Customer Reviews

BACKBEAT: Earl Palmer's Story

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If you like behind the scenes stories of the old days of music, this is a book you'll like. Palmer has a gunfighter mentality that enhances his story, and a career that began back in the 1930's when he was a child dancer. He's experienced alot in his career, including the start of rock and roll. His explanation of the rhythmic changes that set early rock and roll apart from the music that came before it is fascinating. Palmer was playing in Little Richard's band and he noticed that Little Richard wasn't playing blues shuffle rhythms on his piano. Although the band could play a blues shuffle behind Little Richard and sound acceptable, as was the case on "Tutti-Frutti," the sound was better when the drummer and the band adapted to the rhythm that Little Richard was playing, as they did on "Lucille". Palmer doesn't know if Little Richard or Chuck Berry invented the rock and roll rhythm first, but he points out that Berry's band always played blues shuffles behind him, while Little Richard's band had a more modern beat. The records bear this out. I thought it was a fascinating explanation, and a cool insight.

The life story of the 'inventor' of the rock and roll backbeat! Great insight on life in the 50's era of music in New Orleans.

His success in LA as the premier drummer and his great down to earth language in reliving some of the times when he was in his prime.

He and Hal Blaine are the reason so many of the record labels recorded in LA, and their ability to not only provide the beat, but many times either arrange or help arrange the tunes made Earl invaluable in the studio.

A must read if your into the rock and roll history of the roots of the music.

I am a great fan of Earl Palmer and eagerly read the book. I was even lucky enough to get him to sign my copy at a jazz fest appearance.

That said, this is a moving book chronicling his rise as THE New Orleans drummer to being the premier studio drummer in the world .

Music is the background of this book-the foreground is more about Palmer's life, loves and career. Palmer is frank, unapologetic, opinionated and somewhat cocky.

He discusses New Orleans in the 40's and 50's, race relations and the music scene from a first person perspective. Its refreshing and full of surprises.

He moves on to chronicle his career in L.A.- how he comes into the scene- who he displaces and eventually how he gets displaced. Anecdotes abound about various sessions and gigs- though not as many as one might want to hear.

What this book clearly is not is some sort of insight into technique or musical philosophy. This disappointed me at first - then I realized Earl can let the huge body of recorded work do the talking there. ( I have seen some video tape for sale where Earl demonstrates various beats and techniques)

The book is a bit choppy and somewhat unpolished at times- but it makes up for it in frankness.- over time I came to appreciate that.

If is fun for me to read first hand accounts of pop music - especially from people who are from New Orleans - who go outside of the Cresent City and make it big - etc. Earl seems to paint an honest picture of the people and places of his career.

I will probably be reading it again. If you are a New Orleans' drummer - this book may be of more interest to you then anyone else on the planet.

A well written book about one of the most recorded musicians to come out of New Orleans since Louis Armstrong. From Little Richard to Frank Sinatra, Earl Palmer was the drummer of choice. Racism forced Earl to leave The Crescent City but the Los Angeles music scene couldn't have benefited more. What a life !!!

Earl Palmer IS a great drummer, probably one of the most recorded ever. A true creator that shaped the way we all listen to drums and popular music these days. Unfortunately this book doesn't get very deep into the music aspect of his life, but like many other biographies, talks about a lot of other subjects. Don't get me wrong, it is a very interesting book. Especially on the subject of racial discrimination in the U.S. The way New Orleans is described is great. I was expecting something more on the musician side than on the personal side. That might be what you're looking for.

Yeah, it's gritty - but it's real! This is how rock and roll was shaped in America, or at least a very big part of it. New Orleans history musical history lesson with names, places, dates that are invaluable for future historians and of extreme interest for today's students of R&R. Above all, Earl was GOOD, GREAT - a musical genius. There isn't a person in the world who listens to Western music (American) that hasn't danced to Earl's drum beats. Little Richard to Sinatra to movie scores (reading EVERY note) and even the most difficult scores - CARTOONS! He did it all!

RIP, Earl. We all thank you for your gift!

Earl Palmer is an incredibly important figure in pop music. His drumming virtually defines early rock 'n' roll, especially his recordings for the Specialty label in the 1950's.
It was great to hear him talk about his early years and how he became such a major performer in the studios of New Orleans and Hollywood.
It is also fascinating to hear him talk aout his desire to be a bebop drummer.
As a result of reading this book I went out and bought a whole bunch of records with Palmer.
Anyone interested in the roots of rock or in what makes a good drummer should read this book.

Started and finished this today. Not a hugely long read but really entertaining. In one way Earl had a really hard life but it was also extremely interesting. Such a shame that you can't zip on to you tube and see very many performances like you can with a lot of the other guys from the 50's and 60's. The studio guys were really heard, but not seen.

Anyway, heartily recommended to drummers and people interested in music history. RIP Earl and thanks for the music!

Fans of Earl Palmer, the great drummer who played on Fats Domino's records (and innumerable others), will jump at the chance to learn more about his life and musical development; however, this book does not communicate much of interest. There are lots of anecdotes regarding generally unknown New Orleans characters. The stories most readers want to hear, stories about musicians we may have heard of, are underrepresented. In addition, there is very little discussion of music in general. Disappointing, since musicians are going to be the main audience for this work.