Steve Gadd

Born in Irondequoit, New York, Steve Gadd established himself by the late 1960s as a studio drummer and then a live performer, after training at the Eastman School of Music and a stint in the United States Army Field Band. His playing, precise and supple, moves between jazz, jazz fusion, soul jazz, R&B, pop and rock, with constant attention to rhythmic placement, dynamics and articulation. Steve Gadd appears on a large number of landmark recordings from the 1970s and 1980s, notably alongside Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Chick Corea, James Taylor, Eric Clapton or Michel Petrucciani, while also developing his own projects. He participates in L’Image then Stuff, two outfits tied to the New York fusion scene, and also plays with the Manhattan Jazz Quintet. Under his name, Steve Gadd releases Gaddabout in 1984, Live at Voce in 2010, Gadditude in 2013, 70 Strong in 2015, Way Back Home in 2016 and Steve Gadd Band in 2018. Since the 2010s, Steve Gadd has continued his activity as a leader and co-leader, notably with the trio Blicher Hemmer Gadd, in a register where groove, improvisation and melodic writing intersect.