Obit: Earl Palmer has died (Sept. 2008)

Subject: Obit: Earl Palmer has died (Sept. 2008)
From: Mary Katherine
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 11:46 PM

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Leading R&B drummer Earl Palmer, best known for his New Orleans recording sessions with the likes of Fats Domino and Little Richard, died on Friday at his home in Los Angeles at age 84, his family said.

Palmer, who died after a lengthy illness, played on hundreds of hits during a career that ran from the 1940s through the 1970s and earned him an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

His drumming on such hits as Fats Domino's "The Fat Man," Richard's "Tutti Frutti and Smiley Lewis's "I Hear You Knockin"' featured the strong back beat that was his signature and helped transform the lope of rhythm and blues into the full-tilt thrust of rock 'n' roll.

"That song required a strong after-beat throughout the whole piece," Palmer wrote of his work on "The Fat Man" in his 1999 autobiography, "Backbeat -- The Earl Palmer Story."

"With Dixieland you had a strong after-beat only after you got to the shout last chorus," he said. "It was sort of a new approach to rhythm music."

Palmer also played drums on Domino's "I'm Walkin,"' the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin,"' Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High," and Sam Cooke's "Twistin' the Night Away."

His handiwork behind the drums was featured as well on a number of popular television themes, including "The Odd Couple," "77 Sunset Strip" and "The Brady Bunch."

In addition to his collaboration with R&B and blues artists in New Orleans, Palmer was a highly sought-after session player for recording stars ranging from Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan to Elvis Costello, Ray Charles, Dizzie Gillespie and Count Basie.

Reuters/Nielsen

Subject: RE: Obit: Earl Palmer has died (Sept. 2008)
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 Sep 08 - 12:03 AM

Sad to hear this. Here is a neat interview/demonstration by him on youtube.

Subject: RE: Obit: Earl Palmer has died (Sept. 2008)
From: Stringsinger
Date: 20 Sep 08 - 01:30 PM

I hired him for a recording date in L.A. He was not only a nice person but a thorough professional who tried his best to do what was asked of him.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: Obit: Earl Palmer has died (Sept. 2008)
From: fat B****rd
Date: 20 Sep 08 - 04:56 PM

My very favourite drummer. I would recommend his autobiography 'Backbeat' to anybody. It deals with his mixed marriage and fight for sidemans rights in the music business. He seemed to make light of the contribution he made towards revitalising the drumers role in popular music.
RIP Mr. Palmer.

Subject: RE: Obit: Earl Palmer has died (Sept. 2008)
From: van lingle
Date: 21 Sep 08 - 06:56 AM

Man I used to listen to those Fats' songs like "I'm Walkin"" over and over just for his playing.

Subject: Obit: Earl Palmer, drummer extraordinaire
From: PoppaGator
Date: 23 Sep 08 - 04:43 PM

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.