I've never seen this before, fascinating to see him play like this, even though it is very brief in the overall clip.

Yes, very cool!!! Thank you for sharing!

This only shows Charlies lack of technique to do such things. He is brilliant when it comes to laying down the groove, and he has a few tasty breaks and fill- ins, but showing off- drum soloing is not for him, and I was a bit surprised that he agreed to do this show in the first place, when I first saw this.

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Charlie is the first to admit his chops arn't nothing compared to other great drummers. The fact he did go on this shows how humble he is. And frankly he is (was) pretty good. His timing has always been excellent. A class act all the way.

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Markdog
Charlie is the first to admit his chops arn't nothing compared to other great drummers. The fact he did go on this shows how humble he is. And frankly he is (was) pretty good. His timing has always been excellent. A class act all the way.

What to think of drummers who have no excellent timing but instead not enough feel for rhythm? What would we call them? Not bad drummers?

Charlie has found a unique way to express his own creativity.
It's impossible for me not to like this self made drummer.

I like at around 1:02. Mr Watts looks over, at the other drummers. Then he leans his head back and somewhat of a smile breaks. You can tell he is having fun.

In mid - late 60's he had a feel and flow to his playing that seems to have disappeared by late 70's and things like that exaggerated hi hat thing came in and he became kinda more jerky.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-03 16:27 by His Majesty.

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His Majesty
In mid - late 60's he had a feel and flow to his playing that seemes to have disappeared by late 70's and things like that exaggerated hi hat thing came in and he became kinda more jerky.

X2

And Charlie's fills in this clip - although fun to watch - are awful...

this is similar to what jazz drummers would to as a showcase before live audiences, where two or more drummers would set up side by side and trade solos as a sort of competitive but friendly squaring off.

In the movie Beware of Mr Baker, Ginger Baker is shown squaring off against the likes of Elvin Jones, Phil Seamen, etc.

I have to say that Charlie is the weaker of the three in the above clip, as his style is more suited to the rigid tempos of rock n roll. The other two drummers obviously have busier, more fluid techniques that lend themselves to the many flashy nuances of jazz soloing, whereas Charlie appears stiff and limited by comparison.

Sure, Charlie loves jazz and off-time from his day job he is allowed to indulge in his favorite musical genre as a hobby. But he started out on the London music scene in R&B groups and later joined up with a rock band, which perhaps resulted in his technique becoming more limited. Alas, Charlie Watts is a rock drummer.