Toppa Top 10: Reggae’s Ten Greatest Drummers

Words by Kieran Meadows—

With electronic drum programming taking over in rhythm-centric genres like hip-hop, pop, R&B, dance and reggae, drummers have seen their role in modern music shrink in recent years. But the years of practice and hours of daily physical maintenance can’t be fully replaced by a drum machine. Drummers give a human feel not attainable through a machine, inventing new styles that enable music’s evolution.

There’s a very particular feel and swing that must be acquired in order to play reggae “right.” It’s not something every drummer can learn, no matter how much they practice. Certain beats that are deemphasized in other styles are emphasized, and vice versa. Good reggae drummers know when to play and when not to play: They are good listeners as much as they are good players, filling in space and holes in the music, connecting with the genre’s African rhythmic foundation.

To help you put a name and face to some of your favorite reggae drum rhythms and feels, we’ve compiled a guide to the style’s best and most influential timekeepers. Click here to start the countdown.

10. Angus “Drummie Zeb” Gaye

Angus “Drummie Zeb” Gaye (at center above, with fellow drummer Kirk “Kirkledove” Bennett and sax great Dean Fraser) is best known as the drummer for the powerhouse UK reggae band, Aswad, which has been going strong since the mid-1970s, when they came to international acclaim backing Burning Spear for his 1977 Live album. In addition to bringing the group’s R&B and soul influences to the fore with his playing, Drummie Zeb has been known to contribute the occasional lead vocal to Aswad records over the years.

9. Mikey Boo Richards

Mikey “Boo” Richards was the son of drummer Leonard “Alejandro” Richards, who taught some of the drummers on this list, including Lloyd Knibb. Boo played with the Mighty Diamonds, Jimmy Cliff, Culture and Third World. While he never toured with Bob Marley, he did do session work on some of Tuff Gong’s albums. And after the Wailers’ Carlton Barrett was murdered, Boo became the new drummer for the group. More recently, his playing could be heard on The King’s Bell, the highly regarded 2011 album from St. Croix reggae band Midnite.

8. Kirk “Kirkledove” Bennett

Kirk “Kirkledove” Bennett is one of contemporary Jamaica’s most in-demand drummers, known for his impeccable ability to swing and keep tempo, and his equal prowess in both reggae and dancehall styles. He’s played with Beres Hammond’s Harmony House band, Busy Signal’s High Voltage Unit and on some of the most classic recordings by the prolific Sizzla Kalonji. In addition, he’s a producer/composer of dancehall riddims, releasing songs by Mr. Vegas, Cecile, Elephant Man and Busy Signal, to name a few.

7. Winston Grennan

Winston Grennan is the drummer most often credited with inventing the fundamental reggae rhythm called the one drop. An almost inside-out beat when compared to American pop music, the kick drum and sidestick/rim of the snare play together on the 2 and 4 — the kick drum being the important feature here — with a syncopated hi-hat appearing alone on the 1, preparing for the “drop” into the deep bass of the kick drum. Grennan appeared on countless recordings during the rocksteady and early reggae era, playing with artists like Toots and The Maytals, The Melodians, The Heptones and Bob Marley. He’s the drummer on Jimmy Cliff’s “The Harder They Come.” Though he’s unseen in the recording scene in the movie of the same name, below; strangely enough you can catch him playing in 9 1/2 Weeks starring Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger. He lived in the U.S. from the ’70s on, until succumbing to cancer in 2000.

6. Carlton (Santa) Davis

As a veteran drummer in the studio and the road, Carlton “Santa” Davis has played for too many bands and artists to mention. Early in his career, he played with Soul Syndicate and The Aggrovators. He left the Roots Radics (replaced by Style Scott) to tour with Peter Tosh. He’s toured with Jimmy Cliff, Burning Spear, Big Mountain and Black Uhuru. His studio credits also include classic album cuts with Bob Marley. And he is sometimes credited with adapting the “flyers” sound (essentially open hi-hats on the upbeats), though some might say this can be heard on earlier ska recordings. Today, you can often catch him on tour with Ziggy Marley.

5. Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace

Perhaps best known today for starring as himself in the lead role of the iconic 1978 film Rockers — which put the drummer in the spotlight — Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace got his start in music at the Alpha Boys School in Kingston. He later played with various session bands at Studio One, as well as with Burning Spear, The Gladiators, and Inner Circle. He is sometimes credited with the advent of the rockers and steppers drumbeats, i.e. the “four on the floor” sound. If he didn’t develop them, he most definitely plays the groove tighter and harder than most.

4. Style Scott

As the drummer of the Roots Radics, arguably Jamaica’s most powerful and revered studio session band, Lincoln “Style” Scott brought his disciplined, precise style of playing to the rockers and rub-a-dub sound of early ’80s Channel One riddims as well as for artists like Gregory Isaacs, Israel Vibration, Sugar Minott, Bunny Wailer and Barrington Levy. The spacious drumbeat he’s known for left plenty of room for Flabba Holt’s heavy basslines and dub effects and while it might seem to be a simple kick, snare, kick, snare pattern, there’s pretty much no drummer who can play it as perfectly and with the right feel as Scott — with the possible exception of a few others on this very list.

3. Carlton Barrett

Carlton “Carly” Barrett was the drummer for Bob Marley and The Wailers, holding down the drums in the studio and on tour with Tuff Gong, providing the solid rhythm section along with his brother Aston “Familyman” Barrett on bass. Before Bob, though, the two got their start with Lee “Scratch” Perry’s band, The Upsetters. While he didn’t invent it, Carly, more than anyone else, popularized the one-drop pattern and, with The Wailers, brought it all over the world. The Field Marshall, as he was called, developed complex triplet hi-hat variations (as heard on “Running Away”) and was also known for the dry tuning of his drumset, his very tight high-pitched snare, and timbale use. His signature style was wildly dynamic, focusing on the discipline of the groove with slight variations. Barrett was tragically murdered in 1987.

2. Lloyd Knibb

Legendary timekeeper Lloyd Knibb was a founding drummer of the Skatalites, and also played with the Supersonics, the definitive rocksteady band. Knibb was trained as a jazz drummer and his playing brought a creative artistry to the Jamaican music of the era. He incorporated Afro-Caribbean burru and Nyabinghi rhythms into his style and developed the “flying cymbals” sound (essentially open hi-hats on the upbeats). After Knibb’s death in 2011, former Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said of him: “[He] could be steady as a rock, as frenetic as a hurricane, and as soothing as a shower of rain.”

1. Sly Dunbar