Sunday, September 21, 2008

Backbeat: Earl Palmer 1924-2008



Legendary New Orleans drummer Earl Palmer died Friday at his home in Banning, Calif., after a long illness. Often called the most-recorded drummer in music history, Mr. Palmer played in thousands of rock 'n' roll, jazz and pop music sessions, as well as on countless movie, television and commercial scores. It was his adaptation of the classic New Orlean's second-line parade rhythm that transformed rhythm and blues into rock and roll.
Earl developed his trademark "backbeat" in Cosimo Mastasa's J&M Studio in the French Quarter during the late 40's and early 50's . He played on Fat's Domino's first 1949 session's as well as the majority of Domino's successive hits, and on Little Richard's groundbreaking 1950's sessions including "Tutti Frutti", "Lucille" and "Long Tall Sally".
Palmer left New Orleans in 1957 and headed to Los Angeles where he became one of the most in demand session drummers in the industry. Phil Spector used him to build his legendary Wall of Sound in the 1960s on such songs as "You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin'" by the Righteous Brothers and "River Deep, Mountain High" by Ike and Turner.
Earl Palmer was inducted into the Rock and Roll Wall of Fame in the year 2000.




Drummer World Web Site

WikiPedia:Earl Palmer