This article is about the American session drummer. For information on the opera performer, see Stephen Gadd. For information on the 1970s UK rock vocalist, see Stray.
Dr. Steve 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, Jon Bon Jovi, Bee Gees, and Michael McDonald.
|
STEVE GADD TICKETS
|
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. By the age of eleven he had sat in with
Dizzy Gillespie.
After graduating from Irondequoit's Eastridge High School, he attended the
Manhattan School of Music for two years before transferring to the
Eastman School of Music in Rochester, playing in wind ensembles and concert bands. After Gadd finished college in the late 1960s, he played regularly with
Chuck Mangione and his brother
Gap Mangione. His first recording was on Gap Mangione's debut solo album,
Diana in the Autumn Wind
(1968).
Gadd 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
Jazz Ambassadors of the
U.S. Army Field Band in Ft. Meade, MD. Following his military service, Gadd played and worked with a 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.
In the 1970s and 1980s, he toured internationally, and recorded with
Paul Simon and also with
Al Di Meola's Electric Rendezvous Band. In response to confusion over another drummer by the same name, Gadd, while on his
We're on a Mission from Gadd
tour in 2005, told fans that was not him. 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 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 an accomplished drummer, 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 of
Steely Dan's
Aja
album – highlighted by Gadd's 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 some more examples of Gadd's jazz playing.
In 2009, Gadd is set to return to Eric Clapton's band to play 11 nights at the Royal Albert Hall. He will become part of Clapton's touring band throughout May 2009. Gadd previously played and toured with Clapton in 1994/1995 and again from 1998 to 2004.
Equipment
Steve Gadd uses
Yamaha drums, which he has played since 1976. He has recently changed his gear to a setup consisting of "Birch Custom Absolute" toms and a maple bass drum. He also uses a chrome over brass Ludwig Supraphonic snare drum.
He has been asked to contribute his ideas to develop his own signature series
Zildjian K Custom Session
cymbals.
Gadd also has
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, and features a barrel tip for improved recording sound. It is long and the diameter is . Along with having his own signature stick, he also has his own signature brushes. These brushes are intended to solve the 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.
Gadd uses a variety of
Remo heads: a coated Powerstroke 3 on the batter sides of the snare, coated Pinstripes on the batter sides of toms, and clear Ambassadors for the resonant sides. He uses a Pinstripe on the bass drum.
[1]
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 rhythm of "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover".
- Gadd is the drummer on Van McCoy's "The Hustle".
- 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 "A Little Green Rosetta" from the Frank Zappa album Joe's Garage
lampoons Steve Gadd's status as one of the highest paid session drummers in popular music. Zappa jokingly claims to hire "Steve Gadd's clone" to play the out chorus on the song. Contrary to Gadd's trademark style, the drums sound almost completely at odds with the song itself. The actual drummer on the Zappa song is Vinnie Colaiuta. His performance is completely off the "click track" (which Zappa at one point also mixes into the recording.)
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 (B. B. King and Eric Clapton album)|Riding with the King
With
Chick Corea:
- My Spanish Heart
- 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
(50 Ways To Leave Your Lover)
- Hearts and Bones
- You're the One
- Paul Simon's Concert in the Park, August 15, 1991
- Surprise
- Late in the Evening
With
Steps Ahead:
With
George Benson:
- Bad Benson
- ''Pacific Fire
- ''GB
- ''In Your Eyes
- ''Livin' Inside Your Love
- ''Good King Bad
- ''In Concert-Carnegie Hall
With
Joe Brucato:
- Free
(2007)
- Acoustic Joe Vol. 1
(2009)
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:
With
James Brown:
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
With
Michel Jonasz:
- Michel Jonasz au Zénith
(1993)
With
Sunlightsquare:
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 [2]
- James Taylor: A Christmas Album, 2006
With
Art Garfunkel
- Some Enchanted Evening, 2007
- Songs from a Parent to a Child, 1997
For complete discography, see
References
- The Official Steve Gadd Website:: Set Up
- http://www.drstevegadd.com/discography.htm