I was in NYC last week and stopped by Smash Studios for a private party thrown by my friends at Sabian. Lots of great drummers like Will Calhoun and Horacee Arnold were in attendance, but stealing the show yet again was the legendary Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. If you don't know who Purdie is, you owe it to yourself to check out his career and listen to some of the classic records he's played on including Aretha's "Rock Steady", Steely Dan's "Home At Last", and many others by Donny Hathaway, Joe Cocker, Hall and Oates, and of course the great King Curtis (see below YouTube imbed).
Bernard is the originator of the "Purdie Shuffle" best illustrated on "Home At Last" and copied by none other than John Bonham on Led Zeppelin's "Fool In The Rain" and Jeff Porcaro on "Roseanna".
Never the shrinking violet, Purdie hopped on the drumset at the party and gave a brief (and poorly recorded by me) but funky dissertation on his patented groove.
No comments:
Post a Comment