So I'm calling this my Mt. Rushmore summer of drummers. Stewart Copeland in Phoenix June 18th, Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) July 25th, and Neil Peart (Rush) in Denver, August 8th. Unless Steve Smith takes Vital Information on tour of he reforms Journey it's doubtfull I'll see him this summer. So who would your Mt. Rushmore of drummers be? I know that this froum spans the globe, so if your not familliar with M.R. it is a national memorial in South Dakota that has four of our most historical U.S. presidents carved into the mountain. There is no criteria for who you pick but please keep it to four, well I guess that is a criteria, ok, so one criteria.
In no particular order (and it's hard to pick just 4...): Elvin Jones, Buddy Rich, Keith Moon, Tie between Stewart Copeland and Jack DeJohnette. Also--I saw Billy Higgins one night at a little club in L.A., and he altered my whole musical philosophy. He WAS the music. I could go on and on, because I love drummers. Oops...one more: A percussionist, Luis Conte. Had the pleasure of filming him on a public-access TV show. His groove, commitment, and intensity brought tears to my eyes. I'll stop now......