Essential drum music curated by the world’s greatest drummers.
My name is Bill Zildjian. I am a drummer and have a deep musical heritage. Over several decades of making cymbals, I have worked closely with hundreds of the world’s greatest drummers, and have met and talked with thousands more.
We all share a passion for great music. Drummers notice things in music that many people do not—shaping, texture, dynamics, meter, the architecture of the beat—because unlike other people, and even other musicians, that is where we live.
I have been lucky to know and learn from them all, and luckier still to hear the music that means the most to them. It’s an honor to share it here. Drummeradio is an intimately curated list of each drummer’s taste and influences. Take a listen, and find out what inspires our most inspiring musicians.
Jonah David
Episode date: Mar 20, 2016
Jonah David combined Hip-hop and reggae as if they had grown up together. Hear some of his favorite music with him.
Jerome Deupree
Episode date: Feb 27, 2016
As a custodian of Morphine’s unique sound, Jerome DeuPree is familiar with an eclectic range of music.
Abe Fogle
Episode date: Jan 31, 2016
Abe Fogle is a groove-master with a long history of jazz and funk gigs, and a great selection of songs for us.
Rick Marotta
Episode date: Nov 22, 2015
Rick Marotta is on the list of history’s most flawless recordings: Michael Jackson, Jackson 5, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Boz Scaggs, Linda Ronstadt, Carly Simon, Jackson Browne, Aretha Franklin, etc.
Todd Sucherman
Episode date: Nov 8, 2015
Todd Sucherman has accumulated a vast store of rhythm and percussion knowledge. He shares some great insights here on his favorite music.
Steve Ferrone Episode 2
Episode date: Sep 27, 2015
Steve Ferrone returns with some great selections and the stories behind them.
Steve Ferrone
Episode date: Sep 20, 2015
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Oblivion Express, the Average White Band, Chaka Khan, SNL, Duran, Eric Clapton: Steve Ferrone has done it all.
Jimmy Chamberlin
Episode date: Jun 9, 2015
Without Jimmy Chamberlin, the 90’s would have gone without one of the most important bands in rock.
Dave Mattacks
Episode date: May 12, 2015
Dave Mattacks has amassed a spectacular body of work as one of England’s foremost studio drummers.
Brian Frasier-Moore
Episode date: May 5, 2015
Brian Frasier-Moore sprang from Philadelphia’s gospel scene to anchor tours with Janet Jackson, Christina Aguillera, Justin Timberlake & Madonna.
Kenny Aronoff
Episode date: Apr 21, 2015
When an enormous amount of attention is going to fall on the drummer, Kenny Aronoff is the drummer of choice.
Dom Famularo
Episode date: Apr 14, 2015
Dom Famularo has taught over a million drummers, authored a dozen books & founded the first global drum school. He has turned the drumming community into a family.
Harvey Mason
Episode date: Apr 7, 2015
The music we listen to would be different if not for Harvey Mason. All the more important for us to hear the music Harvey listens to.
David Garibaldi Episode 2
Episode date: Mar 31, 2015
More insights into the many influences that David Garibaldi picked up from a rich music scene, and some hints at how he used them.
David Garibaldi
Episode date: Mar 24, 2015
The leading pioneer of the funk beat, founding member of the groundbreaking band Tower of Power, and a member also of the Percussive Arts Society’s Hall of Fame.
Tony Coleman
Episode date: Mar 17, 2015
Tony Coleman was B.B. King’s drummer for 25 years. Nothing more needs to be said, but then again there’s Bobby Blue Bland, Otis Taylor, Albert King, Albert Collins, Etta James, James Cotton, Buddy Guy, and many others.
Paul Wertico Episode 2
Episode date: Mar 3, 2015
Paul Wertico presents several more tracks, as well as some of his own recordings. We will have a chance to hear his drumming philosophy in action.
Lil John Roberts
Episode date: Feb 17, 2015
Lil John Roberts is blazing the trail for a generation of Philadelphia-based drummers.
Chris Layton
Episode date: Feb 10, 2015
Chris Layton, with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, sold 12 million albums, won four Grammy awards, and influenced a generation of Blues artists. This year they will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Paul Wertico
Episode date: Feb 3, 2015
Paul Wertico added the acoustic and sonic reach that elevated the Pat Metheny Group to seven Grammy Awards and a fistful of gold records, and has gone on to fascinating collaborations with Larry Coryell and Paul Winter.
Rich Redmond
Episode date: Jan 27, 2015
When Rich Redmond runs for President of the United States, my daughter’s "Rushlow" t-shirt will become a collector’s item.
Carmine Appice
Episode date: Jan 20, 2015
Carmine Appice, a classically-trained architect of rock drumming: musician, educator, innovator, songwriter & DrummeRadio guest.
Larry Lelli
Episode date: Nov 4, 2014
When I first met Larry Lelli, he was the drummer for top-charting country singer Doug Stone. What Larry did next surprised me. He went to Broadway, and became an orchestra-pit drummer for a series of major musicals.
Hal Blaine
Episode date: Sep 16, 2014
Hal is likely the most widely-heard and influential creator of what we all think of, when we imagine the beat of American popular music.
Joe Franco
Episode date: Sep 16, 2014
Joe’s time as a New York fixture has connected him with nearly every drummer who passed through the city.
Will Calhoun Episode 2
Episode date: Sep 9, 2014
Part 2 of Will Calhoun’s show. Listen to the Will Calhoun Podcast Will Calhoun (Episode 2) Playlist Djabate – Doudo N’Diaye Rose Album: Djabote, 1991 Funk with a Big Foot – Quasar Album: [...]
Bobby Sanabria Episode 2
Episode date: Aug 26, 2014
To describe Bobby Sanabria as an elite drummer and percussionist is to describe only the tip of the iceberg. He is also an arranger, a producer, a composer, bandleader, educator and [...]
John Blackwell
Episode date: Aug 19, 2014
John translated curiosity and talent into high-profile gigs that call for a drummers’ drummer
Jason Sutter
Episode date: Aug 12, 2014
Jason Sutter is a hired gun in the best sense of the word—His aim is true, and he’s a straight–shooter.
Jonathan Mover
Episode date: Aug 5, 2014
In addition to a great career at the highest professional level of music, Jonathan Mover has a very sharp pair of ears.
Billy Cobham
Episode date: Jul 29, 2014
Billy Cobham landed in the center of popular music in 1971 with the Mahavishnu Orchestra almost without context—as if he and Mahavishnu were aliens landing in Central Park in broad daylight.
Taku Hirano
Episode date: Jul 22, 2014
With work in every genre of music imaginable, with homes in L.A, New York and New Orleans, Taku is in touch with the heart, substance and spirit of American music.
Will Calhoun
Episode date: Jul 15, 2014
Will Calhoun is at the top of the art form in Acoustic Jazz, Hard Rock, Alt-Rock, Traditional Ethnic Drumming, and House, Acid jazz and Electronica… all at the same time.
Bobby Sanabria
Episode date: Jul 8, 2014
To describe Bobby Sanabria as a drummer, percussionist, composer, producer, bandleader, and writer is to describe only the tip of the iceberg.
Bernard Purdie
Episode date: Jul 1, 2014
What do you say about the most-recorded drummer in the world? Bernard Purdie has done everything from R&B to funk, Pop to Country, Acoustic Jazz to Blues to Broadway shows.
Mark Schulman
Episode date: Jun 24, 2014
There is a certain class of professional drummer that keeps turning up on my radar screen, and every new time it’s with a bigger, more interesting gig than the last one.
Zoro
Episode date: Jun 17, 2014
Zoro the drummer has made his mark onstage with acts like Earth Wind and Fire, Vanessa Paradis, and Lenny Kravitz. Add in Jodi Watley, Frankie Valley and the Four Seasons, Bobby Brown, The New Edition, Sean Lennon, and Lisa Marie Presley, and you get a clear picture of career spent at the top of the music industry. Zoro is one of the elite….and he’s done it all under his trademark black hat.
