The great Earl Palmer, drummer on more hit records than anyone in history, passed away late Friday night, a few weeks short of his 84th birthday.

Earl essentially "invented" the backbeat rhythm that defines rock 'n'n roll as we know it. From his very first recording session at J&M studios in New Orleans in 1947, under the direction of Dave Barthelmew, through session work on all the seminal recordings to come out of that tiny little room (Little Richard, Fats Domino, Smiley Lewis, Professor Longhair), and then for many years in Los Angeles as THE studio drummer for an incredibly long and diverse list of performers, Earl provided the pulse for the soundtrack of American life for several decades.

Did Earl play on so many successful sides because he could pick and choose and play only with the most talented artists? Or was it because his presence at the bottom of the mix could make any mediocre composition, presented by any halfway-decent singer, become a memorable piece of music?

On the way to work this morning, and again at lunchtime, I was able to hear nothing but recordings featuring Earl Palmer on WWOZ radio. Because he is so well known as a hard-swinging, syncpated percussionist, it was no surpise to hear rave-up tunes like "Tutti Frutti" and "They Call Me the Fat Man."

What was more impressive to me was to hear slow songs, like "Oh Donna" ("I had a girl / and Donna was her name...") and listen to the barely-perceptible drum track, hearing subtleties that I had never consciously noticed before. I finally realized: that's why one simple mindless ballad was so great for slow-dancing, whereas another near-identical song may not have been so memorable ~ Earl's pulse, and accents, and overall feel, made it so much easier, even imperative, to grind a little deeper and bump a little harder, giving that old belt buckle a really solid polishing.

I'd look for the newspaper obituary and provide a link, but it's several days old already and, if not gone already, soon to disappear. Just google "Earl Palmer" and see what turns up. (The local newspaper's website is called "nola.com" ~ their obit would be worth reading.) You might also look up his Wikipedia entry for more details. You should be amazed by the list of artists with whom he played, and the list of memorable sides on which he is featured.