Who are the best Drummers in prog?

I like everybody mentioned in this thread, but my favorite THIS WEEK is Marco Minnemann.

Ah yes, who doesn't love the good ole overdone poll?

Because I don`t keep a "best Drummer" stamp next to me that makes it almost too easy to say the usual Peart, Bruford , Portnoy option , I`m going to go a little out of my comfort zone on this one and say I believe the best drummer who encompasses feel and technicality and artistry is Phil Ehart  with his work with Kansas in the 70`s, part of the reason I like that band so much actually


Edited by Big Kansas Fan - June 01 2007 at 19:31

My favourite drummer in the seventies was Phil Collins, so I  choose him now as well, though my current favourite is Zoltan Csorz.

I agree that Gavin Harrison should also be in the list, and I would also include his predecessor, Chris Maitland. I prefer Maitland's style to Harrison's, though both are excellent.

I dislike DT, but Portnoy was good with Transatlantic.

Bruford at his best is hard to beat though, and Peart is really good too.

White is probably the poor relation in all this, but he is a decent drummer in his own right.

rushaholic wrote: raindance wrote: Blacksword wrote: raindance wrote: 1. Terry Bozzio 2.Carl Palmer 3.Mike Portnoy 4.Bill Bruford   Collin's is just OK, nothing spectacular and Peart's time keeping can be a bit suspect. Peart: He has a reputation for being 'metronomic' That means keeping time perfectly. He earned that reputation by..keeing time perfectly.   I've heard some boots where he sounds a beat or two ahead of Geddy Lee! He also looks very wooden when playing. Not a natural drummer IMO! Not a natural drummer!???Clean your ears out man.  Neil is about as flawless as they come.  He may have somewhat of a stoic look when playing but that hardly makes him an unnatural drummer.

I agree!

I couldn't even muster a response to the claim that Peart was not a natural!

In order:

raindance wrote: Blacksword wrote: raindance wrote: 1. Terry Bozzio 2.Carl Palmer 3.Mike Portnoy 4.Bill Bruford   Collin's is just OK, nothing spectacular and Peart's time keeping can be a bit suspect. Peart: He has a reputation for being 'metronomic' That means keeping time perfectly. He earned that reputation by..keeing time perfectly.   I've heard some boots where he sounds a beat or two ahead of Geddy Lee! He also looks very wooden when playing. Not a natural drummer IMO!

Not a natural drummer!???

Clean your ears out man.  Neil is about as flawless as they come.  He may have somewhat of a stoic look when playing but that hardly makes him an unnatural drummer.

That's why I love Prog Archives. Nowhere else in the world you'll find a place where so many people worship Bill Bruford. And rightly so, of course!

Funny thing is: if you start asking "Who's the greatest drummer in the WORLD?", and if you included jazz freaks, you'd get loads of very different answers.

Personally, I don't know much about legendary jazz drummers (Art Blakey, Max Roach etc.), but I sure love Jack DeJohnette and Peter Erskine. Earlier in this thread, someone pointed out that all contemporary (non-retro) jazz is progressive. Well I'm convinced that all prog lovers with eclectic tastes, if they are really crazy about great drumming, will also love these guys!

Atavachron wrote: Bruford...also love...Terry Bozzio...

1. Peart
2. Collins
3. Bruford