Steve Gadd

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Steve Gadd

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Img_capt = Gadd in 2007
(Photo by Mike Park)
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Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth_name = Stephen Kendall Gadd
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Born = birth date and age|1945|4|9
Rochester, New York, United States
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Instrument = drums, Tympani
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Genre = Jazz
Rock music,
Blues,
R & B
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Stephen Kendall Gadd (born April 9, 1945 in Rochester, New York) is an American session and studio drummer, notable for his work with Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Al Jarreau, Joe Cocker, Stuff, Bob James, Chick Corea, Eric Clapton, James Taylor, Jim Croce, Eddie Gomez, The Manhattan Transfer, Michal Urbaniak, Steps Ahead, Al Di Meola, Manhattan Jazz Quintet, Richard Tee and many others.

Biography

Gadd is a native of Irondequoit, a suburb of Rochester, NY. When he was seven years old, his uncle, who was a drummer in the US army, encouraged him to take drum lessons. Gadd became so talented at the drums that by the age of eleven he had sat in with Dizzy Gillespie.

After graduating from Irondequiot's Eastridge High School, he attended the Manhattan School of Music for two years, then transferred to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, playing in wind ensemble and concert bands. At night, he would often play club gigs with other young musicians including Chick Corea, Joe Romano, and Frank Pullara. After Gadd finished college in the late 1960s, he played regularly with Chuck Mangione and his brother Gap Mangione, his first recording being Gap Mangione's first solo album, "Diana in the Autumn Wind" (1968).

Steve was drafted into the U.S. Army and spent three years as a drummer in the Army Music Program, most of which was spent with the prestigious Jazz Ambassadors of the U.S. Army Field Band in Ft. Meade, MD. Following his military service, Gadd played and worked with a well-known band in Rochester. In 1972, Gadd formed a trio with Tony Levin and Mike Holmes, traveling to New York with them. The trio eventually broke up, but Gadd began to work mainly as a studio musician. Gadd also played with Corea's Return to Forever but left the group since he wanted to work as a studio musician instead of touring.

In the 1970s and 1980s, he toured internationally, and recorded with Paul Simon and also with Al Di Meola's Electric Rendezvous Band. Many people assume that he played with the British rock band Charlie, but Gadd, while on his "We're on a Mission from Gadd" tour in 2005, told fans that was another drummer by the same name - not him. In fact, Gadd said, "I've never met the other Steve Gadd. We happened to stay in the same hotel once, though. I kept getting his messages and apparently he was getting mine."

In 1976, Gadd and other notable session musicians in New York City, including Richard Tee, Eric Gale and Cornell Dupree, formed the group Stuff. Their work included appearances on NBC's Saturday Night Live, both performing on their own and backing Joe Cocker.

By the end of the 1970s, Steve Gadd was one of the most in-demand and influential drummers in the world, with transcriptions of his drum solos on sale in Japan. Chick Corea once commented, "Every drummer wants to play like Gadd because he plays perfect . . . He has brought orchestral and compositional thinking to the drum kit while at the same time having a great imagination and a great ability to swing."

Gadd showed some of these strengths in his work on the title track to Steely Dan's classic "Aja" album -- highlighted by Gadd's powerful drum punctuation in the coda of the title cut. Corea's straight-ahead jazz albums "Friends" and "Three Quartets", as well as Jim Hall's 1975 album Concierto are good examples of Gadd's jazz playing.

Some of Gadd's favorite drummers are Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette, Billy Cobham, Buddy Rich, Michael S. Smith, and Louie Bellson.

Gear

Steve Gadd is one of the first endorsers of Yamaha drums, which he's played since 1976. He is known for using the "Yamaha Recording Custom" drums, but has recently changed his gear to a setup consisting of "Birch Custom Absolute" toms and a maple bass drum. He has several signature snare drum models, but most famous for using a chrome over brass, Ludwig Supraphonic snare drum. It can be heard on "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover", a Paul Simon classic.Gadd first came to the idea of mounting two large tom-toms on a low stand and using them as floor toms.He has been asked to contribute his ideas to develop his own signature series Zildjian K Custom Session cymbals, although he is well-known for having a preference for older K's as well.

Gadd also has signature Vic Firth sticks with his signature on them. The drumsticks are a very light, thin kind, black in color, and normal "wood color" on the tips. There is also an identical model with nylon tips. The stick is also slightly shorter than the American Classic 5A, features a barrel tip for improved recording sound. It is 15 3/4" (40 cm) long and the diameter is .550" (1.4 cm). Along with having his own signature stick, he also has his own signature brushes. These brushes are intended to solve problem of wire brushes snagging on new coated drumheads by slightly angling the wires in the top 3/4” (1.9 cm) of the playing end. The wires glide across the head, allowing a smoother sweep and a velvet swish sound.

Drumheads

Remo Coated Ambassadors (toms), Coated Ambassador (snare), Coated Ambassador (bass)

Trivia

*As a young boy in the 1950s, Gadd played the drums as a guest star on the Mickey Mouse Show.
*Gadd is credited by Paul Simon for creating the unique rhythm of "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover".
*Gadd is the drummer on Van McCoy's "The Hustle" and is said to have created the "disco beat."
*Gadd is of Sicilian American descent.
*Gadd was a featured performer and actor in the 1980 motion picture "One Trick Pony" starring Paul Simon. Simon's hit "Late in the Evening" was the movie's main title in which Gadd implemented the "Mozambique", a Cuban dance rhythm, into the song.
*The song "Green Rosetta" by Frank Zappa mentions bringing in Steve Gadd's clone to play the out chorus on the song. Contrary to Steve's normal playing, the drums sound almost completely at odds with the song itself. Vinnie Colaiuta is playing the drums on "Green Rosetta" and the phrase is an ironic twist to make fun of the fact that Vinnie is completely off the "click track" (which Zappa at one point has appear in the recording).

elected discography

As Steve Gadd/ with the Gadd Gang:
* "Gadd About" (1984)
* "The Gadd Gang" (1986)
* "Here & Now" (1988)
* "Live at Bottom Line" (1988)
* "Gadd Gang" (1991)

With Stuff:
* "Stuff" (1976)
* "Stuff It" (1978)
* "Live Stuff" 1978)
* "Live In New York" (1980)
* "East" (1981)
* "Best Stuff" (1981)

With B.B. King:
*"Riding With The King"

With Chick Corea:
*"Friends"
*"Three Quartets"
*"The Leprechaun"
*"The Mad Hatter"
*"Rendezvous In New York"
*"The Ultimate Adventure
*"(the unreleased version of Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy)"

With Steely Dan:
*"Aja" on (title track)
*"Gaucho" on ("Glamour Profession", "My Rival", "Third World Man" and 'percussion' on "Hey Nineteen")

With Simon and Garfunkel:
* "The Concert in Central Park"

With The Manhattan Transfer:
* "Mecca for Moderns"
*"Pastiche

With Paul Simon:
* "One-Trick Pony"
* "Still Crazy After All These Years"
* "Hearts and Bones"
* "You're the One"
* "Paul Simon's Concert in the Park, August 15, 1991"
* "Surprise"
* "Late in the Evening"
* "Still Crazy After All These Years" (50 Ways To Leave Your Lover)

With Steps:
* "Smokin' In The Pit"

With George Benson:
* "Bad Benson"
*"Pacific Fire
*"GB
*"In Your Eyes
*"Livin' Inside Your Love
*"Good King Bad
*"In Concert-Carnegie Hall

With Eric Clapton:
* "Live At Hyde Park" (DVD)
* "Pilgrim"
* "Reptile"
* "Riding With The King"
* "One More Car, One More Rider"
* "Me And Mr. Johnson
* "Sessions for Robert J."
* "Back Home"
* "Clapton Chronicles"

With Dr. John:
* "City Lights"
* "Tango Palace"

With James Brown:
* "Black Caesar"

With Al Jarreau:
* "Tenderness"
* "Breakin' Away"
*"Jarreau
*"This Time

With Rickie Lee Jones:
* "Rickie Lee Jones"
* "Pirates"
*"Magazine

With Paul McCartney:
* "Tug Of War"
* "Pipes Of Peace"

With Chuck Mangione:
*"Disguise
*"Tarantella
*"Main Squeeze
*"Land Of Make Believe
*"Alive
*"Together
*"Friends And Love

With Michel Petrucciani:
* "Trio In Tokyo"
*"Both Worlds

With Al Di Meola:
* "Casino"
* "Elegant Gypsy"
*"Orange And Blue
*"Tour De Force Live
*"Electric Rendezvous
*"Splendido Hotel
*"Land Of The Midnight Sun
*"Consequence Of Chaos

With Lee Ritenour:
* "Feel the Night"
*"Captains Journey
*"Friendship

With Bob James
*"Touchdown" (1978)With Michel Jonasz:
* "Michel Jonasz au Zénith" (1993)

With Sunlightsquare:
* "Urban Sessions" (2006)

With Weather Report
* "Mr Gone" (1978) (Tracks "Young And Fine" and "And Then")

With Funk Factory
* "Funk Factory" (1975) (Tracks "Watusi Dance", "Rien Ne Va Plus", "Funk It" and "Lilliput")

With James Taylor
* New Moon Shine, 1993
* October Road, 2002 [http://www.drstevegadd.com/discography.htm]
* , 2006 [http://www.drstevegadd.com/discography.htm]

With Art Garfunkel
* Some Enchanted Evening, 2007 [http://www.drstevegadd.com/discography.htm]
* Songs From A Parent To A Child, 1997 [http://www.drstevegadd.com/discography.htm]

For Complete Discography, see [http://www.drstevegadd.com/discography.htm]

External links

* [http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Steve_Gadd.html Steve Gadd at Drummerworld] - contains video and sound clips.
* [http://onlinedrummer.com/drumtv.php?name=SteveGadd Steve Gadd at OnlineDrummer] - contains video clips.
* [http://www.behindthedrums.com/SteveGadd.htm Steve Gadd at BehindTheDrums] - contains discography and equipment list.
* [http://www.drstevegadd.com/discography.htm Official album appearances]