Nah! Hes a punk!!! How can he say he was the Steve Gadd of gospel drumming when Dana Davis and Kevin Brunson were out there inspiring younger gospel drummers LONG before Gerald came to fame! I was learning their licks long before Geralds!
Dana Davis back in the 80's and early 90's was what Calvin Rodgers is today, playing on everyone's records! The only reason he was able to go right from Church to the road was because Aaron Hall used to sing on Hezekiah Walker back in the day who became part of GUY who had Teddy Riley heading it up.
I think that if more Gospel Drummers back then were educated that we could be out there making money sooner there would be a lot more Geralds out there, but we were all taught that it was bad to go out in the world and use our talents to make a living,
Oh my!!!!!!!!
Let's set the record straight. Yes, Kevin was playing with his father's group, the Tommies, but he did not make the band. His playing was ho-hum (solid but not spectacular a la Howard Kennedy for Wilmington-Chester) Richard (Gibbs), a young Steve Huff, Percy Bady, D. Brooks and the horn section made the band. Likewise, Dana was traveling with the Winans' band but again he did not make the band, Steven Ford, Eddie Howard, Kern (sometimes a young cat named Fred Hammond), E. Wright made the band hot!!!! Again, Dana was nothing special but very solid. I liked Mike Williams better than Dana, but everyone has their opinion
First and foremost, Jeff Davis inspired Gerald's playing. Both of these cats (Jeff and Gerald) raised the bar for all gospel cats back then and their style still influences cats today. Even Dana and Kevin were influenced by them. Dana and Kevin changed their whole style of playing after 1984 (when these cats were recorded). In fact, after Jeff visited Detroit, certain persons stole his style lick-for-lick. I'm not calling any names out--that's unimportant. That's why Jeff changed his whole style of playing after he left the Midwest. BTW, I'm not telling you what I heard through hearsay, I'm telling you what I know.
I remember seeing Gerald for the first time at UNAC-5 in Miami. He was doing stuff that jazz cats had been doing a long time but had never been incorporated heavily in gospel music. He opened my eyes (and everyone else that was there) to the possiblities of the drums for Gospel music. He had moved outside the paradigm of "Gospel music" as we knew it. I continued to follow his growing legend as he toured with his uncle's choir, Brooklyn's own Radio Institutional. Then I happened to fall upon Jeff, who was more seasoned. It was not until I spoke with Gerald did I realize the impact that Jeff had on his playing and the props he gave him. And it was not until I spoke with Jeff did I realize the breadth of his knowledge. The next cat that blew my mind was when Lil' John came on the scene. They was a certain battle between two titans......--but that's a story for another day!!!!
Instead of denigrating him, let's give Gerald his props.
Even though most of us may have made the evolution past Gerald's style of playing his place in the annals of Gospel drumming is unquestioned. That's not to say you won't be able to point out how your uncle Pookie was playing like that in your region, it's just that Gerald's impact was on a much wider scale.
