10 great progressive drummers

I don't think anyone has mentioned Alan White of Yes yet (my apologies if I'm wrong). That's I great shame as think he's an awesome and often, very overlooked drummer.

My personal favourites of his are the albums Relayer, Drama and The Ladder. Great drumming!
 
My choices, in alphabetical order:


1.) Barriemore Barlow (Jethro Tull)
2.) Terry Bozzio (Zappa)
3.) Bill Bruford (Yes, King Crimson)
4.) Clive Bunker (Jethro Tull)
5.) Vinnie Colaiuta (Zappa)
6.) Phil Collins (Genesis)
7.) Phil Ehart (Kansas)
8.) Carl Palmer (ELP)
9.) Neil Peart (Rush)
10.) Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater)
 
IN MY VIEW some of the greatest prog drummers (the ones that innovated the most and pushed the envelope) are:

Christian Vander - Magma (The man IS progressive)
Bill Bruford - Yes/King Crimson
Phil Collins - Genesis
Robert Wyatt - Soft Machine
Carl Palmer - E.L.P.
Neil Peart - Rush
Danny Carey - Tool
Daniel Denis - Univers Zero
Mike Portnoy - Dream theater (I hate prog metal, but credit where credit is due)
Nick Mason - Pink Floyd


Other notables:
John Weathers - Gentle Giant
Franz DiCioccio - Premiata Forneria Marconi
 
I vote for Phil Ehart on the various Kansas albums from 1974 -1980. Their music had a complex Baroque-like style with a southern rock flavor.

Hear hear!.. I have to wonder why this guy didn't receive more kudos from the general public than he did.. maybe because of his smoothness and his ability to really add to the song rhythmically, (did I spell that correctly? LOL), without having to stand up and yell.

Go and listen to their album Masque, (from the early to mid 70's), and listen to what he was doing 30+ years ago.. and he's still out there playing.. amazing.

Peace!
 
Adds:

Lenny White: Song to the Pharoah Kings from RTF Where Have Known You Before.
Michael Walden: Led Boots and MO Vision of the Emerald Beyond.
 
I'm going to mention Matt Greiner from August Burns Red. This band's a bit heavier than most of the others that have been listed, but they still have a progressive element to them.
 
Danny Carey of Tool has been mentioned only twice in this thread. Please allow me to make a humble case. Lateralus is the pinnacle for Carey, but his earlier tool albums (Opiate, Undertow, and Aenima) and latest album (10000 Days) are all showcases. He has crazy odd time sigs and fascinating time changes as well. He has mentioned nearly every drummer in this thread as his own influences, so he certainly appreciates his history. His inspirations are out-there IMO, but I am equally mesmerized. His set up is based on sacred geometry (and other things) and has several tabla pieces on his recent record (10000 Days). There is a clip of him on this website playing an Ocheltree custom Paiste kit, which I had the pleasure to hear live (incredible)! Please do yourself a favor and CHECK DANNY CAREY OUT!!

Yeahh !!!

Danny Carey is a amazing drummer, and his drumworks in Lateralus and Aenima prove this afirmation .
 
These aren't "prog-rock" drummer per say, but they're guys who certainly think outside of the box in terms of their playing.

-Zach Hill (hella, team sleep)
-Greg Saunier (deerhoof)
-Damon Che (don caballero)
-Joe Easley (the dismemberment plan)
-Nate Kinsella (make believe) *this guy plays a hihat-less setup and just uses a hihat
tambourine on a HH stand that he plays with his left foot. He uses that free hand to play a
wurlitzer piano, while drumming with his other hand.
Ian Antonio (Z's) watching this guy is a great lesson in brilliant minimalism
 
I believe I am the first to mention:

Martin Lopez, Opeth - Still Life, Blackwater Park, Deliverance, Damnation, Ghost Reveries and My Arms Your Hearse? Unsure about the last.
and
Johan Langell, Pain of Salvation - Entropia, One Hour by the Concrete Lake, The Perfect Element, Remedy Lane, 12.5, BE, Scarsick.

Others I'm very fond of are Danny Carey, Gavin Harrison, Nick d'Virgilio, Zoltan Csörsz^^

I can't help but to think of Martin Lopez when it comes to progressive drumming...he's so fluid. If I can acheive 0.01% of the stuff he has pulled off then I'm satisfied. My Arms, Your Hearse was his debut with Opeth.

Also Jan Axl Von Blomberg comes to mind. Maybe a thread for the top progressive/extreme metal drummers should be in order.
 
Phil Collins will probably always be my favorite. When you listen to the 70's Genesis stuff he's absolutely amazing. Great feel, touch, dynamics, and plenty of notes.

Gavin Harrison and Nick D`Virgilio are also champs.
 
Some more obscure choices, all from the late 60s- and 70s: (not in any particular order)

1) Pip Pyle from Gong, Hatfield & The North, and National Health.
2) Laurie Allan from Gong.
3) Robert Wyatt from Soft Machine and Matching Mole.
4) Clive Brooks from Egg
5) Michael Giles from King Crimson
6) Guy Evans from Van der Graf Generator
7) Andy McCulloch from King Crimson and Greenslade
8) Richard Coughlan from Caravan and Wilde Flowers
9) Eric Peachy from Khan
10) Chris Cutler from Henry Cow, Art Bears and Pere Ubu

Bruford is probably my all-time favorite though.
 
I think Danny Carry from Tool should be on there. In my opinion hes up there with Peart and Portnoy in poly-rhythems and of beats. His drumming in Lateralus si great. THe song opens in nine eight, switches around, and then he drumms in 5/4 for a while while the rest of the band is in 6/8. Then eventually it builds up and he comes crashing down with some 4/4 beats, its got great contrast and complexity. Also take a look at Eulogy, although theres a lot of basic drumming involved, that 3 against four poly rhythem at the end is masterful.
 
Had to look through 30 posts before I saw Carl Palmer's name mentioned. C'mon guys, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

A lot of younger drummers probably never heard of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. The "arbitors of what is cool" at Rolling Stone and the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame has banished Progressive Rock from public view. Like Stalin did with fallen apparatchiki, they are airbrushed out of the public consiousness. Most of what Peart does is what Palmer did a decade before (and what Buddy Rich did decades before that). In his youth, Palmer was worshipped as much as Peart is today.

My favorite drummers of the Progressive Rock/Jazz Fusion Genre are (in order of favorites):

Bill Bruford (Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, UK, Bruford, Earthworks)
Carl Palmer (Atomic Rooster, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Asia)
Narada Michael Walden (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jeff Beck, many others)
Billy Cobham (Mahavishnu Orchestra)
Tony Williams (Miles, Tony Williams Lifetime)
Phil Collins (Genesis, Brand X)
Alan White (Yes)
Lenny White (Return to Forever)
Barrimore Barlowe (Jethro Tull)
Michael Giles (King Crimson)
Pierre Moerlin (Gong)
Terry Bozzio (UK)
Neil Peart (Rush)
Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater)

If many of you have not heard of these great drummers, you owe yourself a favor and go to Amazon to buy the classics of the early 1970s. Of the drummers listed, the only one that could be considered heavy-handed (ala Bonham) is White, although ALL can be devastating if they chose.
 
Go ahead and...


just add Gavin Harrison to my list above.


Absolutely! I can NOT forget him! ;-)
 
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