From Rich Cohen's enjoyable book The Sun & The Moon & The Rolling Stones: "When Watts was fourteen, he heard Walkin' Shoes by the Gerry Mulligan Quartet. The drumming - Chico Hamilton playing with brushes - spurred him into action. He tore the strings off an old banjo and taught himself to play the snare. To fill out the sound, he banged pots and pans. His parents bought him a drum set that Christmas..."
The Gerry Mulligan Quartet - Walkin' Shoes
4 comments:
My Dad hung out in Soho jazz clubs in the 1950s (a fact that still surprises me somewhat) and he was a big fan of Gerry Mulligan's playing at that time. Dad got into classical music and lost interest in jazz for a few decades, but towards the end of his life found his interest rekindled by a weekly two hour jazz programme on local radio. He even bought himself a few records, including one by Gerry Mulligan, which now sits in my collection.
Soho jazz clubs in the fifties: just think of what legends he may have seen...
I've forgotten which of the Creem Magazine critics wrote it, but I'll always remember his comment that he would rather hear one beat of Charlie Watts' snare drum than an entire Neil Peart drum solo.
Could have been Lester Bangs... And I agree.
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