Articles

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

Catching Up With

Bernard Purdie: Letting The Drums Speak

by Ben Scholz
July 4, 2014

Known primarily for his half-century long career as a studio musician, Bernard “Pretty" Purdie is an icon in the recording industry. With a catalog of 3,000+ recordings including landmark albums such as Steely Dan's Aja Aretha Franklin's Young, Gifted and Black, BB King's Completely Well, and James Brown's It's a Man's Man's Man's World, Bernard Purdie is quite possibly the most influential studio drummer in history. Recently, Bernard paid a visit to jny: Chicago to perform with veteran guitarist George ...

187

Album Review

Bernard Purdie: Soul To Jazz II

by Douglas Payne
July 1, 1998

Once you're a legend, it must be a legendary drag living up to your own reputation. After years of setting distinctive beats for King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, scores of Atlantic sessions and almost every acid-jazzer, drummer Bernard Purdie has a legendary reputation as the funk drummer. Trouble is the man earned his rep while he was young. Now, no matter how good his grooves get, they all have to measure up to his funky past. Soul To Jazz ...