Another Stewart Drumming Poll!

[GinaSuperCat]

Another impossible choice, haha...but since we are choosing favorite Police songs and other impossible things, heh...

Now Stewart's playing, in a lot of ways, is precisey contra the question in this poll...the tight grooves only emerge from *between* the different parts and how he mixes it up accordingly (syncopation, etc)...or, precisely in the unsuspecting places where he doesn't play...but since we are now analyzing his shirts (I'm just waiting for the speculation to deteriorate to the point where we are polling do you think Stewart is a boxer or brief guy...), I thought what the hey <grin>

But since I have nothing better to do, I'll pose the question in the poll anyway, for fun...Which part of the kit do you think Stewart's playing is most innovative, artful, grooviest, affecting <fill in your own adjective>...in short, which part do you like how he plays the best, if you had to choose one? Any era (Curved Air, KK, Police, Oysterhead, Gizmo, so on)...

I think anyone case make a case for any of the answers, surely...the signature snare sound, tuned and sounding tighter than the sheets on a PFC's bed upon inspection, the inimitable and unmistkable tricky triplet-based hat-work, groovy bell patterns, his elevation of the splash to uber-cool status as punctuation, his bass drum work...sometimes the only thing being played as the long bomb on "3", understated use of toms (quite different from Moonesque around the world fills...), awesome Synchronicity-era percussion rack goodies, the kickiest Octobans in rock...so on, so forth, ad infinitum <grin>

[rapa]

[quote="GinaSuperCat"]

I think anyone case make a case for any of the answers, surely...the signature snare sound, tuned and sounding tighter than the sheets on a PFC's bed upon inspection, the inimitable and unmistkable tricky triplet-based hat-work, groovy bell patterns, his elevation of the splash to uber-cool status as punctuation, his bass drum work...sometimes the only thing being played as the long bomb on "3", understated use of toms (quite different from Moonesque around the world fills...), awesome Synchronicity-era percussion rack goodies, the kickiest Octobans in rock...so on, so forth, ad infinitum <grin>[/quote]

I can't do this! just READING Gina's text above got me drooling, and convinced me that I am, as they say on TPT, a 'Stewart Girl'

[Spec A!]

Well I picked the Hi Hats simply because I distinctly remember it being the thing that *really* hooked me, the thing that I really tuned into. Every little nuance on every track- I studied over and over and over and fell asleep to many a nights!!

A very close second would be the drum tuning- snare and toms. Everything else you have listed is stuff I could easily say "YES!! This is the reason I LOVE HIS DRUMMING!!!" but that hi hat playing is really what did it for me. Everything else kinda fell into place after that.

[DirtyMartini]

Man, you people are evil.

The gorgeous (and so identifiable) hi-hats and that heartbeat kick are damn tempting, but I have to go with the snare. For me, that first basic element beneath the SC flash is that dry white-knuckle snare and the rimshot heard 'round the world.

ETA:
[quote="rapa"]Stewart Girl[/quote]

How funny would that ^ be on a t-shirt?

[blueboy]

I voted "other", because when it really comes down to it, the most distinctive thing that Stewart brings to his playing is his "personality".

Very few drummers are able to translate their emotions in such a unique and distinct way, and I think if you have heard Stewart talk and have seen how he behaves around other people it really resembles his playing style. Very energetic and in your face, off the wall tangential thoughts, bravado, and a very intelligent and no nonsense approach all come through in his playing. His unique sense of rhythm also comes from his "global" experiences as he was growing up.

Some drummers have amazing "chops", but their playing is as flat as their personality. No one plays like Stewart, because no one IS like Stewart.

I wish I could clone him for my band...

[DirtyMartini]

Blueboy, that was beautiful. I really hope Stewart sees that.


(Gina, can I change my answer and steal Blueboy's instead? His is way better.)

[Wait and See]

>>>I voted "other", because when it really comes down to it, the most distinctive thing that Stewart brings to his playing is his "personality".

Very few drummers are able to translate their emotions in such a unique and distinct way, and I think if you have heard Stewart talk and have seen how he behaves around other people it really resembles his playing style. Very energetic and in your face, off the wall tangential thoughts, bravado, and a very intelligent and no nonsense approach all come through in his playing. His unique sense of rhythm also comes from his "global" experiences as he was growing up.

Some drummers have amazing "chops", but their playing is as flat as their personality. No one plays like Stewart, because no one IS like Stewart.

I wish I could clone him for my band...<<<

Very well said. The guy is a true original.

[dontboxmein]

It's got to be the hat work..the best in the business!!!!!

[Donna]

I agree with BlueBoy's sentiments - you can put Stewart in a room with 100 great drummers and would still be able to pick him out. I've said it before, on tracks like Peter Gabriel's Red Rain, you're not 5 seconds into that song before you know that's Stewart.

In the spirit of this poll, I would have to pick the hi-hat work, though, because he is just a master here. It moves me and I love what he creates on them, all while making it seem so effortless - and I also like the splash action - I'll add that in here, since they can be classified with the hi-hats being cymbals and all

[zilboy]

I vote for the cymbal work in general. Before Stewart, no one outside the jazz genre had ever used them so artfully, except for perhaps Steve Gadd and Mick Fleetwood (who inspired the hi-hat work). Certainly no rock drummer (yes, even Neil Peart!) had elevated the cymbal's status in the way Stewart has.

Besides the fact that he is the Papa Jo Jones of the rock world, the great thing about Stewart is that you can hear so many diverse influences, but (and this will truly piss him off!) especially jazz. The man "drops bombs" like Art Blakey, he's got the spontanaety and look-out-here-it-comes-BAM! tom flourish ending in a cymbal/snare one-two punch a la Tony Williams, and he's got the blazing tom rolls of Billy Cobham.

Long-winded, I know, but I've got a couple pints of Guinness in me.

[georgygirl]

I vote for other, and being more accurate is that maybe his catchy percussion and drum sounds, is because as he said in the video from Orchestrally, that he plays drums with his heart...

[jedsoon]

I voted other, since i view him as a multi-instrumentalist... and what blueboy said!

[Philip]

Stewart plays as if thre were 2 people playing simultaneously

[Spec A!]

Well actually there really are two- They just both move so fast and in snych that it looks like only one person.

[theskydoctor]

I'm voting 'other' for the fact that he refuses to follow the laws of 'straight four' time, my favorite examples being Reggatta de Blanc and Secret Journey. I can remember being completely blown away the first time I heard those songs and wishing that I had come up with those rhythms myself.