# Pick the best drummer of these five (See OP before voting) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-the-best-drummer-of-these-five-see-op-before-voting/585036 "2011-06-10T22:15:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-the-best-drummer-of-these-five-see-op-before-voting/585036/1 "2011-06-10T22:15:09Z")
Listen to as much of these clips as you need to before picking the drummer that you feel is the best of the five. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5mDDD2_I94) Steve Gadd - drum solo [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/stPpXxkcd_8/maxresdefault.jpg "Omar Hakim - Drum solo") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stPpXxkcd_8) Omar Hakim - Drum solo [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vRQtNreFojk/hqdefault.jpg "Bernard Purdie - Soul Drums") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRQtNreFojk) Bernard Purdie - Soul Drums [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2VYKgFBH3A) Billy Cobham drum solo 1968 w/ Horace Silver [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMJwja3VDfU) Anton Fig (Drum Solo) With The CBS Orchestra - David Letterman 6/6/11 - HD 720p ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-the-best-drummer-of-these-five-see-op-before-voting/585036/2 "2011-06-11T02:47:30Z")
Is there some reason nobody wants to vote on these guys? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-the-best-drummer-of-these-five-see-op-before-voting/585036/3 "2011-06-11T03:06:47Z")
I went with Billy C. Best of luck to all of the competitors! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-the-best-drummer-of-these-five-see-op-before-voting/585036/4 "2011-06-11T03:10:02Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I went with Billy C. Best of luck to all of the competitors! Thanks for the vote. The poll finally got some life! Good work wading through those minutes of no-drums! Billy’s good! ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-the-best-drummer-of-these-five-see-op-before-voting/585036/5 "2011-06-11T06:02:34Z")
The best drummer in any of those clips is Horace Silver! If the question is which of these clips is the best solo, I’d give it to Hakim’s supremely musical performance, though Cobham would be my overall choice from these five. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-the-best-drummer-of-these-five-see-op-before-voting/585036/6 "2011-06-11T06:19:28Z")
Of those solos, I picked Billy Cobham. Omar Hakim is a close second, though, and I had never heard of him before this poll. ---
**Author:** ![Dietrich\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@Dietrich\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dietrich_K)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-the-best-drummer-of-these-five-see-op-before-voting/585036/7 "2011-06-11T12:23:33Z")
I, too, went with Billy Cobham. But I almost went with Omar Hakim (and Steve Gadd, of course, is no slouch either). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-the-best-drummer-of-these-five-see-op-before-voting/585036/8 "2011-06-11T12:26:04Z")
Poor Anton! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-the-best-drummer-of-these-five-see-op-before-voting/585036/9 "2011-06-11T22:59:08Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Is there some reason nobody wants to vote on these guys? My reason: Who? Who? Who? Who? The guy from Letterman? Joe ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-the-best-drummer-of-these-five-see-op-before-voting/585036/10 "2011-06-11T23:29:52Z")
I couldn’t really hear well enough through my notebook speakers, but of Cobham, Gadd, and Purdie, it’s really tough to choose. I’m sticking with Steve Gadd, though, as number one. Very tasty. Love his work with Richard Tee and Stuff, so there’s some bias there. Pretty Purdie, though, someone could just play on and off that groove all night, straight or high, and have a hell of a lot of fun. I’d be stoked to hear Cobham play any day, with just about anybody, but I couldn’t hear well enough to listen to him accompanying Horace, just his (very good) solo. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-the-best-drummer-of-these-five-see-op-before-voting/585036/11 "2011-06-12T00:42:56Z")
I went with Cobham due to my early infatuation with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, even though I’m largely well past my jazz fusion phase. But second would have been Steve Gadd. His little solo/coda at the end of Steely Dan’s Aja has always wowed me.