ABSTRACT
The 1950s rock ’n’ roll sound emerged from a variety of sources, among them the integral contributions of such studio musicians as New Orleans drummer Earl Palmer. Dave Bartholomew was just a guy with a band that was not really doing anything, but musicians considered it the best band in New Orleans. As Palmer reminds, the majority of jazz musicians in these bands, who were highly sought after for studio sessions, did not come to rock ’n’ roll naturally. It was most of all commercial considerations, as well as their encounters and musical interactions in the studio with dynamic young performers such as Little Richard, that helped shape the driving rhythms that would come to define the rock ’n’ roll big beat. In the passages excerpted from Tony Scherman’s collaborative biography, Backbeat, Palmer recalls his time playing with Dave and Little Richard. Dave came from Edgard, out in the country.
