Sonny Payne w/Harry James Sept 1970 "Apples" drum solo

When Buddy Rich left the Harry James Band in 1966, Harry James used several other drummers to try and fill the drum chair.
Some of the drummers were Louis Bellson, Paul Humphrey, Sol Gubin, Charlie Persip and Tony DeNicola.
In December of 1966, Harry scored a big plus, when he hired Sonny Payne to be the band drummer.
Sonny Payne was the final piece in Harry's decade long quest of getting a Basie-feel to his already swinging band.
Everything Sonny Payne touched rocked hard.
Sonny went in and out of the Harry James Orchestra from Dec 1966-Dec 1978.
He died January 29, 1979 days before he was scheduled to join Harry for an Eastern tour. Harry James personally paid Payne's medical bills and funeral costs.
Sonny Payne was known for his showmanship, especially his stick throwing.
He often dropped a stick, and in this solo he drops a drumstick at 7:10, which Harry James deftly picks up and tosses back to Sonny.

[@ProfessorSwing]

My very favorite big band drummer!!! I once downed a bottle of wine with him at a Harry James gig. He was going to come to my house and give me a drum lesson, but then he died soon thereafter. Wonderfully nice & very hip, cool guy! He did not like playing dances. Much preferred night clubs, where people sat down & really listened.

[@francisbryanclavinclavain7203]

A 😢Ty by m I’m 😅p A am he

[@francisbryanclavinclavain7203]

P.M. and 😅

[@robertcarli1969]

​@@francisbryanclavinclavain7203 ????

[@michaelhutchinson9413]

As a young music educator in the early’70’s I attended a jazz clinic with Sonny as the clinician. He was accessible and a very nice, humble man. I treasure an 8x10 black & white glossy photograph that he signed with the caption:”Best of luck from one brother to another “. RIP Sonny, Keep on swinging 😎

[@happychildhood591]

Of all the drummers that played with the Harry James Orchestra over the years, including Buddy Rich, I have read that Sonny was Harry's absolute favorite. Not hard to see why! When Sonny finally passed on, his funeral and all arrangements were paid for by Harry James. That is the level of admiration that Harry had for Sonny, and keep in mind that Harry was a hard musician to please. For me, it will always be the great Sonny Payne! Rest in peace sir!

[@ChuckParDue1953]

@@happychildhood591 Harry told me that Jackie Mills and Sonny Payne were the best drummers he ever had.

[@joshlicht1359]

Found myself here after watching a Steve Jordan interview....via a few other stops on the way.....enjoying the journey. Man Sonny Payne was one heavy cat, that's some serious phrasing and groove. What a super drummer!! Sheesh.

[@karlplaysdrums]

I've seen this guy a million times and I still can't believe how incredibly good he was...

[@dennisgockman6042]

Sonny was an inspiration for the late John Bonham. What gifts these men possessed. Iron sharpens iron.

[@U2WB]

One of the greatest big band drummers of all time. A hero of mine.

[@joejackson3668]

Awesome playing every bit as good as buddy and the rest of the top drummers

[@jerryferko8309]

really !!!!!!!!!!!! AMAZING !!!!!!!! not just sonny .....the whole crew ................. thanks chuck .......

[@ChuckParDue1953]

You're welcome!

[@bulgarincho]

Today I discovered about the existance of this great man, Sonny, thank you.

[@batouttahell454]

Sonny Payne,One of the Very Best!

[@roybeckerman9253]

Definitely in the top 5 of the drummers of the past.

[@hotlanta35]

I like those hihats

[@paradiddle16]

He was not only an amazing player but some real funny showmanship there. I love it when he hits the microphones at 3:15

[@batouttahell454]

Great showman

[@dinodeluca6210]

A most swinging and underrated drumming legend....I thought Sonny fit Harry's band better than anyone else. I also loved him with Count Basie. This is the perfect chart to showcase his talent.

[@ChuckParDue1953]

Sonny was the best overall drummer Harry ever had.

[@dinodeluca6210]

@@ChuckParDue1953 I agree 100%..you could also see the love that Harry had for him in his eyes when he introduced him. Too bad he died so young...even his father, Chris Columbus, outlived him by over 20 years!

[@robertcarli1969]

​@@dinodeluca6210 No way. Listen to 1966 "Live at the Riverboat" with Louie Bellson.

[@williamfeilhauer2667]

Sonny fit Harry's band better than buddy rich. Sonny was much more musical and a heck of a nice guy.

[@williamfeilhauer2667]

@@ChuckParDue1953 fantastic job with these videos Chuck.

[@davewallace8219]

Sooooo articulate!

[@johnastrup1549]

One of Great drummer Basie drummer Sonny Payne 🥁⭐🇺🇲

[@MegaLJ3]

I worked opposite Sonny when he was Harry James in Lake Tahoe at Harrah's Club.. Because there wasn't enugh time between shows to switch out drum sets, had the opportunity to play his drums.

[@OldmanNix]

Greyson got me to check this out. I never even knew this guy. Gonna go on a rabbithole dive today. This is excellent.

[@adamtroyhunter]

The mic stand hits 😂 👏 👏 👏

[@babyshambler]

Absolutely phenomenal! Wow. What a drummer.

[@broadpath_intermedia]

Every drummer is different, and once you get to a certain level, it's all nuanced and subjective - but IMHO, he's my favorite big band drummer - I just really enjoy him, and smile and say 'damn!' everytime I listen.

[@buddabirne4661]

You see, some Drummers are even GOOD LOOKING !! Sonny Payne the wildest big band drummer of all times and he played evrything by heart, no sheet music anywhere near the drumset, wow !

[@phabel59]

I was exceptionally fortunate to see them live!

[@simba30]

Truly one of the great drummers in the Buddy Rich league , he was amazing with Count Basie as well.🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@Ranger1216]

God what passion and what ideas as well as technique-as interesting as Buddy.

[@drummersinger5324]

Stick control peeps. If you can't play snare drum you aren't a drummer. This dude has two great trained hands you can hear every note loud or soft. Bad ass as it gets

[@batouttahell454]

Night in,Night Out, Night after Night!!!! Unbelievable, Unbelievable!!!!!!

[@perfektno]

Amazing...so soft and powerful

[@DRUMJOCK]

RIP Mr Sonny P

[@Jazzrob891]

Great drummer! Metronomic!

[@rickviehdorfer4755]

What a lovely tempo. And I know that this may be controversial, but I hear Buddy every time I hear him play, inspirationally.

[@jesham7627]

Sonny Payne was so phenomenal, that he was the only drummer that could replace Papa Joe Jones once he retired from the Count Basie Band!

[@webstercat]

Sonny’s got some Sammy going on. Thanks for posting…..

[@ManWithNoName2007]

Fantastic! 👍👍👍

[@iternityhuman1782]

Wow what a master hats off to you Sonny Payne.

[@anthonydecruz178]

Sonny Payne was a great drummer and showman, I saw several times when he was with Count Basie. The only criticism I have is that in the 60's whenever an artist was doing a solo, the producers always cut to a close up of the artist's face, whereas I wanted to see them play!!!

[@SKragseth]

Props to the videographer!! ❤️

[@davidscher4303]

That is film

[@charlestea3642]

He's still the greatest of all time!

[@paistebob3163]

Wow! Now it would have been really great to see a drum battle between sonny and buddy.

[@larrymysliwiec6301]

Bravo!!!!!

[@ProudAmerican10]

I will never try to play the drums again. EVER!!!

[@michaelhutchinson9413]

Tonya, please keep on playing! If Sonny was here he would want you “speak your passion “ on those drums!

[@robert-zr6vo]

One of my favorite drummers

[@thenel2162]

just flat out funky and loose! Gimmie this kind of drumming all day long!

[@carbonc6065]

Awesome.

[@erikboje460]

WOW, WOW. WOW!!!

[@michaelhutchinson9413]

Very formal back in the day. Playing on a sweltering stage in a button down dress shirt and necktie and coat! But totally focused on his performance!

[@pegrueneis]

immense gifted

[@adanvaldcontreras4283]

Amazing... always enjoy watching one of the greatest....👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@stix9641]

Oh Man ❤

[@robertcarli1969]

1966 Harry James lp "Live at the Riverboat" is legendary among HJ's fans.😂❤

[@josephgiarraffa6379]

Classic and great

[@jorgeluizferraz3041]

Fantastic! Show!

[@paulunde]

What a great video! There are so many things to like about this and Sonny's playing. His technique and personality are so much fun! I think my favorite moment is where he drops the stick. You can hear Harry let out a yell - and then throw the stick back at him! Great stuff.

[@mortenfriis4688]

Extraordinary in a bigband setup.. underrated!

[@JBPerraudindrummerOfficial]

AMAZING!!!

[@vp9946]

WOW!!!!!!!

[@Jefferson1969-u4s]

This guy is a machine. I mean, really?! How?!

[@mezdrums]

Payne is the GOAT

[@bizyz]

must have been a hot nite when this concert took place beause even the other guys in the band were sweating.sonny was not only a brilliant,power house of a drummer but he was a great showman as well.look at the way he twirls those sticks and catches them,including the dropped stick that harry picks up and tosses back to him.recalls the dys of the great swing drummers who drove the girls wild at the paramount theater in new york in the early to mid 1940s.

[@mgfiii]

Wow.

[@teddoyle997]

Wow!!

[@Ronnybengt]

Mastery and humour

[@richardfoulk3228]

Supernatural!

[@munch2331]

Jon fishman interview brought me here. Thanks Jon fishman. You're a mensch.

[@alejandropons9565]

Espectacular me recuerda. Mis tiempos de batero

[@candyman1337]

Richie Hayward sent me here..

[@gerardbidel3099]

Thank you too.

[@IamP3ngu1n]

3:55 mark - Was when the sound man became a part of the band !!

[@rancelumsden1609]

Drummers note --- he uses match grip.

[@edengully]

Where? It all looks like trad grip to me.

[@arame29]

The chords at the end we're taken from a Basie arr Rufus Jones used ro end with them, too

[@REFondrums]

Why do cameramen, directors and producers hate drummers? It never fails that when the player solos and gets into the thick of it and is whipping around, they show his chin, his hi-hat, an impossible close-up of the whir of a hand, and other ridiculous shots. Four or five camera angles available and they show their artistic nonsense, bored with what drumists do? It's an insult. It doesn't matter what era, what decade. A player like Sonny Payne needs a wide berth for all he did. He was a Jazz musician and a carnival performer all at the same time. Showing just his face. Seriously? Just capture the whole player and the whole set and leave it alone.

[@SKragseth]

Think of the equipment, the setting, the times. Everything they had to use at that time. I think the video is great.

[@REFondrums]

@@SKragseth I counted 5 camera angles. Equipment was not a problem and if it was, just show the man behind his set doing his thing from a couple angles and leave it alone. The setting is meaningless, too. A stage is a stage, a gig is a gig, a concert is a concert. I have seen the same production for drum solos in every decade. Doesn't matter. The times? I'm not certain what you mean there. Era has nothing to do with it, either. Drum set artistry, especially from a very physical player like Payne, should not be the place producers decide to become artsy with everything but, 90% of the time a drummer ends up being fragmented from his solo by total over-production of the moment. The audience present at the gig sees it all. Why should the audience watching film or live media performance be any different? For some reason, every other musician soloing will receive respectful showcase of their hand's performance, or their face and hands in the case of horn players. Their hands remain in a very enclosed environment. The drumist can be reaching a total a six feet or more all around them. For film, if you care about the player's performance, meaningless camera angels at the soloist's expense is rude and insulting, imo, regardless of the times.

[@BONHAMOLOGY]

@@REFondrums 💯 agreed, absolutely awful direction and editing

[@Ranger1216]

Fully agree…!!! Terrible camera work.

[@jamesgarcia9123]

spinning sticks', fliping', them', started way back before the rock and roll scene', sonnys proof. peace😁

[@benindavisca]

And to think.... doing that under hot lights night after night...in a suit and tie and hard shoes!

[@michaelfox2475]

While no muscian could ever deny that Buddy Rich was undeniably one of the all time greatest drummers to ever played the instrument. I’m certain that many drum fans and muscians might be surprised to find out, that while Buddy was a master drummer neither he nor Gene Krupa are responcible for any ground breaking or innovative contributions that would art of drumming as far as sound and feel. Such as moving making monumental leap of moving the main time keeping instrument from the bass drum to the ride cymbal like Bebop drummer Kenny Clark did during the 1940s there free up the drummer to enter into the musical dialogue of the band and soloist, because the primary time keeper was the right hand on ride cymbal freeing up the foot and leeft hand to be more syncopated. Maybe that is why when studying Jazz in major music colleges from California’s UCLA with the great Peter Erskin or any other music college the emphasis for 90% of your 4-6 years is on the Drummers from the Bebop error. Drummers like Tony Williams and Elvin Jones. But never is Buddy or Gene Krupa ever bought up as an example or analysis for approaches to styal or feel

[@seilomat]

Why?

[@markgeiger7700]

hey stuffed shirt....Tony and Elvin were both great...but ....wouldn't have been there without ...Gene...and ..Buddy

[@Laurenzatto54]

Speaking about drummers without even speak about Chick Webb, Jo Jones, Cosy Cole, Art Blakey is like speaking trumpet without Armstrong, Dizzy, Miles and Clifford

[@Laurenzatto54]

@@markgeiger7700 completely wrong ! As if they were no others drummers than Rich and Krupa !!!!! Go back to school...

[@RichardSalvucci]

if you bought Sonny a drink, you had a friend

[@kamipaul1090]

Just woow

[@dennisnardone8342]

Who is Mel Lewis to criticize? I enjoy Sonny’s playing. Mel comes out of the Tiny Kahn school. Sonny does not. Enjoy each one.

[@THEPETERC1]

Let me add one of my favorites of Harry's drummers, Jake Hanna.

[@joshlaforte1151]

Jon Fishman of Phish brought me here. Wow 🤩

[@RotPhalkun]

Where can I find this snare sound?

[@deanbrandl1987]

Tighten the bottom head a little more

[@edengully]

It's in his hands. ;-D

[@fweddyfwintsone4491]

Mr. Payne was a phenomenal talent. I wish I could say the same for the cameraman. Camera zooms in way too much. You lose perspective when you do that.

[@mjm5081]

❤

[@Theclaw1313]

Sonny was God.

[@doctorsteve9476]

start at 1:35 & watch Sonny take the brush around his neck and not miss a beat.....never saw anyone do that. nuff said.

[@jjadaddy]

Sonny was top notch, but no one was in Buddy's league.

[@minkoiliev5257]

Bernard Rich is only one, that's right, but Sony doesn't give up on him, that's clear. He is there next to him!

[@JAc08-games]

I view drummers not necessarily as being better or worse than one another. But all of them are different styles to learn, appreciate, and most importantly imitate

[@johnanderson9494]

Why do the best drummers often die young?

[@MartinDee2000]

5:32

[@WilliamSilva-ml5nw]

Does the drummer move you? Don't care if the drummer is simple, complex, innovative, basic, fast, slow, steady or whatever!!! If the drummer moves the listener, the role of the drummer has been done!!!

[@cj_shortsongsforsocialmedia]

He swung on the microphone 🎤 🤣

[@arame29]

I don't understand why Mel Lewis didn't like Sonny's playing

[@ChuckParDue1953]

I don't know about that. But Sonny had ongoing substance abuse problems that Basie got tired of dealing with.

[@arame29]

@@ChuckParDue1953 i heard when Sonny got sick, Harry James picked up the bills

[@ChuckParDue1953]

@@arame29 and he paid for Sonny's funeral.

[@ProfessorSwing]

@@ChuckParDue1953 , I never understood WHY? Fuck those greedy vulture funeral directors, Shouldn't have given them a dime!!!

[@ProfessorSwing]

@@ChuckParDue1953 ??? I never heard that!!! I know Sonny had problems with alcohol, (vodka), but not drugs! Enlighten me. I once downed a bottle of wine with him at a Harry James gig. He was going to come to my house and give me a drum lesson, but then he died soon thereafter. Wonderfully nice & very hip, cool guy! He did not like playing dances. Much preferred night clubs, where people sat down & really listened.

[@sethwexler6910]

rather listen to this than BR.

[@sethwexler6910]

And Mel Lewis.

[@navyflyer7465]

A five-year-old was holding the camera. Terrible shot selection, I would have wanted to see his playing of his drum set overall. Full shot or side shot of him playing drums. He did the work but it could have been visually shot better. You could line them up, Sonny Payne is my favorite big band drummer.

[@malinwj1167]

Probably the loosest hihat clutch have ever seen

[@richardchirichillo5061]

terrible photo guy, never showing HIS HANDS AND WHAT HE IS DOING... great drummer

[@edengully]

There is a terrific close-up of sticks on snare at one point.

[@jiyujizai]

🌾🌱💙🙄

[@foketesz]

ouch

[@camsteele586]

Sunny Payne is/was way better then Buddy Rich. Buddy rich overshadowed a lot of great jazz drummers from that era simply because he was white. Guys like Alan Dawson, Max Roach, and Philly Joe Jones where vastly superior.

[@andrewkeats8247]

"way way" and "vastly"? Art Blakey was the greatest, IMHO. Tony Williams, Kenny Clarke, Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes, Gene Krupa, Steve Gadd, Joe Morello, Peter Erskine. How can you say any of these is WAY WAY better or vastly superior than the next. Rich is up there on the Jazz Drummers of Mt Rushmore. Forget black and white. Jazz doesn't have colors.

[@camsteele586]

@@andrewkeats8247 Unfortunately Andrew the peak of Bebop style jazz was at a time when racism was rampant in America. Any black jazz musician at the time would tell you how hard it was to get a paying gig based on the color of their skin. As far as Buddy Rich is concerned, he had tremendous technique but lacked musicality. I can't think of one important jazz record that he participated in. Although I would agree that Buddy Rich is one of the greatest drummers of all time, I also think that he is highly overrated and overshadowed some tremendous talent. Also, many people like to rank great musicians. Just because you don't believe in it doesn't mean that I can't. I enjoy doing it and lots of other people do as well.

[@andrewkeats8247]

@@camsteele586 I'll agree in the sense that Rich may have been more of an entertainer.

[@Bob-nu3xe]

Cam Buddy once said" be your own man your style of playing" Sonny I believe, brings something else to the table, this performance was mind blowing, all the greats create their own style and Sonny put his on this chart to which any drummer would appreciate

[@smikes7126]

Awesome playing, but ruined shitty camera work.

[@MartinSchmid-c3p]

As a matter of fact i don´t like buddy rich imitations too much.

[@roybeckerman7843]

Great drummer….dreadful cameraman..