Roll Call: Part Two
Let's hear it for the drummers born in the Sixties.
The first Roll Call glanced at some of the drummers in our midst born in the Thirties, Forties, and Fifties. Distant in time but recent in cultural memory, let’s turn to the drummers among us— playing tonight, recording today, on the road as we speak, connecting the dots, maintaining the standards— who were born in the Sixties.
This piece is a hop-on/hop-off tourist bus; everyone deserves more attention than I’m giving. Let me know who I left out.
Jeff “Tain” Watts was born, according to Wiki, on the 20th of January— an auspicious month for drummers, including Max Roach (January 10) and Kenny Clarke (January 9)— sixty-five years ago, in 1960, the top of the decade. With Tain, we can see a clear line, separated by decades, by three grand masters still active:
Billy Hart (born November 1940)
Victor Lewis (born May 1950)
Jeff “Tain” Watts (born January 1960)
For a fuller consideration of Tain’s current music, his stature and achievement, see Nate Chinen’s beautiful essay on the Jazz Gallery performance by a trio of Kenny Barron, Ron Carter, and Watts, then read Ethan Iverson’s essential interview with Watts from 2021— which reminds us that Tain was an accomplished classical percussionist before stunning the world with Wynton and Branford.
I need to write a real essay outlining Tain’s career and achievement, but in the meantime, have you heard Misterioso (2022, digital-only), Watts’s latest release as a leader? It’s a blast; a no-frills, beautiful trio date with Mark Turner and bassist Orlando LeFleming. Their version of Tom Harrell’s “Sunday”, from 2013, might go deeper than Harrell’s own (excellent) recording, and I’ve never heard “Countdown” quite like this.
And while I’ve got you, put on Watts’s Bar Talk (Columbia, 2002), one of the most purely fun jazz records I’ve ever heard, and then go to Tain’s Bandcamp and download some albums. I love Travel Band with Paul Bollenback.
Thanks to Richard Kamins for alerting me to Carl Allen’s new release, Tippin’ (Cellar Live, 2025), a heartfelt all-star trio session with Christian McBride and Chris Potter. Allen and McBride were one of Freddie Hubbard’s regular rhythm sections, and they bring a sympathetic depth to Freddie’s tunes— I remember them playing “Skydive” at the Vanguard in the Nineties, and they played a Hubbard tune this winter at the Vanguard with Inside Straight. Allen and Christian sound so great on Freddie’s “Happy Times”, and he, Christian, and Potter really touched my heart by recording James Williams’s “Alter Ego”, which I’m pretty sure Chris played on with James’s gig with Christian, Tain, and Gary Bartz at the Blue Note so many years ago. Jazz goes on and on.
Marvin “Smitty” Smith was, to me and my peers, along with the dearly-missed Ralph Peterson and Jeff “Tain” Watts, part of the holy trinity of modern jazz drumming. Smith might be the most purely virtuosic of that trio, able to channel some old-school jaw-dropping excitement with, say, a snare drum workout if he’s in the mood. At a rare sighting at Smoke with Orrin Evans, Smitty opened up on a vamp to close a tune, and there it was— some snare stuff and round-the-kit moves that struck terror into the heart of the many drummers in attendance. I’m still exploring the studio session from that gig— Orrin Evan’s The Red Door (Smoke Sessions, 2023)— while I’m listening hard to a pair of Smitty’s own records on Concord: Keeper Of The Drums (1987) and The Road Less Traveled (1989). Smitty is with us, and he is a treasure. More soon.
Terri Lyne Carrington sounds great on Walter Smith III’s In Common 3 (Whirlwind, 2022), and I note how at home she is with both modern jazz on “Hornets”, and something from electronic music on “Orange Crush”. Looking back, check her out on Greg Osby’s beautiful and mysterious Invisible Hand (Blue Note, 2001), with a guest spot from Andrew Hill; Carrington is the glue on this record.
Andrew Hill and the Sixties Blue Note composers defined the ‘inside-outside’ both/and mindset that we take for granted now. Gerald Cleaver embodies that tradition; this post explores Gerald Cleaver’s music circa 2000 as a way to understand what Gerald is up to today. So prolific, Cleaver is in incredible form on Darius Jones’ emotional and powerful Legend of e’Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye) (AUM Fidelity, 2024); always great to hear Cleaver with bassist/composer/conceptualist Chris Lightcap.
Lightcap’s outstanding Superbigmouth (Pyroclastic, 2019) features Cleaver in tandem with drummer Dan Reiser. Reiser, who took Norah Jones to the top on “Don’t Know Why”, is a treasure, connecting modern jazz to contemporary songwriting and pop music.
Like Dan Reiser, like all great musicians, Kenny Wollesen connects across genre. Wollesen is so active, building instruments, organizing events, playing vibes and tympani, and appears on so many records, that whatever we hear is going to be only a part of the whole. I guess that’s true of everyone, but Wollesen is uniquely hard to summarize. I bumped into my friend cornetist Kirk Knuffke at the Des Moines airport in November, and since then I’ve been digging Wollesen on Knuffke’s delightful Tight Like This (SteepleChase, 2020), a trio of Knuffke, tubist Bob Stewart, and Wollesen.
I recently revisited the great Jorge Rossy on Brad Mehldau’s famous first recording of Radiohead’s “Exit Music (For A Film)” from 1998. Here, Rossy is expressive and colorful— cymbal rolls, texture changes, and a world of percussive detail that only enhances, is never fussy, cluttered, or self-involved— while staying down-to-earth, almost reserved: keeping time, outlining the form, “the way it’s always been done”. His low tuning and relatively light touch allow ample room for all the detail of Mehldau and Larry Grenadier to shine through. This track is a damn classic, everyone sounds just so great, and Rossy is on fire.
For the past decade, Jorge has been mostly in Europe, mostly focussed on vibraphone, (great to hear him with Michael Kanan, bassist Putter Smith, and legendary drummer and Utica NY-native Jimmy Wormworth!), but I’ve caught him both times at the Vanguard with Joe Lovano and Jakob Bro, thrilled to see Jorge and Grenadier on stage together again. I’m looking forward to next month’s release of their live recordings from 2023, featuring Rossy (back on drums) in tandem with Joey Baron.
When I moved to NYC in 2002, drummers Jim Black and Jeff Ballard, both born in the Sixties, were living nearby and played all the time. I tried to tackle Jim’s early music in this article; I love Jim’s playing on Jon Goldeberger and J.P. Schelegelmilch’s Visitors (Skirl, 2018) and on his own Jim and The Schrimps (Intakt, 2023).
We can savor Jeff Ballard on what is currently the latest release by the Brad Mehldau Trio, Seymour Reads The Constitution! (Nonesuch, 2018). On Elmo Hope’s “Dee Dah”, Ballard’s urgent beat and nuanced, detailed, and totally personal sound— love that thuddy bass drum— sit perfectly within the trio and shine on his marvelous two-chorus solo. Ballard was back in NYC last summer with Kurt Rosenwinkel, here’s hoping I get to hear him some more.
Michael Sarin’s name was one to know when I moved to town, but it was years before I caught him in person. My Ember comrade and great friend Caleb Wheeler Curtis, has wisely teamed Michael with bassist Sean Conly for one half of Caleb’s recent major statement, The True Story Of The Bears And The Invention Of The Battery (Imani, 2024). On “The First Question”, the kaleidoscope comes out, as a medium straight-eighth groove abruptly becomes a slow, textural improv, eventually returning to something like the original beat, all framed by Curtis’s challenging and detailed composition. As one of the stalwarts of the original Knitting Factory, with Thomas Chapin and Dave Douglas, Michael Sarin just about invented this way of playing, and he’s showing us how it’s done.
25 years ago, a little uptown from the Tribeca Knitting Factory was Detour, where Matt Wilson, one of modern music’s unstoppable forces of creativity and energy, tied the whole thing together. All are welcome in Wilson’s world, as he’s been showing for nearly 30 years. I just love his most recent release Good Trouble (Palmetto, 2024), it’s so much fun. Wilson’s two-saxophone front line of Jeff Lederer and Tia Fuller, tackling Ornette’s “Feet Music”, and a suite for Ruth Bader Ginsburg, makes me think of Joel Frahm and Andrew D’Angelo with Matt back in the day, while the rhythm section of bassist Ben Allison and pianist/vocalist Dawn Clement is completely sympathetic to Wilson’s goals. Love their Basie-like beat on “Fireplace”.
Joe Farnsworth made it his life’s work to connect, study, and play with a coterie of grand masters who were active in the idiom they created, including Art Taylor, George Coleman, Cedar Walton, Cecil Payne, and Harold Mabern. In so doing, Joe amassed a treasure of knowledge, now more valuable than ever as that group of giants leaves the planet. Farnsworth is one of the architects of Smalls and Mezzrow, who gave so much to make those clubs what they are. Hear him there and he’ll freely pass along all he’s learned. This is magic.
Joe Farnsworth shared a deep connection with pianist Harold Mabern, and thankfully, they recorded together a lot. All the records are great, but my favorite is Harold’s Live At Smalls (SmallsLIVE, 2013); I listen to it and reminisce about seeing them play together. Their version of Fats Domino’s “I’m Walking” moves; Farnsworth manages to both hold the reins and let them go enough for a dance with Mabern and Webber. Memphis, Tennessee. This is the real deal. Three cheers for Joe Farnsworth!
One note on a ride cymbal, and it’s unquestionably Bill Stewart. His originality and integrity are matched only by the greatest masters, his influence extends across the music world. Everyone happily interfaces with Bill Stewart’s contribution, and his commitment to the music is vast and inspiring. We are very lucky to have Mr. Stewart with us.
Wonderfully, the recent MTB (Mehldau, Turner, Bernstein) album Solid Jackson (Criss Cross, 2024), with a great Bill performance, has been getting some attention, but I’ll single out his playing on John Scofield’s quiet, reverent-yet-casual Swallow Tales (ECM, 2020) for sheer poetry. On “Eiderdown”, Bill’s energy and creativity are unstoppable, prodding composer Steve Swallow and Scofield to greater heights, his own playing an effortless flow of ideas, detail, and understanding. Let’s hope for much more to come from Bill Stewart, and be thankful that he’s given us so much.
I’ll end with a special shoutout to a very special player, Mr. Byron Landham. Byron, who I first heard on the late Joey DeFrancesco’s Live At The Five Spot (Columbia, 1993, a major album at my house— my father listened to it daily for a while), often heard around Philadelphia, sounds so great on organist Akiko Tsuruga’s lovely Beyond Nostalgia (SteepleChase, 2024). There’s humanity and sympathy in Landham’s easy, expressive cymbal beat— dig him on “Happy Blues”. But that’s only part of the story; see his expressive, rubato solo on the modal “Middle of Somewhere” and the classy backbeat on “Back Track”.
Drummers keep time, it’s our great honor. In music— in life— past, present, future all interact: older idioms carry new ideas, future sounds send us backwards, and you get to it all by staying in the moment.
Jeff “Tain” Watts, Carl Allen, Marvin “Smitty” Smith, Terri Lyne, Gerald Cleaver, Dan Reiser, Kenny Wollesen, Jorge Rossy, Jim Black, Jeff Ballard, Mike Sarin, Matt Wilson, Byron Landham, Joe Farnsworth, Bill Stewart: all born in the Sixties, coming of age in the late Seventies and Eighties, with all the culture of those times— TV shows and movies, hit songs, political events and social changes.
Their music is encoded with their life and times, and we’re fortunate to hear it. Musicians are compelled to play, but we play for you. They are playing for us. Respect and gratitude, respect and gratitude.
With music at the center, we see so much beauty in the world. I’m still learning all these records, I’m trying to hear these folks all I can. I’ll see you out there. If we value each other and ourselves, we have a chance.
This was great, Vinnie!
Another excellent overview (thanks for the "shout-out"). Can't wait for you to get the 1970s (Rudy Royston, Eric Harland, Nasheet Waits, etc).