From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Fri Oct 25, 2002  1:18 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Earl Palmer

EARL PALMER

Born Earl Cyril Palmer, Jr., 25 October 1924, New Orleans, Louisiana

Drummer. When the powers-that-be at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame
decided to add a new category, "Sidemen" in 2000, Earl Palmer was one
of the first to be inducted. And rightly so. Palmer can be considered as
the father of the backbeat, the signature sound of the second half of the
20th century, and is arguably the most exciting (and prolific) rock 'n' roll
drummer of them all.
Palmer was a professional tap dancer by the age of five, joining his mother
and aunt on the black vaudeville circuit in its twilight. He spent part of WW II
as a serviceman in Europe (including two months in the southern part of the
Netherlands, November-December 1944). After the war he enrolled at the
Grunewald School of Music in New Orleans. By then he was already the
best drummer in town. Be-bop jazz was his first love, but R&B and blues
paid the bills starting in 1947, when he joined Dave Bartholomew's band.
He played on Fats Domino's first session (The Fat Man, etc.) and countless
other New Orleans sessions until 1957, including those by Little Richard.
The synergy between Penniman and Palmer effectively bulldozed rhythm
and blues into the emerging world of rock 'n' roll.
The reason for his move to Los Angeles in February 1957 was revealed in
Palmer's recent biography : he'd got himself into a mess after falling in love
with a young white woman. This was the South, remember. Just as he was
dreading what might happen next, Aladdin Records suddenly offered him
an A&R position out in California. So Earl packed his bags, leaving a wife
and four children behind, and headed West. Palmer was quick to let Aladdin
boss Eddie Mesner know that he wasn't just a drummer but a music school
graduate who could compose, arrange, and supervise a record session.
Soon he was one of the busiest session men in L.A. Ironically, one of his
first assignments was duplicating his infectious "I'm Walkin'" groove for
Ricky Nelson's cover version of the Fats Domino tune, less than three
months after Palmer had played on the original version.
Of all the labels that utilised Palmer's services, Class Records was the most
consistent and they hired the drummer for just about everything they put out.
As I've written before (in the bios of Ernie Fields and Rene Hall), in the
studio
he had almost daily contact with guitarist Rene Hall and saxophonist Plas
Johnson (both men also raised in Louisiana). The three men instigated a
publishing and production venture called "Record Masters", in an attempt to
win some of the spoils that would usually pass them by. Rendezvous Records
was the company that picked up on the projects and after the chosen single,
"In The Mood" (credited to the Ernie Fields Orchestra) became a Top 5 hit in
1959, the follow-up album, justifiably, gave Earl full arrangement credits on
the
sleeve. The sixties opened a whole new era for Earl. There was his own album
deal with Liberty, membership of Phil Spector's legendary Wall of Sound, movie
soundtracks, TV specials and, as always, still plenty of takers for those never-
diminishing drumming talents. Even now, in the 21st century, Earl Palmer's
artistic adventures are by no means over yet.

More info: http://www.laweekly.com/ink/99/35/music-whiteside.php
(Auto)biography : Tony Scherman, Backbeat : Earl Palmer's Story. Washington,
D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1999. Written in the first person, this
book
is a transcript of 125 hours of raw material on tape. Includes a selective list
of
Earl's recorded work. Highly recommended.

CD : Earl Palmer, Backbeat : The World's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Drummer
(Ace 719). As far as I know, this is the only CD to give a representative
overview
of a sideman's work. 30 tracks, including I Got It (Little Richard), That Mellow
Saxophone (Roy Montrell), Shame Shame Shame (Smiley Lewis), Chicken
Shack Boogie (Amos Milburn, 1956 version), King Kong (Big T. Tyler), Drum
Village, 1 & 2 (Earl Palmer and his Ten-Piece Rockin' Band), Koko Joe (Don
and Dewey), Red Hot Rockin' Blues (Jesse James), Rockin' Robin (Bobby Day),
La Bamba (Ritchie Valens), Somethin' Else (Eddie Cochran) and In The Mood
(Ernie Fields).