Joe Morello, Legendary Drummer with Dave Brubeck Quartet, Di

[Steve Sanderson]

From my friends at hollywoodmemoir.com

Joe Morello (July 17, 1928 – March 12, 2011) was a jazz drummer best known for his twelve and a half-year stint with The Dave Brubeck Quartet. He was frequently noted for playing in the unusual time signatures employed by that group in such pieces as "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo à la Turk".

During his career, Morello appeared on over 120 albums, 60 of which were with the Dave Brubeck Quartet. He authored several drum books, including Master Studies, published by Modern Drummer Publications, and made an instructional video for Hot Licks titled The Natural Approach to Technique. Morello was the recipient of many awards, including Playboy magazine's best drummer award for seven years in a row, and Downbeat magazine's best drummer award five years in a row. He was elected to the Modern Drummer magazine Hall of Fame in 1988, the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 1993, and was the recipient of Hudson Music's first TIP Lifetime Achievement award in June, 2010.

http://www.hollywoodmemoir.com/joe-morello

[pave]

Amongst we drum students, Joe was known as the Master of rudimental drumming. I recall, with gratitude, the hours and hours of practicing those ratamacues, flamacues, patafla-flas, Swiss triplets, 5, 6, 7 and 9-stroke rolls and the rest right out of the pages of Joe Morello's trainings.

The time spent working those out made rockin' a pleasure... and a whole lot easier.