How Good Was Levon Helm as a Drummer?

Levon was the master of the hiccup drum beat, gotta love it!

 

Given how joyful (and great) his drumming and triple-threat soulfulness was with the Band, it's such a shame that he looked back on it all with such a sense of estrangement and bitterness. He's up there with John Fogerty in the annals of sad retrospective rock and roll disillusionment.

 

According to Helm in his aurobiography he refused to re-do any of his parts on The Last Waltz, so they were forced to use all his actual live work.

That film was how I discovered The Band as a teenager on New Year’s Eve 1979 at the Bleeker Street Cinema. I don’t care whose parts were recorded when, it is one of my favorite albums ever, and certainly one if the very best rock concert films ever made.

I was fortunate enough to see Helm on his very last tour at The Greek Theater in Los Angeles. Though very frail he gave it his all and wowed us all. Oftentimes I watch a band or performer leave the stage and wonder if I’ll ever see them again, in Helm’s case you knew this was it, a very powerful feeling indeed.

And his drumming? The right man in the right band st the tight time, he’s sn icon.

 

My god, If that’s not funky, I don’t know what is. His beat is wiiiiide - you could drive a truck through it.

 

His last 3 records; Dirt Farmer, Electric Dirt, & Ramble At The Ryman clearly show that at the end of his career, his playing and creativity were stronger than ever. Those are some seriously terrific records!

 

They didn't even play the same instrument.

 

Clarinets and saxophones are both reeds, they are similar enough and most players of one can pick up and play the other. Like violins and violas.

 

Unique and awe inspiring.

 

Miller played trombone and was dead, maybe you're thinking of Benny Goodman (who played clarinet and was still alive and performing)? The better comparison would be Coltrane (who wasn't yet universally admired in the '50s) and Coleman Hawkins or Lester Young.

 

Far better a slow tempos than most rock drummers, among his many virtues.

 

The incredible groove on this is courtesy of Levon, Rick Danko on bass and Crosby on rhythm guitar. I doubt any of them remembered the session for more than a week (if that) but it GROOVES

 

How good was he?!

one of the best!

 

Nobody could have done what he did better.

 

The sad thing is that vocal blend of Rock, Richard and Levon will never be again. Thank goodness for the invention of magnetic tape.

 

Sure Levon was great at what he did, but that goes for every member of the band. I probably wouldn't consider any of them as "among the greatest" at their instrument, but as a collective they were most definitely far greater than the sum of their parts. Not surprising since they were already working together as a (backing) band for about a decade before recording their first album (not to mention they spent that decade playing in a variety of styles which led them to their own distinctive and unique hybrid of styles as displayed on their first few albums).

Their progression as players wasn't as a bunch of individuals who got together after perfecting their craft individually - they grew and developed together as singers and players from their teens. In terms this messageboard can understand - its like if the Beatles had spent nearly a decade cutting their teeth in Hamburg rather than just whatever their total number of months was. Since that was the case every band member became irreplaceable/the only man for the job.

They understood and respected each other as players/singers, and they also understood the value of good songs and good arrangements, and that as players they were there to bring their best to the table in service of the song - rather than in service of their own egos, and it worked absolutely brilliantly - for a while...until fame, drugs and money hobbled it, and eventually killed it.

 

Yes, I meant Benny Goodman, silly me.

 

In fact, the tenor sax even has the same fingering as the clarinet.

 

Flutes, too are similar, I think I recall, but after my Miller/Goodman gaffe, I should almost look it up first lol.

 

Great example! But sadly, I believe that was the last time Levon ever played that song. But that's another story.

I saw him very near the end and although he couldn't sing, he played great and had the biggest smile on his face all night. RIP Levon.

 

I play sax, no they don't - they are both pitched in B-flat, but that's a separate issue.

 

He wasn't only a great drummer .... he was the coolest guy in the room

 

Who is the guitarist? Tasty stuff!!!

 

Thanks for the correction - I am an occasional clarinet player and I’ve always believed that if I practised a bit more I could get a gig in a rock’n’roll band The upper register fingering is the same though, isn’t it?

 

If you get a chance to hear The Band when they were still Levon & The Hawks from a circulating 1965 tape, he was quite the hard driving showman/pro rock drummer!

 

#2 for me. #1 is Joe Morello.