# Jazz drummers who were band leaders **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jazz-drummers-who-were-band-leaders/846621 "2020-01-18T16:31:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jazz-drummers-who-were-band-leaders/846621/21 "2020-01-22T16:27:56Z")
I’d never heard of Roy Haynes before but I’m glad I did. I’m streaming the Stan Getz quartet live at Birdland with Haynes on drums. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jazz-drummers-who-were-band-leaders/846621/22 "2020-01-22T17:26:04Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > …my OP was prompted by an article I read a year or two ago that made the case that drummers, rather than horn players made the best band leaders and kept a tight beat. Anyone know where I may have read this article? I’m thinking it was in a magazine such as the New Yorker or the Atlantic, but it could have easily been in the Washington Post or New York Times. Isn’t it the drummer’s job to keep the beat tight regardless of whether he’s the leader or not? Of course, a sideman drummer who couldn’t keep time would soon be fired by the horn or piano-playing bandleader. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jazz-drummers-who-were-band-leaders/846621/23 "2020-01-22T17:28:08Z")
(Don’t bring up the possibility of band leading bass players. It’s a science fact that bass players only take up the instrument because they lack leadership abilities altogether) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jazz-drummers-who-were-band-leaders/846621/24 "2020-01-22T17:29:24Z")
(And of course guitar players always ASSUME they are the bandleader, whether it’s true or not) ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jazz-drummers-who-were-band-leaders/846621/25 "2020-01-22T17:53:57Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Isn’t it the drummer’s job to keep the beat tight regardless of whether he’s the leader or not? > > Of course, a sideman drummer who couldn’t keep time would soon be fired by the horn or piano-playing bandleader. That’s why I wish I’d saved the article or at least wrote down where I read it. But at least it’s been great discovering new (to me) music. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jazz-drummers-who-were-band-leaders/846621/26 "2020-01-24T02:19:29Z")
Currently, Brian Blade has his Fellowship Band [Landmarks](https://youtu.be/J33bn2PjKRA) ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jazz-drummers-who-were-band-leaders/846621/27 "2020-01-24T07:39:43Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I’m not sure either of these would qualify as jazz drummers. If Ginger were alive he’d probably punch you in the nose! 😛 Even Eric has come around to admitting that Cream was a jazz trio. _ **“I am not a rock drummer,” Baker barks at Michael Hann of the Guardian, in an interview that can only be described as contentious. “I’ve never been a rock drummer. Cream wasn’t rock ‘n’ roll. No way in a million years was Cream rock ‘n’ roll. Nor was Blind Faith,” he adds before rattling off a number of other collaborations over the years.** _ * * * “Where did they get the rock drummer bit from?” Ginger Baker asks, both dismissively and rhetorically. “I’m not a rock drummer. I’m a musician who plays music.” * * * Source: [http://somethingelsereviews.com/2013/06/02/im-a-musician-who-plays-music-please-dont-call-creams-ginger-baker-a-rock-drummer/](http://somethingelsereviews.com/2013/06/02/im-a-musician-who-plays-music-please-dont-call-creams-ginger-baker-a-rock-drummer/) ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jazz-drummers-who-were-band-leaders/846621/28 "2020-01-24T12:34:47Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > (Don’t bring up the possibility of band leading bass players. It’s a science fact that bass players only take up the instrument because they lack leadership abilities altogether) 😃 Charles Mingus and Charlie Haden are rolling over in their graves. Christian McBride is thinking the grave might be a better place than this cold, unmusical world. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jazz-drummers-who-were-band-leaders/846621/29 "2020-01-24T12:35:49Z")
> [@lingyi](#): > > Even Eric has come around to admitting that Cream was a jazz trio. He is wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jazz-drummers-who-were-band-leaders/846621.md?page=1)