Steve Gadd

Gadd grew up in Irondequoit, New York and graduated from Eastridge High School, then the Eastman School of Music in 1968.[3][4]

In a Modern Drummer interview Gadd mentioned that some of his influences at a young age and later on included Buddy Rich, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, and the "less is more" style of Rick Marotta.[5]

Gap Mangione's 1968 album Diana in the Autumn Wind was the first studio recording by Gadd, and also by bassist Tony Levin.[6] In 1981 he played drums and percussion for Simon and Garfunkel's Concert in Central Park.

Chick Corea once commented, "Every drummer wants to play like Gadd because he plays perfect.... He has brought orchestral and compositional thinking to the drum kit while at the same time having a great imagination and a great ability to swing."[7]

In 2005, along with Abraham Laboriel, Patrice Rushen and others, Gadd was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music for outstanding contributions to contemporary music.[8]

Way Back Home: Live from Rochester, NY by the Steve Gadd Band was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.[9]

Steven Gadd won the 2019 Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 61st Grammy Awards for Steve Gadd Band — (by the) Steve Gadd Band.[10][11]

Gadd behind his drum kit in 2010

A short list of musicians with whom Gadd has worked includes Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Edie Brickell, Steely Dan, Al Jarreau, Joe Cocker, Stuff, Bob James, Chick Corea, Eric Clapton, Pino Daniele, James Taylor, Jim Croce, Eddie Gómez, The Manhattan Transfer, Michal Urbaniak, Steps Ahead, Tony Banks, Manhattan Jazz Quintet, Carly Simon, Richard Tee, Jon Bon Jovi, Chet Baker, Paul Desmond, The Bee Gees, Michael McDonald, Michel Petrucciani, Kate Bush, and David Sanborn.

2010s

Gadd played with Eric Clapton in his band at the 2010 Crossroads Festival. In 2011, Gadd worked with Kate Bush on her 50 Words for Snow album, and she declared during an interview by Jamie Cullum that she had wanted to work with Steve Gadd for a long time but had not had the courage to approach him; she described him as "a sweet person, really down to earth" and said that "his interpretation of music is so sophisticated", and also that she loved working with him due to a real chemistry that started to click in.

Steve Gadd playing with the brushes while watching Chick Corea during their show at the Blue Note, NYC on Friday, September 29, 2017.

Gadd toured in 2014 with James Taylor.[12] Since 2014, Gadd has played in a soul-jazz trio along with Danish musicians Michael Blicher and Dan Hemmer.[13]

Gadd endorses and uses Yamaha drums, pedals and hardware,[14][15] Zildjian cymbals,[15][16] Remo drumheads,[15][17] Latin Percussion,[15][18] Earthworks microphones,[15][19] Vic Firth sticks and brushes[15][20] and Beato bags.[21] Before signing on with Yamaha, Gadd played a mixed kit that included a Gretsch bass drum (20") and Pearl concert toms customized by Frank Ippolito's Professional Percussion Center in New York. By using Evans hydraulic heads with added bottom heads he was able to get a deeper, richer tone that became known as his signature sound, a sound still popular 30 years later. Gadd now mainly uses the "Steve Gadd Commemorative" kit, which Yamaha made for the 30th anniversary of his collaboration with the company. The kit consists of a 22"×14" maple bass drum and 12"x8", 13"x9", 14"x12" and 16"x14" birch tom toms. He uses his 14"x5.5" Yamaha Steve Gadd signature steel snare drum with wood hoops, which also comes in birch and maple versions, and he has started to endorse the newer Yamaha Recording Custom series.[22] Gadd has also used a Yamaha Club Custom drum kit in a blue swirl finish.[23]

He uses Zildjian cymbals, and he collaborated with Zildjian when they made the K Custom Session cymbals.

Gadd also has Vic Firth sticks with his signature on them. The drumsticks are very light and thin, black in color, and have normal "wood color" on the tips. There is also an identical model with nylon tips. The stick is slightly shorter than the American Classic 5A, and features a barrel tip for improved recording sound. It is 15 ³⁄₄ in (40.0 cm) long and the diameter is .550 in (1.40 cm). In addition to having his own signature stick, he has his own signature brushes. These brushes are intended to solve the problem of wire brushes snagging on new coated drumheads by slightly angling the wires in the top 3/4 inches (1.9 cm) of the playing end. The wires glide across the head, allowing a smoother sweep and a velvet swish sound.

Gadd uses a variety of Remo heads: a Coated Powerstroke 3 on the batter side of the snare with a Hazy Diplomat on the resonant side of the snare, Clear Pinstripes or Coated Ambassadors on the batter sides of toms, and Clear Ambassadors for the resonant sides. He is using a Coated Powerstroke 3 both on his snare and kick drum.[21][24][25]

He also has an LP Steve Gadd signature cowbell, modelled on the LP Mambo cowbell that he has used since the 1970s.[26]

According to allmusic, Gadd has been variously credited with playing surdo, kalimba, timpani, tambourine, congas, Grand Cassa, bongos, timbales, snare drum, cymbals and palmas in addition to a drum kit.[27]

With Aretha Franklin

• With Everything I Feel in Me (Atlantic Records, 1974)
• Let Me in Your Life (Atlantic Records, 1974)

With James Taylor

• New Moon Shine (Columbia Records, 1991)
• October Road (Columbia Records, 2002)
• James Taylor at Christmas (Columbia Records, 2006)
• Covers (Hear Music, 2008)
• Other Covers (Hear Music, 2009)
• Before This World (Concord Records, 2015)
• American Standards (Fantasy Records, 2020)

With Barry Manilow

• Barry Manilow (Arista Records, 1973)

With Paul Shaffer

• Coast to Coast (Capitol Records, 1989)

With Loleatta Holloway

• Queen of the Night (Gold Mind Records, 1978)

With Art Garfunkel

• Watermark (Columbia Records, 1977)
• Fate for Breakfast (Columbia Records, 1979)
• Lefty (Columbia Records, 1988)
• Songs from a Parent to a Child (Columbia Records, 1997)
• Some Enchanted Evening (Atco Records, 2007)

With Natalie Cole

• Snowfall on the Sahara (Elektra Records, 1999)

With Edie Brickell

• Picture Perfect Morning (Geffen, 1994)
• Volcano (Universal Music Group, 2003)

With Don Felder

• American Rock 'n' Roll (BMG, 2019)

With Livingston Taylor

• There You Are Again (Coconut Bay, 2005)
• Last Alaska Moon (Coconut Bay, 2009)

With Peter Allen

• Continental American (A&M Records, 1974)

With Tracy Chapman

• Our Bright Future (Elektra Records, 2008)

With Marc Cohn

• Marc Cohn (Atlantic Records, 1991)

With Richie Havens

• Connections (Elektra Records, 1980)

With Michael Franks

• Burchfield Nines (Warner Bros. Records, 1978)
• Passionfruit (Warner Bros. Records, 1983)
• Skin Dive (Warner Bros. Records, 1985)
• Barefoot on the Beach (Windham Hill Records, 1999)

With Bette Midler

• Bette Midler (Atlantic Records, 1973)
• Songs for the New Depression (Atlantic Records, 1976)

With Steely Dan

• Aja (ABC Records, 1977)
• Gaucho (MCA Records, 1980)

With Stephen Bishop

• Red Cab to Manhattan (Warner Bros. Records, 1980)

With Paul Simon

• Still Crazy After All These Years (Columbia Records, 1975)
• Hearts and Bones (Warner Bros. Records, 1983)
• Graceland (Warner Bros. Records, 1986)
• The Rhythm of the Saints (Warner Bros. Records, 1990)
• You're the One (Warner Bros. Records, 2000)
• Surprise (Warner Bros. Records, 2006)

With Kate Bush

• Director's Cut (EMI, 2011)
• 50 Words for Snow (Fish People, 2011)

With Eric Clapton and B.B. King

• Riding with the King (Reprise Records, 2000)

With Barbra Streisand

• Guilty (Columbia Records, 1980)

With Christopher Cross

• Another Page (Warner Bros. Records, 1983)

With Joss Stone

• Colour Me Free! (Virgin Records, 2009)

With Phoebe Snow

• Never Letting Go (Columbia Records, 1977)

With Eric Clapton

• Pilgrim (Reprise Records, 1998)
• Reptile (Reprise Records, 2001)
• Me and Mr. Johnson (Reprise Records, 2004)
• Back Home (Reprise Records, 2005)
• Old Sock (Polydor Records, 2013)

With Philip Bailey

• Love Will Find a Way (Verve Records, 2019)

With Randy Crawford

• Feeling Good (EmArcy, 2006)
• No Regrets (EmArcy, 2008)

With Peter Gabriel

• Up (Realworld Records, 2002)

With Amy Grant and Art Garfunkel

• The Animals' Christmas (Columbia Records, 1985)

With Al Jarreau

• This Time (Warner Bros. Records, 1980)
• Breakin' Away (Warner Bros. Records, 1981)
• Jarreau (Warner Bros. Records, 1983)
• Tomorrow Today (GPR, 2000)

With Jackie DeShannon

• Your Baby Is a Lady (Atlantic Records, 1974)

With Jennifer Holliday

• Say You Love Me (Geffen, 1985)
• Get Close to My Love (Geffen, 1987)

With Michael McDonald

• If That's What It Takes (Warner Bros. Records, 1982)

With Frankie Valli

• Lady Put the Light Out (Private Stock, 1977)

With Diane Schuur

• Talkin' 'bout You (GPR, 1988)

With Gloria Loring

• Friends & Lovers (Atlantic Records, 1986)

With Joe Cocker

• Stingray (A&M Records, 1976)
• Luxury You Can Afford (Asylum Records, 1978)

With Bonnie Raitt

• Streetlights (Warner Bros. Records, 1974)

With Rickie Lee Jones

• Pirates (Warner Bros. Records, 1981)
• The Magazine (Warner Bros. Records, 1984)

With Kenny Loggins

• Celebrate Me Home (Columbia Records, 1977)

With Paul McCartney

• Tug of War (Parlophone Records, 1982)
• Pipes of Peace (Parlophone Records, 1983)

With Dionne Warwick

• Friends in Love (Arista Records, 1982)
• Heartbreaker (Arista Records, 1982)

With Melissa Manchester

• Singin'... (Arista Records, 1977)

With Garland Jeffreys

• Ghost Writer (A&M Records, 1977)

With George Benson

• Bad Benson (CTI Records, 1974)
• Good King Bad (CTI Records, 1976)
• Livin' Inside Your Love (Warner Bros. Records, 1978)
• Pacific Fire (CTI Records, 1983)
• In Your Eyes (Warner Bros. Records, 1983)
• Absolute Benson (Verve, 2000)

With Melba Moore

• Peach Melba (Buddah Records, 1975)

With Roberta Flack

• Blue Lights in the Basement (Atlantic Records, 1977)
• Roberta Flack (Atlantic Records, 1978)
• I'm the One (Atlantic Records, 1982)
• Oasis (Atlantic Records, 1988)

With Carly Simon

• Boys in the Trees (Elektra Records, 1978)
• Spy (Elektra Records, 1979)
• Come Upstairs (Warner Bros. Records, 1980)
• My Romance (Arista Records, 1990)
• Have You Seen Me Lately (Arista Records, 1990)
• The Bedroom Tapes (Arista Records, 2000)

With Ringo Starr

• Ringo the 4th (Polydor Records, 1977)

With O'Donel Levy

• Simba (Groove Merchant, 1974)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Steve Gadd.

• Gadd's official website
• Steve Gadd at Drummerworld – contains video and sound clips.
• Steve Gadd at Free Video Drum Lessons – discography, videos, photos
• Steve Gadd page on The Party Of The Century project – contains video and sound clips.
• Steve Gadd at OnlineDrummer – contains video clips.
• Steve Gadd at BehindTheDrums – contains discography and equipment list.
• BFM Jazz
• Steve Gadd 2014 Interview - with Rochester magazine POST
• Steve Gadd 2015 Interview NAMM Oral History Library