John Guerin remains one of my favourite drummers and was one of the three that had a major influence on my own playing. A seriously accomplished jazz player, his right hand always played jazz patterns on the ride cymbal, whilst playing almost funky bass drum and snare beats. His fills were often syncopated and totally unlike anyone else’s.
He had a huge appetite for playing, and throughout his career if in L.A. he would head straight to the local jazz clubs after major gigs and sit in with the bands there until the early hours. He was able to stretch out in Tom Scott’s jazz fusion band the L.A. Express which he co-founded, and a good example of his playing is probably Rock Island Rocket from the album Tom Cat (1974), from which Adam has included Robben Ford’s guitar solo above - catch the whole track on Spotify in Adam’s playlist.
Guerin played with a huge number of artists, from Thelonious Monk to Frank Sinatra to the Beach Boys and Frank Zappa as well as with Joni Mitchell with whom he had a relationship. He met Mitchell after drummer Russ Kunkel (who was the session player to the Laurel Canyon singer songwriters and others) pulled out of recording Mitchell’s Court and Spark album in 1973 as he thought it needed a jazzier player than himself and Guerin fitted the bill perfectly.
John Guerin remains one of my favourite drummers and was one of the three that had a major influence on my own playing. A seriously accomplished jazz player, his right hand always played jazz patterns on the ride cymbal, whilst playing almost funky bass drum and snare beats. His fills were often syncopated and totally unlike anyone else’s.
He had a huge appetite for playing, and throughout his career if in L.A. he would head straight to the local jazz clubs after major gigs and sit in with the bands there until the early hours. He was able to stretch out in Tom Scott’s jazz fusion band the L.A. Express which he co-founded, and a good example of his playing is probably Rock Island Rocket from the album Tom Cat (1974), from which Adam has included Robben Ford’s guitar solo above - catch the whole track on Spotify in Adam’s playlist.
Guerin played with a huge number of artists, from Thelonious Monk to Frank Sinatra to the Beach Boys and Frank Zappa as well as with Joni Mitchell with whom he had a relationship. He met Mitchell after drummer Russ Kunkel (who was the session player to the Laurel Canyon singer songwriters and others) pulled out of recording Mitchell’s Court and Spark album in 1973 as he thought it needed a jazzier player than himself and Guerin fitted the bill perfectly.
Thanks Theo, he certainly was a great player.
Your memory is razor sharp! Love the lucid details.