Double Drumming / Double Drum Kits

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Let's talk favorite examples of double drum kit drumming in jazz/rock/pop/etc. I'm almost always a sucker for it, but it's not something I've made a point to trace over the years, so I've probably forgotten a lot of my favorite examples.

Listening now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QizzJeqEgV8

(Sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere--searched several phrases with no luck)

Soundslike, Saturday, 23 January 2016 19:59 (eight years ago) link

the Hanley/Burns combo was pretty hard to beat.

kwhitehead, Saturday, 23 January 2016 21:45 (eight years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2084nQbmvk

Austin, Saturday, 23 January 2016 21:54 (eight years ago) link

I love the Pink Fairies with two drummers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvbJopqBjmY

They sound pretty ramshackle and loose but that's a nice contrast to what could've been just two guys pounding out a 4/4 beat. The middle drum solo/megashuffle bit is especially cool.

stupid children forever (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Saturday, 23 January 2016 21:56 (eight years ago) link

The only lineup of the Melvins I like is the two-drummer version.

Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt's 2015 album Tales, Musings and Other Reveries has two drummers and is great.

the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Saturday, 23 January 2016 22:26 (eight years ago) link

Search: Ringo and Jim Keltner.

Poi Dog Pondering did this for a while.

YOLO Versus Powerball on the Moneygoround, Part One (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 23 January 2016 22:41 (eight years ago) link

Saw King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard last year with two drummers. My primary thought was: for a half-filled club show, these dudes sure gotta split the money a lotta ways.

dc, Saturday, 23 January 2016 22:44 (eight years ago) link

My all-time favorite example of double-drumming: Milford Graves and Toshi Tsuchitori
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il_EjE885fE

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 23 January 2016 22:46 (eight years ago) link

The new Zappa Roxy blu-ray features great Ralph Humphrey/Chester Thompson drumming plus Ruth Underwood on percussion and Zappa himself doing some tricky percussion on certain tunes

Check Yr Scrobbles (Moodles), Saturday, 23 January 2016 23:11 (eight years ago) link

Ed Blackwell and Billy Higgins on Ornette's Free Jazz.

Two bassists too.

on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Sunday, 24 January 2016 00:34 (eight years ago) link

Don't forget Miles Davis's Bitches Brew, where Jack DeJohnette was paired up with Don Alias or Lenny White, depending on the track.

the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Sunday, 24 January 2016 00:38 (eight years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p58eEgyQ3rE

city worker, Sunday, 24 January 2016 02:25 (eight years ago) link

Et Cetera (Wolfgang Dauner) - "Raga" (1971)

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=et+cetera+raga+1971

Soundslike, Sunday, 24 January 2016 18:13 (eight years ago) link

Whoops, meant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCkiUu_KYsk

Soundslike, Sunday, 24 January 2016 18:15 (eight years ago) link

^some dauner i haven't heard before. drummers x 2 on his rischkas soul outing as well.

no lime tangier, Sunday, 24 January 2016 18:49 (eight years ago) link

Yeah, "Kamasutram" from 'Rischkas Soul' is great for understated double drumming.

Soundslike, Sunday, 24 January 2016 19:46 (eight years ago) link

Ornette Coleman's prime time. Of human feelings album etc.

Cornelius Pardew (jim in glasgow), Sunday, 24 January 2016 21:38 (eight years ago) link

Horse Lords does some excellent double drumming that winds up sounding like Jaki Liebezeit overdubs.

La Lechuza (La Lechera), Sunday, 24 January 2016 22:13 (eight years ago) link

http://youtu.be/Hy3OOCccCSs

29 facepalms, Sunday, 24 January 2016 22:25 (eight years ago) link

What about when a drummer overdubs themselves? And not just a tambourine or maracas overdub, but a full kit.

Keith Moon did it here:
http://youtu.be/bT3RnW1gIUs

And Tony Oxley overdubbed himself here (interestingly, even though the full quartet overdubbed themselves on this piece, for the overdub, Bill Dixon was the only one hearing the first pass in his headphones):
http://youtu.be/SrGjtGgobpo

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 24 January 2016 23:10 (eight years ago) link

-the double drum songs on Fugazi's 'The Argument'

-two drummers with different sound palettes on most of the newest Christian Scott album

-John Coltrane, Meditations (not my favorite but should be mentioned)

-Matt Chamberlain with Matt Chamberlain on those Fiona Apple songs, like 'Limp'

i feel like i'm missing something important (to me)...

sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Monday, 25 January 2016 17:31 (eight years ago) link

also the "one whole drumkit in the left channel, the other in the right channel" mixing solution to this always kind of bothers me. it's good for identifying who's playing what on jazz albums, but it sounds weird unless both drummers are playing an interlocking part. no more weird than those old recordings with the drums in one channel and the bass in the other, but those can be annoying too if i fixate on it (good for sampling though).

i don't know what a better solution would be, maybe divide parts so one drummer is playing the low frequency instruments (kick/toms) and the other has the snare and cymbals?

sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Monday, 25 January 2016 17:35 (eight years ago) link

...which is basically how all the New Orleans brass band music i listen to works (two drummers, one on bass drum + small cymbal, the other on snare + large cymbal).

sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Monday, 25 January 2016 17:36 (eight years ago) link

FEELIES

tylerw, Monday, 25 January 2016 17:49 (eight years ago) link

don't normally like 2 drummers unless they're doing totally different/complimentary things. but off the top of my head:

Boredoms (2+)
90s King Crimson
Allman Brothers
some of the James Brown bands in the 60s

Dominique, Monday, 25 January 2016 18:07 (eight years ago) link

There is some really cool double drumming on Jim O'Rourke's "Therefore I Am" (from Insignificance), where the two drummers (or overdubbed drums, not sure which) basically play a unison, AC/DC type beat during the verses and then diverge for a couple bars after each verse.

on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Monday, 25 January 2016 18:12 (eight years ago) link

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5b/Fela_Kuti_Live.jpg
some good tony allen + ginger baker duels happening here

tylerw, Monday, 25 January 2016 18:16 (eight years ago) link

(embed didn't work for some reason, check out "Drumology" at 21:05)

cock chirea, Tuesday, 26 January 2016 01:39 (eight years ago) link

one year passes...

I don't know what I enjoy most about this:
- The astounding musicianship
- Christian Vander's facial expressions
- Travis Bickle sitting in as his co-drummer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a73XLkf43-s

Vast Halo, Thursday, 2 February 2017 16:26 (seven years ago) link

They never did anything overly complicated with their dual drummers, but Tussle were always good fun live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huhWNFEMN54

fits, Friday, 3 February 2017 00:30 (seven years ago) link


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