Bernard

Purdie

Born June 11, 1941, Elkton, Maryland

CANT REALLY DEFINE WHAT SOUL DRUM

-ming is, but I can define what great soul drumming
isBernard Purdie. So says Roger Hawkins,
the legendary Muscle Shoals session drummer in
Max Weinbergs book, The Big Beat.
Bernard is on everyones list as one of the worlds
greatest soul and funk drummers. He has accomplished
what all great musicians strive fora unique and recognizable style and feel. When you hear a record that hes
on, you can tell its him. His innovative hi-hat licks and
his trademark Purdie Shuffle, which Jeff Porcaro, in
homage, admits was the basis of the rhythm he used on
Totos huge hit Rosanna, are just some of the elements of his many classic recordings.
He has played and recorded with perhaps thousands
of artists, from James Brown to Aretha Franklin
to Steely Dan, and its quite possible that his claim to
be the most recorded drummer in the world, is actu-

ally true. The list of records hes played on would fill

many, many pages and those that hes forgotten hes
played on would fill up even more. (Purdie has alleged
for years that he fixed tracks for the Beatles, the Rolling
Stones and others. He says hes coming out with a book
on the subject.)
Bernard basically lived in the New York studios
throughout the 60s and 70s. In rhythm section teams
with other great musicians, like Richard Tee (piano),
Cornell Dupree (guitar), Hugh McCracken (guitar), Jerry Jemmott (bass), Chuck Rainey (bass)
and Gordon Edwards (bass), he had one of the longest creative runs ever in a trendy business that is loaded
with pitfalls.
When Aretha Franklin says Lets call this song exactly
what it is Rock Steady!, you know shes referring to the
incredible, rock-solid groove laid down behind her by
none other than Bernard Pretty Purdie.

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Courtesy Bernard Purdie

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Bernard Purdie

Bernard Purdie
Selected Discography

Artist/Title

Year

Chart Peak
R&B

Label

Pop

Singles
Les Cooper & the Soul Rockers
Wiggle Wobble
1962

Doris Troy
Just One Look
1963

12

22

Everlast 5019

10

Atlantic 2188

Don Covay
Mercy, Mercy
1964 35
5

Rosemart 801

James Brown
Aint That A Groove

1965

42

King 6025

Dee Dee Warwick

Foolish Fool
1969

14

57

Mercury 72880

Aretha Franklin
Rock Steady
Live at the Fillmore West (LP)
Day Dreaming
Until You Come Back To Me

1971
2
1971
1972
1
1973
1

73
7
5
3

Atlantic 838
Atlantic 72015
Atlantic 2866
Atlantic 2995

King Curtis
Live at the Fillmore West (LP)

1971

54

Atco 359

Steely Dan
Kid Charlemagne
The Fez
Home At Last from Aja (LP)
Deacon Blues

Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie at Montreux (LP)

1976
82
1976
59
1978
1978
19


1980

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ABC 12195
ABC 12222
ABC 10006
ABC 12355

Pablo

Give The Drummers Some!

New York:

December, 1995

Courtesy Showtime Archives (Toronto)

ernard Purdie was born the 11th child of 13, in

a poor country family in Elkton, Maryland. He
was orphaned at age 13; by then he had already worked
picking cotton and tobacco in North Carolina. I came
from nowhere, Purdie told Connie Fisher in Modern Drummer magazine, and I broke through a lot of
barriers to get where I did, as a drummer and as a
man.
Purdie began his drumming career at age six, beating
on bread cans until he bashed them in. Later, when he
began to take his drumming seriously, he turned to a
local drummer, Leonard Heywood. Purdie has a lot
of respect for this man and gives him credit for teaching
him the fundamentals of playing and reading. At first,
he hung around on the steps of Heywoods house while
the man gave drum lessons inside, learning as much as
he could, listening through the door.
When Purdie belittled some of Mr. Heywoods students,
saying they were never going to learn anything, Heywood
challenged him to learn something more himself or he
wouldnt be allowed back. Purdie practiced all week.
When he was 13 years old, he thought he was the
baddest cat in town, but he was forced to reexamine his
thinking again when a 12-year-old sat down and played
the very solo that he had just played, note for note.
Bernard was so embarrassed he had to leave. Experiences like these tempered his inflated ego and inspired
him to work harder.
His first drum set was a Rogers, which he paid off
over time with money he made on his paper route. The
mayor of the town, who also owned the newsstand,
bought it for him. It took two years at five dollars a week
to pay it off.
To get a better education, he left George Washington
Carver High School in the 12th grade, and became the
only black in an all-white school. The community
wanted integration, but at that point in time, it was only
voluntary. Purdie volunteered.
Bernard was just as determined to get in on Mr. Heywoods big band gig. He would ply his teacher with gin
until midnight, and when Heywood was a little too
wasted to keep it together, his student would sit in and
finish the gig for him. Bernard says Heywood wasnt
really fooled. He knew what he was up to all along. If
[Heywood] didnt drink, says Purdie in Max Weinbergs The Big Beat, he was the baddest drummer in
the whole world.
Other early influences on the hit-maker-to-be were
Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Cozy Cole, Joe
Marshall and Art Blakey.

Purdie came to New York in 1961. A few days after

his arrival he made $80 playing a session for Mickey
& Sylvia. Two days after that, he had $12 left, and
had to get a job at a laundry on 49th Street. He hung
out every day after work at the Turf Club at 50th and
Broadway, where musicians and contractors met, begging for a chance to play. He playedor overplayed,
he saysfor Buddy Lucas, the saxophone player,
displaying every lick he knew in the first five minutes.
Lucas dubbed him Mississippi Bigfoot, but jobs
were few and far between.
Finally, one day a contractor named Barney Richmond came in looking for a drummer. Bernard immediately jumped up and announced his willingness, but
Richmond insisted he was looking for a real drummer.
There werent any other drummers in the place, so Bernard dogged Richmond around, following him out the
door to the recording studio.
As the contractor got on the phone, still looking for

Singer Doris Troy, whose Just One Look was the first
hit record that Bernard Purdie played on. Purdie played
brushes on this demo-that-became-a-record. It peaked
at #3 R&B, #10 Pop - 1963.

a real drummer, Purdie went into the studio and

looked over the music on the piano. He sat down at the
drums and before Richmond knew what was happening, the musicians were running down the song, and
the artist, Doris Troy, was out there singing it.
Twenty minutes after they started rehearsing, the engineer rolled the tape. One take was all they needed.
Just One Look reached #10 on Billboards Top 40

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Bernard Purdie
Pop chart, and stayed there two months. Slam bang
rock n roll? No. Purdie used brushes to create the
infectious, popping groove. It was the hit-makers first
hit. He hasnt looked back or stopped working since.

The New York studio scene in the 60s:

In the 60s, when R&B flavored rock n roll and soul
was the music of the day, an incredible number of sessions
were cut in New York. In the beginning, one contractor
who couldnt pronounce Bernards name kept calling him
Pretty, instead of Purdie. Get me that guy, Pretty, or
whatever his name is. It stuck. And just in case people
still werent sure who the drummer was, Bernard displayed a cardboard sign at his sessions which read, Pretty
Purdie: If you need me call methe little old hitmaker.

Photo: Ebet Roberts

According to Purdie, when the 60s got rolling, the

top New York session musiciansRichard Tee
(piano), Chuck Rainey (bass), Jerry Jemmott
(bass), Eric Gale (guitar), Cornell Dupree (guitar)
and himselfwere making more money than doctors
and lawyers. But the intense work could also take its
toll. You had to be on the scene at all times. If you
werent available, someone else would take your slot.
This meant refusing offers for touring gigs, which might
be more wide-open and creative. You could come home
to an empty calender that would stay empty.
In the studio game musicians are also faced with
many restrictions. Producers direct you and tell you how
to play, but in spite of all the instructions and suggestions, the musicians themselves have to pull it together
in the end. Add this to the exacting nature of performing
under pressure while the
tape is rolling, and it
becomes readily apparent that this is not an
easy set of restrictions to
work under.
Drugs and liquor were
plentiful in the 60s, but
Purdie says he did not
partake. The experience
of being an alcoholic at
the age of 11 kept him
away from liquor from
then on. Seeing his idols
bumming on the street to
support their addictions
convinced him to stay
away from drugs as well.

Bernard Purdie, center; with, from left: saxophonist Lou Marini; singer/pianist Dr. John;
saxophonist Hank Crawford; and baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber. This picture was
taken backstage at the old Lone Star Cafe in downtown New York City.

While Bernard recognizes David Panama

Francis as the king of the 50s New York studio drummers, Pretty Purdie reigned supreme in the 60s. After
Just One Look, he started on a prolific roll: Purdie
claims he has recorded over 3000 albums, as well as
countless singles, sound tracks and jingles. He says he
played 12 to 15 sessions a week for 12 years.
In the early 60s, record companies could reduce costs
by classifying finished recordings as demosdemonstration records, used to pitch the song to various artists.
In many cases these demos were then released as the final
recordings. Purdie says Just One Look was one of
those, as was Don Covays Mercy, Mercy. Musicians fee for a demo$10! But as the decade progressed,
the rewards became more substantial.

James Brown:

Bernard claims to have

been fired from James
Browns band because of
his arrogance. He was fined for making a mistake which
he says he didnt make. He paid the $10 fine but
refused to say who had made the mistake.
Two years later, he was called by arranger Sammy
Lowe to do a session. When he got there there was a
23 piece band (10 rhythm and 13 horns) waiting for the
The Hardest Working Man in Show Business.
When James showed up an hour later he rekindled
Purdies anger by telling him that now he had a chance
to redeem himself. Bernard told Sammy Lowe to forgive
him because he was going to have to show his ass that
night. The volatile chemistry ended up being a positive
force. One of the resulting songs, Kansas City, is
one of the most sophisticated and driving shuffles in
Jamess catalog

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Give The Drummers Some!

Track records from recording sessions indicate that
Bernard also played on Jamess Aint That A
Groove.
After the Sammy Lowe session James apologized and
supposedly asked Bernard to go out on the road. Max
Weinberg quotes Purdies response in The Big Beat as,
Yeah, Ill go out with you, but I want a thousand dollars a week, all expenses paid, first class tickets, and I
need ten thousand in advance to cover my debts and
pay my bills. And you also got to sign a five-year contract. Brown yelled, But Im James Brown! Bernard
responded, And Im Pretty Purdie, and you asked me.
After this clash of egos, Purdie insists they became the
best of friends.
Courtesy Atlantic Records

Aretha Franklin:
Aretha and Purdie had a magical relationship. She
brought out the best in him and he brought out the best
in her. Purdie played behind both Aretha and her opening act, King Curtis & The Kingpins at the
famed 1971 Fillmore West concert which produced best-selling albums for both performers. [Texasborn Curtis was the incredible yakety-yak saxophone
player on the Coasters records; he also led the house
band at the Apollo Theater before his long association with Atlantic Records and Lady Soul. Curtiss
rhythm sections at the Apollo and on the record King
Curtis Live At Smalls Paradise (Atco) included
another great, under-appreciated drummer, Ray
Lucas. As a member of Curtiss Noble Knights,
Lucas played on Soul Twist (Enjoy, #1 R&B, #17
Pop, 1962) and also on the original Soul Serenade,
to which Aretha later added words.]
Arethas Fillmore West performance was so inspiring
that Ray Charles, who had never seen Aretha
before, came out from the wings and sat down at the
piano to do a duet of Spirit in the Dark. The twoand-a-half hour show left Purdie exhausted but, from
the sound of it, very satisfied. Im still lookin for somebody else who could do it for me like Aretha, but Ive
never been able to reach that same high, he told Max
Weinberg. I was there. Oh man, it was nice; the air
was light; I was floating in seventh heaven.

Bernard Pretty Purdie was riding high in the music

world by the early 70s, and he let people know it. A
woman friend finally set him straight when she told him
she was sick of his I, I, I me, me, me I did this, I
did that routine. Purdie says that after this lesson, he
worked on changing his ways.
Hes also been able to spot the negative effects of ego
in others. When he started teaching Max Weinberg
(before the Bruce Springsteen days) he recognized
the young drummers know-it-all ways. I told him like
it was, Bernard says in The Big Beat. He thought his
doo-doo didnt stink.

Rock Steady:

Steely Dan:

Aretha Franklins Rock Steady is one of Purdies

most famous tracks. Aretha sings, Lets call this song
exactly what it is (what it is, what it is) Its a funky and
low down beatand ever since then, drummers
have been trying to figure out exactly what Purdie did
to make that funky and lowdown beat so funky.
By this time he had developed his signature 16th
note hi-hat lick, pish-ship, pish-ship, pish-ship. Oth-

Steely Dan, the thinking mans rock band created by

Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, became legendary for its excruciatingly exacting recording process.
From noon till six wed play the tune over and over and
over again, nailing each part, Jeff Porcaro told Ken
Micallef in Modern Drummer magazine. Wed go
to dinner and come back and start recording. They made
everybody play like their life depended on it. But they

Aretha Franklin. [backing her was like] floating in

seventh heaven, says Purdie.

ers copied his signature, but it was usually apparent by

listening to the rest of the track whether or not it was
actually Purdie. The lick will certainly be forever associated with him. Whenever I use it I think, Maybe I
shouldnt have done that. After all it is his lick.

Ego:

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Bernard Purdie
Teaching:

Courtesy Atlantic Records

King Curtis in 1971, at the time of the recording of the

Aretha Live At The Fillmore West album.

werent gonna keep anything anyone else played that

night, no matter how tight it was. All they were going for
was the drum track! The final drum track for this song,
Gaucho, was a combination of 46 edits.
Bernard Purdie was one of the few drummers to survive this demanding process. The album Aja, which
many consider Steely Dans crowning achievement, features Purdies performances on two classic songs
Deacon Blues and Home At Last. They
were very strict, to the point of super precision, Purdie
said to Micallef, describing Fagen and Beckers work
methods. Really picky. They wouldnt take no for an
answer and they wouldnt accept mistakesperiod. It
was truly frustrating in the beginning. I come from the
school that when you feel good about what youve
done, its hard to do better. It only goes downhill from
there. I learned to curtail my own feelings and just
wait.
On Home At Last, Purdie used his famous
Purdie Shufflea half-time shuffle with a 6/8 feel. Jeff
Porcaro admits to copping this rhythm for Totos hit,
Rosanna, but is quick to give Purdie all the credit
for the creation.

In her Modern Drummer article, Connie Fisher

asks Purdie, Dont you think theres such a thing as
self-guidance and self-discipline? Purdie replies, Forget it. You need the guidance. Self-taught is for the
birds. This goes back to his own respect for his teacher,
Leonard Heywood. Bernard carries on the teaching tradition through private lessons and clinics.
I took lessons from Purdie in the 70s, after he had
taken over an old Atlantic recording studio at 60th
Street and Broadway. I thought I already knew a lot (see
Ego section above). I had been studying and playing
professionally for a number of years, and I was already a
chops freak, working in the most complicated coordination and independence books I could find. But I was
also curious about what made this guy tick and, besides,
I had a nagging thought that maybe all those chops
books werent so important after all. What was it about
Purdie that made him so popular and so damn good at
what he did?
Purdie, of course, realized where I was coming from
and took me through his routine of not being impressed,
week after week, until it worked. I was finally so mad
that I made a breakthrough in dynamics. He was very
big on dynamics. He used the Haskell Harr book
a silly, simple book, I thought, but then again, there
were all those dynamic markings.
Purdie also gave me some priceless first-hand experience in the recording business, which was really what I
wanted anyway. He was very generous and took me to
actual sessions, sometimes letting me sit on the floor of
the studio, right behind him in the drum booth.
I remember two dates in particular. One was a B.B.
King Pepsi jingle session. Purdie looked at the chart
and turned it upside down! Once he had looked at it he
knew what it was all about.
The other was an Ashford & Simpson session.
While I was sitting in the studio, the session hit a snag
and the producer wasnt satisfied. When he looked
around for someone to be the scapegoathe found me.
Who is this guy you keep bringing around, Purdie? Does
he have to be in the studio while were recording? Does
he have to be here at all? I understood the situation,
took my cue and exited stage left, but I will be forever
grateful to Bernard for giving me the experience of watching actual records being made.
I was also fortunate to have him sit in on a gig I was
playing in Amsterdam in the summer of 95. I coaxed
him up to play a straight-ahead shuffle, and the beauty
of his playing emerged in the dynamics of the different
pieces of the kit. The volume of the bass drum was
punchy, not booming, but a solid hit. Yet the bass drum
didnt overpower the snare, and the hi-hat fit somewhere in between so that the overall sound was chunky

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Give The Drummers Some!

and powerful. And the groove was, well thats what
Purdies all about. He calls himself a time man. He
says its easier to play busy rhythms than it is to play
simple ones. Busy playing hides sloppiness and mistakes, but when its just 2 and 4 on the snare, any mistake sticks out like a sore thumb. He says thats why a
lot of jazz players have
trouble playing rock.

The man:
Success did not come easily for Bernard Pretty Purdie, and after it did, he has had to work hard to stay near
the top. His glory years with Aretha, Steely Dan and Jeff
Beck are hard to beat, and all the great grooves with bass
players Chuck Rainey and Jerry Jemmott are classics.
If I had only one adjective to use to describe the
man, I would say indomitable. He has incredible
inner strength, enough confidence to sink a battle ship
and enough show biz savvy to weather any storm and
come out on top. Hes been up and down and up
again, and he says hes still learning. The hip-hoppers
who have sampled him are now hiring him to play live.
Controversial? Yes. Braggadocious? Yes. But the man
also has a heart as big as his well-deserved reputation
in the world of drumming.

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