Bernard "Pretty" Purdie and Me...
An eighth note is an eighth note and a quarter note is a quarter note. Now, how you interpret those notes is the key. The notes on your chart don’t change; it’s down to how you interpret it, whether it’s jazz, blues, gospel, reggae or whatever. It’s how you express it to tie in with the piece of music you’re given to work on. Now if you can refine that, well, you’ll never, ever be out of work in the studio.
Bernard "Pretty" Purdie
The Last Poets: Delights Of The Garden (1977) signed by Bernard
I tell everybody, see the music, feel the music, play the music. If you do it this way, you will never, ever, ever have a problem. It means that you are listening to what somebody else wants and you become the catalyst. Remember also, time is money in the studio, and you have to respect that too. Somebody is paying for that session, so in my sessions, I need to expedite the work as quickly and as effectively as possible, so it makes it viable for musicians to create and the job to get done at the same time. I got called in the studio five, maybe six days a week for practically most of my life for twenty-five years.
Bernard "Pretty" Purdie
Soul Drums (1967) signed by Bernard
You’d do a first take, and he’d put on his overcoat as if he was about to leave. The problem was that some of the other musicians had just become comfortable with the chords. You had to cajole him to do some other takes, so everyone else could polish up their parts a bit...I guess we expected more of a regular shuffle, and he started playing something very complex. We were amazed, because it was perfect for the tune. "Babylon Sisters" has this dark mood to it, and the beat seemed to accentuate the floating dark mood that the song required.
Donald Fagen, Steely Dan co-founder
Purdie Good! (1971) signed by Bernard
Well, I did all that but I really got tired of doing the same thing all the time, so I use to throw in what I call my locomotion and put in my variables to the straight shuffle. Where it really came in was in the slow songs with the triplet feel in 12/4, and that’s where I could sneak in the half time. I started moving the feel from a 6/8 to 12/4 to sixteenth notes, and adding my ghost notes kept it subtle. You push the feel with the ghost notes, when I had to excite the feel, I held back on the ghost notes and accented the backbeat and that’s how I allowed the rhythm to breathe. The best way is to clip it with the hi-hat and on the bell of the ride, so I could keep it rising and now it’s not on my left hand as much but transferred to my right hand, and that’s where the dynamics kicked in.
Bernard "Pretty" Purdie describes the Purdie Shuffle
Shaft (1973) signed by Bernard, Houston Person
You may not know the name Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, but you have definitely heard his drums. "The Purdie Shuffle", an intoxicating mix of triplets, half beats, ghost notes and hi-hats, was borne of humble beginnings. Bernard remembered, "It comes from the train near my house where I grew up, When I first started working this out, I was eight years old, and I called it the locomotion because that’s what I was trying to capture: whoosh, whoosh, whoosh." The shuffle has become ubiquitous as a rhythm and synonymous with hits. Everyone, including James Brown, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Joe Cocker, Marvin Gaye, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Nina Simone and Beck ("Devil's Haircut"), has benefited from "Pretty" Purdie's luminous percussive skills. Moreover, countless hip hop artists like The Chemical Brothers and Massive Attack continue to sample his soulful drums in their modern recordings. Although Bernard makes the claim that he is "the World's Most Recorded Drummer" - I think studio session ace Hal Blaine of Los Angeles' legendary Wrecking Crew might have that title with more than 35,000 recordings - there is no dispute that he is one of the most recorded, sampled and versatile drummers among Blues, Jazz, Rock and Soul. Bernard "Pretty" Purdie simply excels in any genre, especially on the more than 4,000 albums he has graced in his enduring recording career.
A Change Is Gonna Come (1966) signed by Bernard, Jack McDuff, George Coleman, Pat Martino
Born in Elkton, Maryland, the eleventh of fifteen children, Bernard grew up banging on pots and pans, just like Big Joe Turner once admonished in song, "Get in that kitchen, make some noise with the pots and pans." Bernard's first love was jazz and he briefly took lessons from Eddie Heywood, before sitting in with Heywood's orchestra as a teenager. Other early jazz influences were Papa Jo Jones, Buddy Rich and Art Blakey. Bernard, a quick and facile learner, had his first session in New York and it was a redo of "Love Is Strange", a hit by Mickey & Sylvia in 1959. As he has said, he was "nineteen or twenty. When we came to New York, we went straight to the Bronx and stopped at the Comet Club, a really nice club. The Blue Morocco was about ten blocks away, which was owned by Sylvia Robinson of Mickey & Sylvia. We invited them over to hear us, and they asked me to come to the studio that Sunday. I had the time of my life."
Come Together (1973) signed by Bernard, Jimmy McGriff
Bernard continued to hone his craft, and his first recording session in Baltimore in 1963 yielded a Top 10 hit, "Just One Look" for Doris Troy. Originally recorded as a demo, it was the only Top 10 hit in Doris Troy's career. As Bernard recalled, "I had no studio experience in Baltimore, but I wasn’t gonna tell people I didn’t have it. All I know is, when I got to that studio, in four hours I made $80. I’d never made that much money. I was rich. No one could tell me otherwise. I bought all the drinks for everyone that night." Soon, Bernard had three signs made which he alternately affixed to his drum kit when he was recording in the studio: “Pretty Purdie The Hitmaker. Call Me.”, “If You Need Me, Call Me. Little Old Hitmaker. Pretty Purdie.” and “If You Need Me, Call Me. The Hitmaker. PrettyPurdie.” And the hits and gigs kept coming, until he finally took the signs down in the mid-1970s, "I didn’t feel like I had to put them up anymore." Indeed.
Indigo Blue (1983) signed by Bernard, Hank Crawford, Dr. John, Howard Johnson, David Fathead Newman
As a studio session musician, Bernard was often asked to "sweeten" drum parts on other artist's recordings, a very common studio practice in the 1960s and early 1970s. Bernard would overdub a musician's drum parts, and in keeping with the "sweetener's code", he would be paid without receiving credit and his contributions would remain anonymous. Many years later, when Bernard was teaching students at the New School, he broke the code and a controversy erupted. In his autobiography, Let The Drummer Speak, Bernard related, "Purdie kept his mouth shut for fifteen years, until, while teaching a music course at The New School, some of his students began holding up Ringo Starr as one of the greatest drummers of his era, He couldn’t let such a statement go unchallenged.” Bernard asserted that he had performed on as many as twenty one early tracks for The Beatles, claims that have been largely dismissed by Beatles' cognoscenti and historians, notwithstanding the impressive invocation of the third person in Bernard's writing!
Midnight Ramble (1983) signed by Bernard, Hank Crawford, Dr. John, Howard Johnson, David Fathead Newman
I saw "Pretty" play recently at the Iridium in New York City in May, as a special guest of Oz Noy, a guitarist with some ferocious chops. It appears that Oz has never encountered a gadget he didn't covet and, attempting to channel his inner Jimi Hendrix while playing his white Fender Stratocaster, Oz had more floor pedals at his disposal than his Hammond B3 accompanist, Jerry Z, a contemporary boogaloo player. Adding to the overwrought and loud spectacle in the intimate club was bassist Will Lee, formerly of the David Letterman Band. Opening the set was an unrecognizable "Bemsha Swing" from the pen of Thelonious Monk, followed by Brian Wilson's ethereal and gorgeous ballad "God Only Knows." No remnants of the exquisite Beach Boy harmonies were audible here as Oz started shredding with some lengthy, discordant feedback that rendered the melody irrelevant. Next, the gospel call and response of Ray Charles' "I Got A Woman" received a faithful and favorable treatment. Then, a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing", again, lots of fuzz, wah-wah pedals, distortion, and a muddy mix given the thick warmth of Jerry Z's Hammond B3 organ being obscured by Will Lee's incessant pogoing on bass. Yes, Will believed he was still on a massive stage somewhere, and he was hopping around like he was Joey Ramone! There's a reason why most of the great Hammond B3 players like Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff and Jack McDuff perform without a bass player: the Hammond B3 organ's foot pedals make the bass player unnecessary, redundant and intrusive. I guess Oz Noy never read that memo. The show concluded with The Beatles "Eight Days A Week" featuring the unremarkable lead vocals of Will Lee.
Soul Survivors (1986) signed by Bernard, Hank Crawford, Jimmy McGriff
The standout of the band was the resolute and crisp drumming of Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. His posture behind his kit was erect and sturdy, and the Purdie Shuffle was unmistakable. Thunderous rim shots exploded off cymbals and snare drums like cannon fodder. As he explained in a recent interview, "I’ve tried to keep up with the beats and the rhythms. The one thing I haven’t changed is that I’m a timekeeper. No matter what I play, I groove. I like to keep the time and tempo constant, so I’m known as the groove maker. I’m known as the timekeeper. I am the Swiss watch."
After the show, I visited backstage with Bernard. He was gracious as he signed the vinyl. He was particularly interested in The Last Poets album, Delights Of The Garden. "Yes, we were just talking about this album at soundcheck," he said. The Last Poets were one of the founding fathers of politically charged Hip Hop, a decade before The Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" introduced Hip Hop to a mainstream audience. Gil Scott-Heron, another seminal figure, went to a Last Poets concert while attending Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1969, and approached singer/poet Abiodun Oyewole after the show and purportedly asked, "Listen, can I start a group like you guys?" Yes, The Last Poets are an important touchstone in music history and it's not surprising that "Pretty" Purdie provided percussion. I asked Bernard if he was aware of how many samples his rhythms had fostered. "Yes, I hear my shuffle everywhere and once in awhile, I get a royalty check, which is nice." Imentioned that I loved his work with Hammond B3 master Jimmy McGriff, especially the show I saw at S.O.B.s in New York City in 1999 with Reuben Wilson on Hammond B3 and Grant Green, Jr. on guitar. "Yes, that was a great band, a classic organ trio," he replied. His wife couldn't resist, "Yes, I liked that show a lot better than tonight!"
Amen, Purdie Wife, Amen.
Choice Bernard "Pretty" Purdie Cuts (per BKs request)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ldtieSEyQM
"The Purdie Shuffle" Steely Dan talk Purdie Shuffle with Bernard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM_nfDPgcuI
"Just One Look" with Doris Troy 1963
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umSW_wvdZoA
"Shaft" Bernard "Pretty" Purdie Shaft 1973
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSaLEIRILII
"Don't Play That Song" with Aretha, Billy Preston, and King Curtis conducting Fillmore West 1971
I never witnessed anything like that because, I'm telling you, we literally rose off of the floor. When we made that record, we were on another planet. The people could drown you out ... There was nothing but pure love in that room and that house, those three nights, there was nothing like it. I don't think I'll ever see it again, but I'll never forget it.
Bernard on recording with Aretha Franklin at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, 1971
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcbJBHqEksM
"Song For Aretha" Soul Is....Pretty Purdie 1972
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umSW_wvdZoA
"It's A Trip" The Last Poets Delights Of The Garden 1977
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2rByT541zk
"Tighten Up Part 1" Live with David T. Walker, Lou Donaldson, Sonny Phillips, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-U04wFe_8Q
"Tighten Up Part 2" Live with David T. Walker, Lou Donaldson, Sonny Phillips, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzq0Man_9vY
"It's Your Thing" Jimmy McGriff Straight Up 1998
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87Q042KlxI4
"She's Gone" Hall & Oates Abandoned Luncheonette 1974
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTP6N-OhJFs&list=PLkKYvi0hSe-Wt4Ufex_-mGFW-_QMHISiP&index=6
"Things Ain't What They Used To Be" Come Together Jimmy McGriff and Groove Holmes 1974
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKvXSTyULs0
"When A Man Loves A Woman" Hank Crawford Down On The Deuce 1984
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umSW_wvdZoA
"Frim Fram Sauce" Jimmy McGriff & Hank Crawford Soul Survivors 1986