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Posted by Claudette Cooling on 20th June 2018
As you know we like to bring you guys as much behind the scenes info and news as we can and this month we got to catch up with one the UK's best known jazz drummers, Ian Palmer.
A respected drummer, Ian has forged an impressive career which has seen him work alongside a diverse range of artists across his more than 30 years as a musician. His interest in drums started around the age of 9 years old and this was initially inspired by Ian's two uncles, the respected Steve Palmer and Carl Palmer who are both successful drummers in their own right.
"I spent many years under the tutelage of Malcolm Garrett who I truly believe is one of the finest drummers I have ever seen. Malcolm can be found honing the skills of many fine, young drummers at Birmingham Conservatoire, one of the UK's leading music schools."
From early on it was obvious that Ian was destined for greatness, his formative years were spent as drummer with the Midlands Youth Jazz Orchestra (MYJO) under the direction of Dr John Ruddick MBE and not only did he go onto perform all around the world with this group, MYJO were prolific winners of the BBC Big Band competition and Ian himself went onto win two awards as a young member of this group; the Kenny Clare award and the Musicians' Union Young Musician of the Year. After continued success with MYJO, Ian decided to start his own contemporary jazz quintet in the early 90's along with trumpeter Guy Barker, saxophonist Dave O’Higgins, pianist David Newton and bassist Alec Dankworth. Alongside this endeavour Ian continued to perform as a sideman in many groups and ensembles as well contributing as a columnist for the UK's best selling drum magazine, Rhythm Magazine.
Ian has had a long time association with the respected Yamaha Drums, Zildjian Cymbals and Vic Firth Drumsticks and is a proud endorsee of all three of these brands. Ian detailed his drum set-up with us from a recent shoot below:
Yamaha Drums: Yamaha Absolute Hybrid Maple in Vintage Natural (20”x16”, 10”x7”, 12”x8”, 14”x13”, 16”x15”) and a Yamaha Recording Custom Aluminium 14”x 5.5” Snare Drum.
Zildjian Cymbals: Zildjian 16” A Thin Crash, Zildjian 15” K Special Dry Hi Hats, Zildjian 19” A Armand Ride, Zildjian 10” K Special Dry Splash, Zildjian 23” K Special Dry Ride, Zildjian 22” K Complex Ride and Zildjian 18” A Thin Crash.
Remo Drumheads: Remo FiberSkyn on snare batter, Remo Ambassador snare side, Remo Coated PowerStroke 3 on bass drum batter, Remo Coated Ambassador on all tom batter side with exception of a Remo Clear Emperor on 16” floor tom batter and Remo Clear Diplomats on tom bottoms.
Vic Firth Drumsticks: Vic Firth 5A American Classic Double Glaze.
Some of Ian's recent collaborations include working with LA-based Richard Niles' Bandzilla project featuring trumpeter Randy Brecker, an album with guitarist Eric Henderson and bassist Mark Egan, as well as a recent headline at the London Drum Show 2017 alongside iconic drummer Mike Clark. Another notable endeavour Ian has recently been involved in was playing in saxophonist Alan Skidmore's jazz group and then appearing on three albums on ITM Records; Live at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall with Georgie Fame, Impressions of Coltrane and double album "Naima" which featured Ian on one side and the legendary British drummer Tony Levin on the other. This would turn out to be Tony's last ever recording.
Ian has been teasing us over on social media with backstage snaps of his most recent project with successful composer and touring session drummer on the pop scene Kaz Rodriguez, so we're super excited to see what the fruits of these two guys labour delivers! Not only does Ian get up to lots and lots of drumming gigs he loves to give back to the world of drumming and regularly performs at drum clinics all over the UK to large audiences. His most recent drum clinic in North Wales was very well attended and once again showed why Ian is such a well loved and respected drummer.
However, we believe and we're sure the wider drumming community would have to agree, one of Ian's greatest achievements has to be the birth of the The World’s Greatest Drummer Concert. The World's Greatest Drummer Concert celebrates it's 10th anniversary this year and boy has it made an impact on the drumming community and industry alike, the WGD is one of the most anticipated events in the UK drumming calendar and we can totally understand why. The WGD concert celebrates everything drums; it features the finest session musicians and over the last ten years has showcased some of the world's finest drummers including Garry Allcock, Steve Barney, Pete Ray Biggin, Karl Brazil, Jon Brookes, Neil Bullock, Keith Carlock, Steve Gadd, Benny Greb, Gary Husband, Mark Mondesir, Darrin Mooney, Ian Paice, Steve Smith, Jeremy Stacey, Steve White and Neal Wilkinson.
Ian notes that the shows were a brainchild of his and one of his late best friends Jon Brookes, Ian confesses that Jon was one of the driving forces to helping him to get the concerts off the ground. The WGD concert not only got off the ground it skyrocketed into an event many drummers clear their calendar for; not only does it feature a fifteen-piece big band made up of a selection of the UK's finest session musicians, it features the most up and coming, exciting drummers of today. The WGD concert is held at Royal and Derngate in Northampton every year and really is one to mark on your calendar! To learn more about The World's Greatest Drummer Concert click here.
We love not only learning about some of the amazing, iconic drummers within the drumming community but we love nothing more than to shout about them and support them! So if you’ve liked what you’ve read, we’re pretty sure you should get yourself over to Ian's socials and check him out, you can find Ian on the following platforms:
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Website
With special thanks to James Cumpsty who photographed Ian Palmer in the above images.
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