON . and Ringo doesn't like drum solos????? EVANGELIST ROGER MANSOUR Former Leslie West drummer MISSIONARY TO HAITI

[@johnlong1538]

.....uhh...Tony Williams is basically a combination of all these great cats...Cindy Blackman is the closest you will HEAR to Tony today......

[@ianclark2534]

Wot! No Joe Morello!!!

[@cesarduquemusic]

gene krupa

[@thunder7382]

they could have done easily top 25

[@johnnyjimj]

No Joe Morello?!

[@matthewblack986]

Billy Cobham.....god damn!

[@stratcat4450]

Watching Billy work the the Mahavisu is on a level all by itself. I saw them play live many times. After Billy left them I saw him solo in a very small old movie theater. He was playing those come headed drums at the time. I never forgot that amazing show.

[@sharronaustin2769]

And where was Gene Krupa and Sandy Nelson Cozy Cole? Ya got some of the BEST missing!

[@AraliaFresia]

You shouldn’t alienate women drummers. You do not know what good jazz drumming is, don’t be a chauvinist. These are all little boys banging on things, unmusically. Check out Karen Carpenter with Carpenters, live in Japan. She was a popular jazz drummer in the early 1970’s.

[@bluebird4667]

Not puting Joe Morello on this list indicates to me that the guy that put this list together hasn't heard Morello playing wih the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Perhaps he is too young. Pity.

[@ikigomez1407]

Gerry Hemingway, Andrew Cyrille, Makaya Ntshoko, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Hamid Drake, Al Foster...

[@jamesbriley1105]

You can’t have a list without Chick Webb probably the best of his generation and a few others

[@jayk5549]

You don’t really know what jazz is do you 😀. Few of these guys are “jazz” drummers. And where’s thigpen, Hamilton, drew, morello, shaunessy etc

[@danielelunardi8014]

Dave Weckl, the summary of one hundred years of drums.

[@andrefauquenot1207]

La liste aurait pu être encore très longue...Sony Payne ,Sam Woodyard,Louie Bellson,André Ceccarelli, Vinnie Collayouta,Jo Jones,Grady Tate,.etc etcetera etcetera etcetera etcetera...

[@polara01]

Where's Joe Morello? I mean he's right up there with Buddy and Elvin.

[@skillet6870]

Mr. Tony Williams.

[@rolly5558]

Where is Gene Krupa !!!!!!!!!!!!! 😡🤬

[@williamcarbone]

Gene Krupa, Louis Belson, Cozy Cole...

[@alvaroquevedo8721]

Vinnie Colaiuta ?

[@Daldie-mx1gn]

Can't argue wit dem choices although Joe Morello was the time master and should have been here.

[@BennyCFD]

Not much of a list if Gene Krupa and Joe Morello isn't on it..............................................

[@AugCorreia]

Max Roach is hugelly overrated. The sloppiest “great” of them all!

[@wRAAh]

Come on guys... Dannie Richmond surely?

[@gontsemabusela7574]

The list shouldn't be of all time without mention of Roy Haynes, Antonio Sanchez, Brian Blade, Gene Krupa. The list is endless. Rather rephrase the title to your favorite 12 greatest.

[@alankanejr2170]

Gene Krupa

[@yavuzguney3413]

Steve gadd,,,bılly cobham,,tony Williams

[@michaelemory552]

The universe is large and been that way a long time. There are cultures with art and percussion is so basic,… they are out there. This is not weird. I say it is true and SETI must stay tuned in.

[@thursday0186]

I know it’s extremely difficult and these guys are virtuosos. But it still sounds like dog shit

[@randyelliott9152]

Louis Bellson and What!!....Where is Gene Krupa?

[@uncavallo2580]

I like that most of the parts of this video doesn't show any jazz jam or execution.

[@genebrohan2401]

Are those broadcasters? Art Blakey used they were very sought after then as well

[@sedatfirat8723]

Selam Emre, benim favorilerim " Vinni Collaita ve Dennis Chambers..

[@robertshuruncle9619]

nice choices. I wouldn't eliminate anyone but I would say you could very easily have brought a better example of Elvin's genius than that snippet from 3 Card Monty. I would also say Ed Blackwell belongs in the mix.