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.