1-Steve Gadd mp3
2-Steve Gadd mp3
3-Steve Gadd mp3
4-Steve Gadd mp3
Gadd, Steve, drums. b. Rochester, New York, April 9, 1945. Uncle, a drummer in the army,
encouraged him. Drum lessons from age seven; sat in with Dizzy Gillespie at 11. Studied
music at Eastman College, Rochester, playing in wind ensemble and concert band, and at
nights in a club with Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Joe Romano and Frank Pullara. After
college, drafted into army and spent three years in a military band. After the army, gigged
and worked with a big band in Rochester. 1972, formed a trio with Tony Levin and Mike
Holmes, going to New York with it. The trio fizzled out, but Gadd began to work extensively
as a studio musician. He also played with Corea's first Return to Forever. 1970's and
1980's, toured internationally, recorded with Paul Simon and with Al DiMeola's Electric
Rendezvous Band. By the end of the 1970's Gadd was the most in-demand and probably the most
imitated drummer in the world. In Japan transcriptions of his solos were on sale, and all
the leading Japanese drummers were sounding like him. Chick Corea 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's favorites are Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Jack
DeJohnette, Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson, among others.
With many singers, including Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Barbra Striesand, Paul
McCartney and Paul Simon; with Corea, Three Quartets (1981), Warner Bros; My Spanish Heart
(1976); Friends (1978); The Mad Hatter (1978), all Polydor; with George Benson, In Concert
(1975), CTI; with Stuff, Stuff (nda), Warner Bros; with DiMeola, Electric Rendezvous 1982),
Columbia; with Carla Bley, Dinner Music (1976). 1
