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Bernard Purdie

Bernard Purdie was born June 11, 1939 in Elkton, Maryland as the eleventh of fifteen children. Purdie began already as a six-year-old to bang out rhythms on improvised equipment. At 14 years of age he purchased his first real drum set and became the most important provider for the family - earning his pay with country and carnival bands. This "schooling" enabled Purdie to "feel my way into nearly every kind of music, 'cause I had to know all styles and was never afraid to try something new."

Purdie moved to New York in 1960 after finishing high school and played with (among others), Lonnie Youngblood before landing his first hit with King Curtis. This led to his engagement with Aretha Franklin in 1970 - the beginning of an unparalleled career. Since then, Purdie has been a regular guest in the studios of the stars of Jazz, Soul, and Rock, working together with Paul Butterfield as well as Larry Coryell, Miles Davis, Hall & Oates, Al Kooper, Herbie Mann, Todd Rundgren and Cat Stevens, as well as regularly producing his own solo albums under his own name.

Liner Notes from Purdie "Soul To Jazz." 3-96. With Brecker Brothers, ACT Music & Vision GMBH.

Which musician did Aretha Franklin definitely NOT want missing from the line-up when she recorded her most inspired albums at the beginning of the seventies Who provided the back-beat for Steely Dan's "Aja", and for whom have Isaac Hayes, Donny Hathaway, B.B. King, "Sweet" Lou Donaldson, Joe Cocker and Hank Crawford reserved that stool behind the drum kit? The list is incomplete, it must be, because no other drummer in the last three decades has seen the interior of a recording studio as often as Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. The 57 year-old native of Elkton, Maryland has laid down the beat on over 3000 albums to date.

This short list does however, prove an idea of the unique qualities this man possesses. Colleagues describe the drummer's style as the "funkiest soul beat" in the business, and Purdie has decidedly never limited his talents to the realm of jazz but rather has consistently sought out new musical experiences beyond it's borders. He has anchored sessions with the Rolling Stones, James Brown and Tom Jones with equal ease and proven that - with all his attention to precision playing - terms such as "drive" and "GROOVE" are definitely not missing from his vocabulary. This is certainly why his rhythms have appeared as samples on nearly every "Acid Jazz" record released in the past few years - the new genre that has so successfully hosted the renaissance of Soul Jazz.

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Multiple Reviews

Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf: Bernard Purdie and David Axelrod

Read "Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf: Bernard Purdie and David Axelrod" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


As part of Concord Music and Craft Recordings, the Jazz Dispensary line was developed in 2016 to mine some of the funkier and more soul-influenced music housed in the catalogs of Prestige, Milestone, and Fantasy. Their initial offerings were mix tape-style collections frequently tapping into the mystique of the '70s and often appearing on Record Store Day. Previous projects have included reissues from Azymuth, Charles Kynard, and Johnny Hammond Smith. The label's Top Shelf series gets underway in ...

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Liner Notes

Larry Coryell: Improvisations: Best of the Vanguard Years

Read "Larry Coryell: Improvisations: Best of the Vanguard Years" reviewed by Josef Woodard


There have been many smoother operators in the world of jazz guitar than Larry Coryell, the brainy rough rider who was a natural-born fusioneer, in the best sense. There have been cleaner technicians on the instrument, with a more lucid sense of identity and careers that have followed a logical, rolling landscape. But not many have quite attained Coryell's strange, madly eclectic state of grace: into music he came, he saw and heard things not yet articulated, he conquered on ...

5
Album Review

Benjamin Koppel: The Ultimate Soul & Jazz Revue

Read "The Ultimate Soul & Jazz Revue" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Listen to music long enough, and it's almost bound to happen: You're not sure exactly what you want to listen to, but you know that whatever you listen to needs must bump and groove. The Ultimate Soul & Jazz Revue, an anthology of American jazz, soul and R&B recorded live at a Copenhagen music festival by Danish saxophonist Benjamin Koppel and his big band, is some first-rate scratch for that itch. Ultimate Soul & Jazz neatly packages Koppel's ...

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Album Review

Purdie Fabian Oswanski: Move On!

Read "Move On!" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


In a 1977 magazine interview, New York Yankees Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson (in)famously referred to himself as “the straw that stirs the drink" for his team. On this trio set with organ player and composer Ron Oswanski and bassist-composer Christian Fabian (who also shaped the arrangements), the one and only original funky drummer Bernard Purdie keeps stirring his drum pots to help this trio's funky and rhythmic grooves to Move On!. The leadoff “The Red Plaza" and ...

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Album Review

Purdie / Fabian / Oswanski: Move On!

Read "Move On!" reviewed by Jack Bowers


No one receives top billing in this tight-knit trio, which embodies organist Ron Oswanski, bassist Christian Fabian and drummer Bernard “Pretty" Purdie. And that is as it should be, as each of them is indispensable to its success. That success is further predicated on how well the three amigos enhance an agenda that is heavily laden with funk and soul including five greasy compositions by Fabian and others by Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and even Julia Ward Howe (a gritty ...

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Catching Up With

Bernard Purdie: Letting The Drums Speak

Read "Bernard Purdie: Letting The Drums Speak" reviewed by Ben Scholz


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 ...

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Album Review

Bernard Purdie: Soul To Jazz II

Read "Soul To Jazz II" reviewed by Douglas Payne


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 ...

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Performance / Tour

David Haney And Bernard Purdie Bring New York Jazz Stories To Joe’s Pub On April 6

David Haney And Bernard Purdie Bring New York Jazz Stories To Joe’s Pub On April 6

Source: GoMedia PR

On April 6, pianist and composer David Haney and legendary drummer Bernard Purdie will bring another performance of New York Jazz Stories to Joe’s Pub. New York Jazz Stories combines swinging, electrifying music, featuring Bernard Purdie and company along with some highly entertaining stories retold by David Haney. These are real stories told directly to Haney, transcribed and brought to life with a sound track by “Pretty” Purdie, bassist Adam Lane, Steve Swell on trombone; violinist Jason Kao Hwang, Melanie ...

Education

Music Education Monday: The Purdie Shuffle

Music Education Monday: The Purdie Shuffle

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

Sometimes StLJN's weekly “Music Education Monday" feature deals with broad topics, and sometimes, things get very specific - like today's video lesson from famed session drummer Bernard Purdie, which is all about how to play the beat known as the “Purdie Shuffle." Produced by Drumeo.com, the video shows Purdie himself explaining and demonstrating the distinctive half-time funk feel he played on Steely Dan's “Home at Last" and “Babylon Sisters," which since has been approximated or imitated on recordings by Toto, ...

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Performance / Tour

Bernard Purdie & Friends Hit The Stage At The Philadelphia Clef Club Of Jazz & Performing Arts

Bernard Purdie & Friends Hit The Stage At The Philadelphia Clef Club Of Jazz & Performing Arts

Source: Vena Jefferson

The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz on the Avenue of the Arts is back and bigger and better than ever for Spring/Summer 2014 with Two Amazing Summer Concert Performances with Bernard Purdie and Joey DeFrancesco. Philadelphia, PA: PCC of Jazz is revving up for the 2014 Spring/Summer Season with two incredible concert performances featuring First, Bernard Purdie,world-renown drummer and one of the most influential musicians and bandleaders of our time will play a special two-night engagement and a one-day drum ...

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Performance / Tour

Bernard Purdie Signature Shuffle Enjoys a New Life

Bernard Purdie Signature Shuffle Enjoys a New Life

Source: Michael Ricci

For bowlers the ultimate test is the 7-10 split. For card sharks its the hot shot cut. For drummers its the funky little miracle of syncopation known as the Purdie Shuffle.

Youve heard Bernard Purdie better known as Pretty Purdie perform his creation on Steely Dans Home at Last, from the 1977 album Aja. And youve heard variations on songs by Led Zeppelin (Fool in the Rain), Toto (Rosanna) and Death Cab for Cutie (Grapevine Fires).

Created with six bass, ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Players

Open Mic Records
2022

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Improvisations: Best...

Vanguard Records
2007

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Purdie Good Cookin'

Self Produced
2003

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Soul To Jazz II

ACT Music
1998

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Sittin at the Bar

From: Players
By Bernard Purdie

There Are Thorns

From: Players
By Bernard Purdie

Videos

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