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Earl Palmer, Jazz Pioneer

by Charles Suhor


Reunion of New Orleans Modern Jazz Pioneers, 1998--Panel: Al Belletto; Richard Payne; Germaine Bazzle;
Don Suhor; Earl Palmer; Harold Battiste; Charles Suhor, moderator.
Photo by Al Kennedy

A recent press release announced that Earl Palmer has donated a drum set to the Jazz Museum at Old Mint in New Orleans. The writeup honored Earl for "defining rock & roll as a rhythmic idiom."

Earl's groundbreaking techniques were first recorded at classic sessions beginning in the late forties with Fats Domino, Little Richard, and others in New Orleans. Earl laid a strong backbeat under jump-style shuffle rhythms. But he went further, opening up the shuffle to straight eighth notes for a newly driving effect on the ride cymbal--again with the backbeat providing a great danceable thrust. His backbeat behind triplets energized the ballad rhythms that had become worn and listless during the late swing era. Bass drum variations added to the growing repertoire of powerful effects.

The press release also noted Earl's legendary career in Los Angeles where he became "the most recorded drummer in history." He did studio work for TV and movies and became the quintessential session player for an incredible variety of artists--Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughn, Count Basie, the Beach Boys, Elvis Costello, Doris Day, Peggy Lee, Ray Charles, Della Reese, Neil Young, Sam Cooke, Tom Waits...the list goes on and on.

But one of Earl's "firsts" isn't included in the kudos, and in fact is seldom acknowledged. He was the first in a line of brilliant modern jazz drummers in New Orleans after World War II. Even as he was developing new R&B beats, he was playing great be-bop drums with a then-unknown cadre of young modernists. There were few venues for the new music in New Orleans, but dozens of young devotees played at each other's houses, strip clubs, and after hours sessions in out-of-the way clubs.

At a 1998 reunion of New Orleans modern jazz pioneers (see photo), Earl recalled, "All of us were trying to play like Charlie Parker, Max Roach, Ray Brown...We all started to play be-bop and modern music." This was exciting but sometimes hazardous in a state where Jim Crow laws prohibited interracial performances. Earl continued, "There were times in that particular era, some of us would remember, we used to go to jail for playing together, for having jam sessions. And I distinctly remember the cops, whenever they'd so chose to, they knew where to come to find us–at 912 Toulouse, which is where [white trumpeter] Benny Clement lived. And we would go to jail quite often for just jamming together."

Earl's influences as the city's first thorough modern jazz drummer were felt both in the black and white jazz communities. The music was underground, but networks were formed among the musicians. Earl was followed by drummers like Ed Blackwell and James Black, who went on to find their own paths as innovative jazzmen.

I first heard Earl when I was 16 in 1952 at the Texas Lounge on Canal Street (site of another bust when reedman Al Belletto sat in with the group). Singer/bassist Earl Willams led a combo that featured Earl and other worthies like pianists Ed Frank and Ellis Marsalis, guitarist Sam Mooney, and tenor saxist Red Tyler. It was a clinic in modern jazz drumming, but I sensed the intense underlying conception that connected Earl with Baby Dodds, Zutty Singleton, Ray Bauduc, and others who had first defined the rhythmic idioms of jazz drumming. Years later, I worked to transmit the style and spirit to my own students, among them the excellent Johnny Vidacovich.

I've given only a small sketch of Earl Palmer's varied and creative career. For a comprehensive picture, see his biography, Backbeat: Earl Palmer's Story (Tony Scherman, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1999). For the 1998 reunion panel and Earl's activities in the context of modern jazz in New Orleans, see my book, Jazz in New Orleans–The Postwar Years Through 1970 (Scarecrow Press/Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies, 2001).

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About the Author

Charles Suhor had parallel careers as an English teacher and jazz writer and drummer. A native of New Orleans, in the 1950s he played with Pete Fountain, Al Hirt, the Loyola big band, Bill Huntington, and others. In recent years he has done jazz and language programs with Ellis Marsalis and jazz and poetry sessions with performance artist E-K Daufin. He lives in Montgomery, Alabama, and can be contacted at .