Earl Palmer (drummer on KOA) has died

[johnfoyle]

Earl Palmer, session drummer on KOA's "Poisoned Rose" and "Eisenhower Blues", has died.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Palmer
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_10513070

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Earl Palmer, the session drummer whose pioneering
backbeats were recorded on such classics as Little Richard's "Tutti
Frutti" and The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin,'"
has died. He was 84.

Palmer died Friday at his Los Angeles home after fighting a lengthy
illness, his spokesman Kevin Sasaki said.

Born in New Orleans in 1924 and later moving to Los Angeles, Palmer
worked extensively in both cities, recording with some of the music
world's all-time greats on thousands of tracks.

His beats form the backdrop on Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep,
Mountain High," Fats Domino's "The Fat Man" and "I Hear You Knockin'"
by Smiley Lewis.

From his Los Angeles home, Palmer drummed for music producer Phil
Spector and Motown, and his session credits include artists as diverse
as the Monkees, Neil Young and Frank Sinatra.

Palmer was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.
According to the institution's Web site, Little Richard wrote in his
autobiography that Palmer "is probably the greatest session drummer of
all time."


Here's a extract from Elvis' KOA liner note -



Recording with members of Elvis Presley's band might have seemed daunting or even provocative, However none of this could quite prepare me for the intimidating prospect of our next session.

When T-bone had penciled these names next to studio dates somewhere over the pacific it had seemed like a brilliant idea. After all the intention had never been to hire off-the-peg "legends" for the hell of it. In fact the first two players through the door were unknown to me; pianist Tom Canning and keyboard player and producer Mitchell Froom who was to play Hammond B-3 on the session. It was the rhythm section that was alarming! On drums: Earl Palmer who, among many other things, had starred on most of the great Little Richard sides. On Bass: Ray Brown who's jazz recording credits could and probably do, fill a book... Gillespie...Parker...Powell...Peterson...Ellington.... You name them. He's played with them. While the introductions were underway T-Bone was musing as to why nobody seemed to be able to achieve the spontaneity that we had heard on a Louis Armstrong/Ella Fitzgerald side playing on the inflight music around the time we were planning this very session. Being the diplomat Earl informed us... "Of course, you know, Ray was Ella's first husband..." and after a beat Ray added "I think I might have played on that session".

"Oh yeah" I was thinking, "and now where going to play this stupid little song I've written".

Actually I think they both might have thought I was out of my mind when I said I didn't give a damn if this record was a hit, so long as it sounded right. This was clearly not the sort of talk they were accustomed to. Still, with Tom and Mitchell quietly taking care of their parts we eventually got the take of "Poisoned Rose". I just had to get my nervous voice under control and catch a first verse where my performance sat right with the Ray's solitary bass accompaniment. Cue the celebration and crack open the Glenlivet!

It was then that T-Bone called "Eisenhower Blues", an obscure J.B. Lenoir side that I had just learned. There was no real reason to cut it except that it gave everyone a chance to relax and play a bit (I think T-Bone just wanted to hear Ray Brown let loose on a tune like this). We did one long double take and cross-faded the highlights together. It certainly gives the album a kick in between all these ballads.

The session ended with suitably blurred photos being snapped. They seem to have got lost. Even if Ray and Earl thought I was some kind of crazy, limey millionaire who went around hiring my jazz and r'n'b heroes on a whim, I wish I could find that damn photograph.

[pophead2k]

Rats. What a great musical life and great resume'. New Orleans was very proud of Earl Palmer. RIP.

[johnfoyle]

Earl Palmer , 1986 , with the drum kit he traveled with in his car , most likely the same one used for KOA.

[BlueChair]

His drumming on "Whistlin' Past The Graveyard" by Tom Waits is one of my favourite things ever.