I'm sort of piggy backing off of an earlier post that was talking about young musicians of today. I'm seeing this myself more and more. I'm a technical player. First of all, as someone who has been a musical director, I expect everything to be tight, and the band should sound like one unit. More and more I see drummers feeling the need to show you how fast they can do what I call "thunder rolls." They have to show you how good they are. I actually get mad at these types of cats. When I play. I let the music move me. I may do an accent, on a word, or a musical phrase with another instrument. I really try to incorporate the whole band on accents that I do. Sometimes, I'm just so into the music that it just comes out of me unconciously. I've heard cats trying to do stuff during the prayer, or other times when it just doesn't fit. I mean you have keyboardists, bassists, etc who do the exact same thing. They gotta show-off. I'm a groove based drummer. Now there is a time in the music where the super fast, syncopated rolls can work. I mean, I have been overlooked for some things because I didn't give people the show. But that's not someone I really want to work with anyway. I have been told by some that I have to do that in order to compete. I know it has it's place, but is it really necessary in order to be a true musician?
In fact, if you own either of these two recordings, you can hear how I play.
Shannon Sanders- "Outta Nowhere"
Track #12- "Long As I Live"
Tommy Sims- "Peace and Love"
Track #2- "100"
Track #3- "New Jam"
I was just allowed to groove with the music. They didn't ask me to do anything more than that.