Spectacular Drum Set?

1.Dennis Chambers on "Pick Hits Live" by John Scofield (fusion)
2.Steve Smith with "Vital Information" (fusion)
3.Carter Beauford produces great drum sounds for Dave Matthews
Don't overlook the various Jazz Festiival and performance DVD's as they generally cost just a few bucks more than cd's,but you get to see the performance.

Ditto on the Dennis Chambers, best drummer I heard.
He plays on Foreign Affairs & Front Page with Bireli Lagrene on lead guitar, outstanding.

More votes for Ed Graham Hot Stix and Dafos. Stunning on vinyl.

Forget Charlie Byrd on Crystal Clear: very dry and not necessarily realistic.

A couple others that come to mind:

Percussion Music on Nonesuch, on HP's list for a long time.

Drum Improvs, sort of an experimental CD-R of a few short cuts of a big drum set recorded live to hard disk by the performer. A little bit of mike splash but otherwise a shocker. Don't know if it's still available. Mail me for info.

Brian

Bernard Purdie playing on the track: Sing Sing Sing on Bucky Pizziarelli's "Nirvana" cd - Definitely one-ups Gene Krupas original (IMHO). The drumset is presented non-realistically. taking up the entire width of the soundstage, but that's what makes it fun. Tremendous sonic dynamics and it's on LaserLight, so should be obtainable cheap. The rest of the CD is pretty nice, too.

The most amazing drum recording I've experienced (and this one kills most of the ones listed so far) is from South American metal band Sepultura. I don't recall the name of the album but on that album they play with the Kodo drummers of Japan. The recording is clean, clear and crazy dynamic. This is THE BEST percussive audio workout I know of.

Happy Trails!
Vince@freewheelcycle.com