Earl Palmer

Earl Cyril Palmer (October 25, 1924 – September 19, 2008) was an American rock & roll and rhythm and blues drummer, and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Palmer played on many recording sessions, including Little Richard's first several albums and Tom Waits' 1978 album Blue Valentine. According to one obituary, "his list of credits read like a Who's Who of American popular music of the last 60 years".

Biography
Born into a showbusiness family in New Orleans and raised in the Tremé district, Palmer started his career at five as a tap dancer, joining his mother and aunt on the black vaudeville circuit in its twilight and touring the country extensively with Ida Cox's Darktown Scandals Review. His father was thought to be local pianist and bandleader Walter "Fats" Pichon.

Palmer served in the United States Army during World War II, eventually being posted in the European Theatre. His biographer states,


 * Most Negro recruits were assigned to noncombatant service troops: work gangs in uniform. "They didn't want no niggers carrying guns," says Earl; they carried shovels, and garbage cans instead. Earl's job, loading and handling ammunition was relatively technical, but his duty was clear: to serve white infantrymen.

After the war ended he studied piano and percussion at the Gruenwald School of Music in New Orleans, where he also learned to read music. He started drumming with the Dave Bartholomew Band in the late 1940s. Palmer was known for playing on New Orleans recording sessions, including Fats Domino's "The Fat Man", "I'm Walkin" (and all the rest of Domino's hits), "Tipitina" by Professor Longhair, "Tutti Frutti" by  Little Richard (and most of Richard's hits), "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" by Lloyd Price, and "I Hear You Knockin'" by Smiley Lewis.

His playing on "The Fat Man" featured the backbeat that has come to be the most important element in rock and roll. Palmer said, "That song required a strong afterbeat throughout the whole piece. With Dixieland you had a strong afterbeat only after you got to the shout last chorus. . . . It was sort of a new approach to rhythm music." Reportedly, he was the first to use the word "funky", to explain to other musicians that their music should be made more syncopated and danceable.

Palmer left New Orleans for Hollywood in 1957, initially working for Aladdin Records. Palmer soon wound up in the Wrecking Crew, a famous group of session musicians who recorded nonstop during their heyday from 1962-68. The musicians union tracked Earl Palmer playing on 450 dates in 1967 alone. For more than 30 years he was to play drums on the scores and soundtracks of many movies and television shows. His career as a session drummer included work with Frank Sinatra, Phil Spector, Ricky Nelson, Bobby Vee, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Eddie Cochran, Ritchie Valens, Bobby Day, Don and Dewey, Jan and Dean, the Beach Boys, Larry Williams, Gene McDaniels, Bobby Darin, Neil Young, The Pets, and B. Bumble and the Stingers, as well as jazz sessions with Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Bostic and Count Basie, and appearing on blues recordings with B. B. King. He was also in demand for TV and film scores.

Palmer played drums in a recording session with west-coast folk singer-songwriter Jim Sullivan around 1969 or 1970. The album was released twice with different audio mixes. On the Monnie Records album, "U.F.O.", Palmer's drumming can be clearly heard, but on the Century City Record, "Jim Sullivan" the drums, percussion and bass were moved back in the mix.

He remained in demand as a drummer throughout the 1970s and 1980s, playing on albums by Randy Newman, Tom Waits, Bonnie Raitt, Tim Buckley, Little Feat and Elvis Costello.

In 1982, Palmer was elected treasurer of the Local 47 of the American Federation of Musicians. He served until he was defeated in 1984 and was re-elected in 1990.

His biography, Backbeat: the Earl Palmer Story, written by Tony Scherman, was published in 1999. In 2000, he became one of the first session musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In recent years, he played with a jazz trio in Los Angeles.

Palmer died in September 2008, in Banning, California, after a long illness.

Personal life
He married four times, and had seven children: Earl Cyril Palmer, Jr., Donald Alfred Palmer, Ronald Raymond Palmer and Patricia Ann Palmer from his marriage to Catherine Palmer; Shelly Margaret Palmer and Pamela Teresa Palmer from his marriage to Susan Joy Weidenpesch; and Penny Yasuko Palmer from his marriage to Yumiko Makino.

Quotations

 * "You could always tell a New Orleans drummer the minute you heard him play his bass drum because he'd have that parade beat connotation."—Earl Palmer.
 * Late in his career, Palmer appeared in a music video with Cracker on the song "I hate my generation". As Addicted to Noise tells the story:"According to Cracker leader David Lowery, when Palmer was asked if he would be able to play along with the songs, he gave Lowery a look and said, 'I invented this shit.'"
 * "I've been asked if people could borrow my drums because they like their sound. What the hell, they think the drums play themselves? I said, 'You really want 'em? Really? Okay. Cost you triple scale and cartage.'"
 * When asked by Max Weinberg what more of the recording sessions he'd played on Palmer replied:
 * Don't ask me which ones I played on.. I should have done like Hal. Hal used to get gold records for all the things he played on.  I never did that, you know. I would like to have a room with all those things in them.  It would have been nice - show my grandchildren when they grow up so they don't say, 'Oh shut up old man and sit down.' I could just say, 'Look.  I don't have to tell you nothing.  There it is.' 

As leader

 * Drumsville (Liberty Records, 1961)
 * Percolator Twist (Liberty Records, 1962)

As sideman

 * Albums
 * Here's Little Richard - Little Richard (1957)
 * Swinging Flute in Hi-Fi - The Strollers (1958)
 * The Fabulous Little Richard - Little Richard (1959)
 * Julie...At Home - Julie London (1960)
 * Sinatra and Swingin' Brass - Frank Sinatra (1962)
 * Twistin' And Twangin' - Duane Eddy (1962)
 * Color Him Funky - Howard Roberts (1963)
 * H.R. is a Dirty Guitar Player - Howard Roberts (1963)
 * The Astounding 12-String Guitar of Glen Campbell - Glen Campbell (1964)
 * Mr. Eliminator - Dick Dale (1964)
 * Gil Fuller & the Monterey Jazz Festival Orchestra featuring Dizzy Gillespie - Gil Fuller (Pacific Jazz, 1965)
 * Latin In The Horn - Al Hirt & Lalo Schifrin (1966)
 * Music from Mission: Impossible - Lalo Schifrin (Dot, 1967)
 * There's a Whole Lalo Schifrin Goin' On - Lalo Schifrin (Dot, 1968)
 * Accent on Africa - Cannonball Adderley (1968)
 * The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees - The Monkees (1968)
 * Head - The Monkees (1968)
 * The Natch'l Blues - Taj Mahal (1969)
 * U.F.O. - Jim Sullivan (1969)
 * Memphis Jackson - Milt Jackson (Impulse!, 1969)
 * People Like Us - The Mamas & the Papas (1971)
 * David Clayton-Thomas - David Clayton-Thomas (1972)
 * Look at the Fool - Tim Buckley (1974)
 * Sweet Harmony - Maria Muldaur (1976)
 * Ins and Outs - Lalo Schifrin (Palo Alto, 1982)
 * King of America - Elvis Costello (1986)
 * The Ultimate School of Rock & Roll - Gene Summers (1997)
 * In 3-Dimensions - Deke Dickerson (2003)
 * Seasons in the Sun (Unreleased) - The Beach Boys


 * Singles
 * The Fat Man - Fats Domino (1949)
 * Lawdy Miss Clawdy - Lloyd Price (1952)
 * Doin' The Hambone b/w Thinkin' 'Bout My Baby - James Booker (1954)
 * "I Hear You Knockin'" - Smiley Lewis (1955)
 * Blue Monday - I'm Walkin' - Fats Domino
 * The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard (1956)
 * Greyhound b/w Dear Angel - Amos Milburn (1957)
 * "Busy, Busy", "My Heaven" - Dan Bowden (1958)
 * Donna - Ritchie Valens (1958)
 * Summertime Blues- Eddie Cochran (1958)
 * "Slow Down", "Dizzy Miss Lizzy", "Bony Moronie" - Larry Williams (1958)
 * "Polly Molly", "Forever And A Day" - 5 Masks (1958)
 * "Patricia Darling", "Whatta You Do" - Ray Willis (1958)
 * Rockin' Robin - Bobby Day (1958)
 * Nervous, Gene Summers (1958)
 * Gotta Lotta That, Gene Summers (1958)
 * Twixteen, Gene Summers (1958)
 * "Crazy Cat Corner" - Gene Summers (1958)
 * La Bamba - Ritchie Valens (1959)
 * Walking to New Orleans - Fats Domino (1960)
 * The Lonely Bull - Herb Alpert (1962)
 * "High Flyin' Bird" - Judy Henske (1963)
 * "Please Let Me Love You" - The Beefeaters (who later became the Byrds) (1964)
 * The Little Old Lady from Pasadena - Jan and Dean (1964)
 * Dead Man's Curve - Jan and Dean (1964)
 * You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' - The Righteous Brothers (1964)
 * Please Let Me Wonder - The Beach Boys (1965)
 * Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me - Mel Carter (1965)
 * River Deep - Mountain High - Ike & Tina Turner - (1966)
 * "We Were Made for Each Other" - The Monkees (1968)
 * I'll Be Back Up On My Feet - The Monkees (1968)
 * "Magnolia Simms" - The Monkees (1968)
 * "The Old Laughing Lady" - Neil Young (1968)
 * "I've Loved Her So Long" - Neil Young (1968)
 * "She Gets Me Where I Live" - Al Kooper (1970)
 * "God Sheds His Grace on Thee" - Al Kooper (1970)
 * "Whistlin' Past the Graveyard" - Tom Waits - (1978)
 * "Sweet Little Bullet From a Pretty Blue Gun" - Tom Waits - (1978)

Film scores
Palmer was the session drummer for a number of film scores, including:

1961
 * Judgement at Nuremberg, score by Ernest Gold

1963
 * Hud, score by Elmer Bernstein
 * It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, score by Ernest Gold

1964
 * Baby the Rain Must Fall, score by Elmer Bernstein
 * Ride the Wild Surf score by Stu Phillips
 * Robin and the Seven Hoods, score by Nelson Riddle

1965
 * Boeing Boeing, score by Neal Hefti
 * Harlow, score by Neal Hefti
 * How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, score by Les Baxter
 * A Patch of Blue, score by Jerry Goldsmith

1967
 * Pretty Polly, score by Michel Legrand
 * Cool Hand Luke, score by Lalo Schifrin
 * In the Heat of the Night, score by Quincy Jones

1968
 * A Dandy in Aspic, score by Quincy Jones

Television scores
Palmer was also the session drummer for a number of television show themes and soundtracks, including:
 * Flintstones Theme Song
 * M Squad
 * 77 Sunset Strip
 * Bourbon Street Beat
 * Hawaiian Eye
 * Peyton Place
 * I Dream of Jeannie
 * Green Acres
 * Ironside
 * The Outsider
 * It Takes a Thief
 * The Leslie Uggams Show
 * The Brady Bunch
 * Delta
 * The Partridge Family
 * The Odd Couple
 * The Pearl Bailey Show
 * M*A*S*H
 * The Midnight Special
 * Mannix
 * Mission: Impossible