Steve Gadd

One of the most influential drummers of all time, Steve Gadd set a new standard in contemporary drumming techniques and performance, and in doing so launched a thousand imitators. Recording so many legendary drum tracks like; " Aja"," Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover" and "Nite Sprite", there is no drummer alive today who, in some way, has not been effected by Steve Gadd and his drumming. His influence is still very much felt and can be heard in the playing of Vinnie Colaiuta, Carter Beauford and Dave Weckl.

Steve Gadd, born Stephen Kendall Gadd on April 9, 1945 in Irondequoit, Rochester, New York, is an American studio/session drummer and drumming icon, widely known for his work with popular musicians from a wide range of music genres.

At age three, Steve received his first pair of sticks and a round piece of wood (for a practice pad) from his Uncle Eddie, a former army drummer. The two would listened to the radio together and play along to John Phillip Sousa marches and other tunes. At the age of seven, Steve began his first private drum lessons with Elmer Frolig at Levis Music, across the street from The Eastman School Of Music.

In 1952, Steve received his first drumset from his grandfather and really started studying the drums at Levi's Music with Elmer Frolig.

In the 60s, Steve played with the Rochester Crusaders drum corps, winning numerous awards, and toured Europe with the Band of Americas, a group of top notch high school musicians. After graduating from Eastridge High School, Steve attended the Manhattan School of Music then transferred to the Eastman School of Music to study with John Beck. On February 16, 1968, Steve gave his senior recital to a standing room only audience in Kilbourn Hall.

After college, Steve joined the US Army and for the next 3 years played drums with their army's field band and stage (jazz) band, as well as performing locally, sometimes as much as six nights a week, with the Mangione brothers, Chuck and Gap.

Steve started his session drumming career in 1968 — recording his first album, Diana In The Autumn Wind, with Gap Mangione. Two years later, his second album... Chuck Mangione's live concert album, Friends and Love. For a complete list of Steve's recording history, check out his discography page.

Still to this day, there is no one who can get "inside" a tune and find the "pocket" quite like the legendary Steve Gadd.

www.drstevegadd.com

Steve Gadd Band takes 2015 by storm with second recording, 70 Strong, celebrating drumming leader's 70th birthday

Drums master Steve Gadd is among the most respected and emulated musicians in the world - an anomaly whose panache for playing precisely what a piece of music requires plus bringing signature taste, style and energy to the proceedings has resulted in hundreds of the most rhythmically exhilarating moments in recorded music history, across genres.

On April 9, 2015, Stephen Kendall Gadd turns 70. On April 7, BFM Jazz will commemorate the milestone by releasing 70 Strong, the second album by The Steve Gadd Band. This phenomenal instrumental dream quintet of players / composers / arrangers will find their CDs filed under "jazz" but what it more accurately creates is a panoramic sound palette of groove and grace more like novellas for the imagination - as begun with their inaugural 9-song release, Gadditude, in 2013. The Steve Gadd Band is trumpeter Walt Fowler (Frank Zappa, Buddy Rich, George Duke, Billy Cobham), guitarist Michael Landau (Ray Charles, Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis, Pink Floyd), keyboardist Larry Goldings (Michael Brecker, Jack DeJohnette, Maceo Parker, Jim Hall), and pioneering 5-string bassist Jimmy Johnson (Allan Holdsworth, Billy Childs, Dori Caymmi, Stan Getz).

The ebb and flow of 70 Strong is palpable. Where the material on Gadditude was largely more mellow and meditative, 70 Strong flexes more energy and balance--be it on the wicked 6/8 shakedown of Goldings' "Sly Boots," the melodic throb of Landau's "The Long Way Home," the soft brushed beauty of Johnson's "Desu" or the reverent backbeat blues of Fowler's "Duke's Anthem" (a loving ode to the memory of his longtime friend George Duke). The choice cover interpretations this time around are Brazilian artist Chico Buarque¹s wistful "De Volta Ao Samba" (title loosely translates as "back to the samba"), an inventive romp through Eddie Harris' "Freedom Jazz Dance" that sneaks in pieces of other Harris classics (note: Goldings played with Brother Eddie on guitarist John Scofield's1994 Blue Note Records release, Hand Jive), and, most thrillingly, the spanking they administer to Jan Hammer Group's 1976 jam classic "Oh, Yeah" - definitively Gaddifying the Czechoslovakian synth wizard's reverie by decelerating the groove to a simmering pocket then incrementally increasing the heat to savor every bar. And what can one say about the ensemble-penned opener "Foam Home," a giddy howdy of funky syncopation that is a sequel to the Gadditude CD oddity "Green Foam." A generous 11 songs total, 70 Strong is a richly satisfying listen.