Bernard Purdie

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For the Welsh footballer, see Bernard Purdie (footballer).
Bernard Purdie
Also known as Bernard "Pretty" Purdie
Mississippi Bigfoot
Born (1939-06-11) June 11, 1939 (age 74)
Elkton, Maryland, United States
Genres Soul, R&B, Funk, Rock
Occupations Musician
Instruments Drums
Years active 1958–present
Labels A&M, Atco, EMI, Capitol
Associated acts James Brown, Jeff Beck, Hummingbird, Steely Dan, Aretha Franklin, Gil Scott-Heron, King Curtis, The Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Randy Brecker, Quincy Jones, Hall & Oates, Isaac Hayes, Cat Stevens, Hair, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (soundtrack)
Website Bernard Purdie.com

Bernard Lee "Pretty" Purdie (born June 11, 1939) is an American session drummer, and is considered an influential and innovative exponent of funk.[1] He is known for his strict musical time keeping[2] and "The Purdie Shuffle".[3]

Purdie recorded Soul Drums (1968) as a band leader and although he went on to record Alexander's Ragtime Band, the album remained unreleased until Soul Drums was reissued on CD in 2009 with the Alexander's Ragtime Band sessions. Other solo albums include Purdie Good (1971), Soul Is...Pretty Purdie (1972) and the soundtrack for the blaxploitation film Lialeh (1973).

Purdie was credited on the soundtrack album for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) and more recently he was the drummer for the 2009 Broadway revival of Hair and appeared on the associated Broadway cast recording.[4]

Contents

Biography[edit]

At an early age Purdie began hitting cans with sticks and learned the elements of drumming techniques from overhearing lessons being given by Leonard Heywood. He later took lessons from Heywood and played in Heywood's big band. Purdie's other influences at that time were Papa Jo Jones, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Joe Marshall, Art Blakey,[5] as well as Cozy Cole, Sticks Evans, Panama Francis, Louis Bellson, and Herbie Lovelle.[6]

In 1961 he moved from his home town of Elkton, Maryland, to New York. In order to be able to obtain a licence to perform in public (minimum age 21), Purdie claimed he was born in 1939, while in fact he was born in 1941. There he played sessions with Mickey and Sylvia and regularly visited the Turf Club on 50th and Broadway, where musicians, agents, and promoters met and touted for business. It was during this period that he played for the saxophonist Buddy Lucas, who nicknamed him 'Mississippi Bigfoot'. Eventually Barney Richmond contracted him to play session work.[5] Later Bernard Purdie added drum overdubs to "several [tracks] of the Beatles' Hamburg recording" with Tony Sheridan,[7] including "Ain't She Sweet", "Take Out Some Insurance on Me Baby" and "Sweet Georgia Brown".[8] The main reason for this was to give them a punchier sound for the US market. These tracks were eventually released on January 31, 1964 by Polydor.[9]

Purdie was contracted by arranger Sammy Lowe to play a session with James Brown in 1965 and recording session records also show that Purdie played on "Ain't That A Groove"[10] at the same session.[5] This was one of several sessions he played with Brown and the track "Kansas City" from Brown's album Cold Sweat (1967), displays one of the most sophisticated and driving shuffles recorded for Brown's catalogue. Purdie is also credited on the albums Say It Loud-I'm Black and I'm Proud (1969)[11] and Get on the Good Foot (1972) on which "Ain't That A Groove" appeared.[12]

Purdie started working with Aretha Franklin as musical director in 1970 and held that position for five years,[1] as well as drumming for Franklin's opening act, King Curtis and The King Pins. In 1970 he performed with both bands at the Fillmore West; the resulting live recordings were released as Aretha Live at the Fillmore West (1971) and King Curtis's Live at Fillmore West (1971).[13] His best known track with Franklin was "Rock Steady",[14] on which he played what he described as "a funky and low down beat". Of his time with Franklin he once commented that "backing her was like floating in seventh heaven".[5]

Encounter Records[edit]

In 1973 Purdie founded Encounter Records and released five albums

Drumming style[edit]

Purdie shuffle variants[16] About this sound Play (help·info).
Purdie shuffle variant[17] About this sound Play (help·info).

Purdie is known as a groove drummer with immaculate timing and makes use of precision half note, backbeats, and grooves.[2] Purdie's signature sixteenth note hi-hat lick pish-ship, pish-ship, pish-ship is distinct and hard to copy[5] and he is known for his versatility. He often employs a straight eight groove sometimes fusing several influences such as swing, blues and funk. He created now well-known drum patterns such as the Purdie shuffle, Half-Time Purdie Shuffle,[17] also the Bernard Purdie half-time feel shuffle[16][18][19] that is a blues shuffle variation with the addition of syncopated ghost notes on the snare drum.[17] Variations on this shuffle can be heard on songs such as Led Zeppelin's "Fool in the Rain", Death Cab For Cutie's "Grapevine Fires", and Toto's "Rosanna" (Rosanna shuffle).[17][20] Purdie's shuffle can be heard on Steely Dan's "Babylon Sisters"[21] and "Home At Last".[17]

Discography[edit]

Albums[edit]

  • Soul Drums Direction (1968)
  • Stand By Me Mega (1971)
  • Purdie Good Prestige (1971)
  • Soul Is ... Pretty Purdie Flying Dutchman (1972)
  • Lialeh - Bryan (1973)
  • Shaft - Prestige (1974)
  • Delights of the Garden Celluloid (1975)
  • Purdie As a Picture - Kilarnock (1993)
  • Tokyo Jazz Groove Sessions - Lexington (1993)
  • Coolin' 'n' Groovin' - Lexington/West 47th 1993 (1993)
  • After Hours with The 3B's - 3B's (1993)
  • The Hudson River Rats - 3B's (1994)
  • Kick N Jazz Drum Beat Blocks (1996)
  • Soul to Jazz I Act(1997)
  • In the Pocket P Vine (1997)
  • Soul to Jazz II Act (1998)
  • Get It While You Can 3B's (1999)
  • Purdie Good Cookin' Own Label (2003)

Contributions[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b Feather, Leonard and Gitler, Ira. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press US. p. 541. 
  2. ^ a b Wynn, Ron. "Bernard Purdie". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2009-05-16. 
  3. ^ Hyatt, Greg and Mitchell, Stan. Get Locked. Alfred Publishing. p. 95. 
  4. ^ BWW News desk. Tracks_Hits_Stores_623_20090511 "Hair Broadway Cast Recording With Never Before Released Tracks Hits Stores". broadwayworld.com. Retrieved 2009-05-16. 
  5. ^ a b c d e f Payne, Jim and Weinger, Harry. The Great Drummers of R&B Funk & Soul. Oxford University Press US. p. 145. 
  6. ^ Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians: Biography Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  7. ^ Everett, Walter. The Beatles as musicians. Oxford University Press US/Google Notes to page 202-212. 
  8. ^ Gottfridsson, Hans Olof, Sheridon, Tony and Beatles. The Beatles from Cavern to Star-Club: The Illustrated Chronicle, Discography & Price Guide 1957-1962. Premium Publishing (1997). pp. 222, 310, 313, 333, 341. 
  9. ^ Miles, Barry and Badman, Keith. The Beatles Diary: The Beatles years. Omnibus Press (2001). p. 129. 
  10. ^ "James Brown credits". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2009-05-16. 
  11. ^ Unterberger, Richie. "Say It Loud-I'm Black and I'm Proud". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2009-05-19. 
  12. ^ Elias, Jason. "Get On The Good Foot". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2009-05-19. 
  13. ^ "Bernard "Pretty" Purdie credits". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2009-05-15. 
  14. ^ "Rock Steady". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2009-05-15. 
  15. ^ Allmusic Brown N Serve review
  16. ^ a b Michalkow, Mike (2008). The Total Rock Drummer, p.64. ISBN 0-7390-5268-3.
  17. ^ a b c d e Berry and Giani (2003). The Drummer's Bible, p.35. ISBN 1-884365-32-9.
  18. ^ Berry, Mick and Gianni, Jason (2003). The Drummer's Bible: How to Play Every Drum Style from Afro-Cuban to Zydeco, p.85. ISBN 1-884365-32-9.
  19. ^ McKechnie, Alexander (2006). Styles and Independence for the Developing Drummer, p.15. ISBN 1-4116-6783-2.
  20. ^ Segal, David (2009-03-30). "A Signature Shuffle Enjoys a New Life". nytimes.com. 
  21. ^ Mason, Stuart. "Babylon Sisters". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2009-05-16. 
  22. ^ "Oliver Darley Stirring Souls in U.K." Billboard, at Google Books. Retrieved 11 May 2013.

References[edit]

  • Everett, Walter. The Beatles as musicians: the Quarry Men through Rubber Soul. Oxford University Press US (2001). ISBN 978-0-19-514105-4
  • Gottfridsson, Hans Olof; Sheridan, Tony and Beatles. The Beatles from Cavern to Star-Club: The Illustrated Chronicle, Discography & Price Guide 1957-1962. Premium Publishing (1997). ISBN 978-91-971894-7-7
  • Kernfeld, Barry Dean. The new Grove dictionary of jazz second edition. Grove's Dictionaries Inc. (2002). Digitized 21 Dec (2006). ISBN 978-1-56159-284-5
  • Miles, Barry and Badman, Keith. The Beatles Diary: The Beatles years. Omnibus Press (2001) ISBN 978-0-7119-8308-3
  • Payne, Jim and Weinger, Harry. The Great Drummers of R&B Funk & Soul. Mel Bay Publications (2007). ISBN 978-0-7866-7303-2
  • Rabb, Johnny; Brych, Ray and Lohman, Gregg. Jungle/Drum 'n' Bass for the Acoustic Drum Set: A Guide to Applying Today's Electronic Music to the Drum Set. Alfred Publishing (2001). ISBN 0-7579-9025-8
  • Weinberg, Max. The Big Beat: Conversations with Rock's Greatest Drummers. Hal Leonard Corporation (2004). ISBN 978-0-634-08275-7
  • York, William. Who's Who in Rock Music. Atomic Press (1978). Digitized 30 Aug 2007.

External links[edit]

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