Yogi Horton

I tried searching for his name, but didn't find it anywhere on the forum, so I thought I'd share this. Yogi Horton was (in my opinion) a very underrated drummer who played with tons of big names in the 70's and 80's, such as Aretha Franklin, Ashford & Simpson, Luther Vandross, and even the B-52's! He was a big influence on many players, including John Blackwell, who said:

"My Father and Yogi we're good friends, my dad would take me to the Luther Vandross concerts back in the 80's. Yogi would always get us front row or 2nd row seats, right in front of his kit on stage. Yogi was amazing, he was big influence on my playing R.I.P. YOGI."

Yogi did a clinic in 1983 at the Drummer's Collective, and fortunately, it was filmed. The audio and video quality aren't that great (Like I said, it's from 1983), but Yogi's playing is wonderful, and he has a lot of insightful, practical things to say about being in the music business!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTuFEikcbmM

Not widely know, but he was also smarter than the average bear, and apparently always getting in the ranger's hair.

A fantastic groovemeister that left us way too soon. As I understand it, he was first call for a lot of artists and he's on a lot of hit records, not just R&B but as mentioned, pop and rock too.

bermuda said:

Not widely know, but he was also smarter than the average bear, and apparently always getting in the ranger's hair.

Click to expand...

And his sidekick invented the Drumometer.

I wanted to bump this. I watch that linked clinic every so often and it is one of the best history of r&b drumming up to the 80s you could hope to see. Plus I really like his thoughts on body movement. I had an early teacher who had similar things to teach me, and I still try to remember those lessons to this day.

I discovered Yogi through reading the credits on a Bob James album. Check this clip out. Watch how HARD he is hitting and yet the groove is so buttery.


I think he was an evolution of players like Bernard Purdie and the Motown guys. He had that funk and that groove, but with a bit of the 70s fusion chops too. To me, he's up there with like a Harvey Mason, he just doesn't have the name recognition. He passed way too early. I think he'd be one of the greats were it not.

I saw Yogi on his first tour with Kid Creole opening for the B52s, and as he left the stage, my friend asked him if that was the guy from Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, he said yep, we told him he was great, and he thanked us and shook hands with us. Awesome! RIP.