It's a useful and impressive piece of research. I reached out for permission on a couple of different platforms— he's on Facebook, and Twitter— but, like me, he apparently never reads his messages. If anybody knows him, tell him I'm stealing his stuff.
The list: These are the guys— the true elites of our trade. What they do and don't do is what a good drummer is. About forty of them I've listened to a lot. About twenty I never listened to at all. The rest of them, I can point to at least one record or thing about them that is/was significant to me. And I'm kind of narrow in my listening— I've mostly focused on a few people, and relatively few records.
Here's Mark's original post:
A conversation with Ethan Iverson about Billy Hart led me to spend WAY too much time compiling statistics from The Jazz Discography by Tom Lord to see who are the most-recorded drummers in jazz. What follows is list of the top 136. The numbers represent total number of sessions, not individual records. They also include only jazz sessions as defined by Lord's inclusion — no pop, R&B, film, TV, jingles, etc. They do include broadcasts and bootlegs that have been released.The results are interesting. The biggest numbers belong to top-call studio cats – Shelly Manne, Grady Tate, Osie Johnson, Mel Lewis. But there are surprises: Billy Hart is 5th(!) on the list, particularly impressive because his appearances are mostly single-session, modern jazz records dating back to 1961. Of course, he's still going strong at age 80. I went deep in my memory banks thinking of drummers whose numbers I should look up. I also looked at some online lists of jazz drummers and percussionists to jog my memory. Finally, after I posted earlier versions on Twitter, folks there pointed out a gaggle of omissions. I'm sure I've still left out some players, but this is fairly comprehensive.
1. Shelly Manne - 902
2. Grady Tate - 698
3. Osie Johnson - 692 (among the most impressive because his recording window was an insanely short 17 years, 1949-1966).
4. Mel Lewis - 690
5. Billy Hart - 646
6 Gene Krupa - 620
7. Buddy Rich - 606
8. Sonny Greer - 589 (Ellington made a LOT of records – all but about 25 of these are with Duke)
9. Don Lamond - 569
10. Steve Gadd - 554 (and God knows how many pop records, TV/Film dates, and commercials)
11. Papa Jo Jones - 539
12. Peter Erskine - 536
13. Kenny Clarke - 535 (woulda been higher had he not moved to Europe in the late ‘50s)
14. Jack DeJohnette - 502
15. Larry Bunker - 500
16. Billy Higgins - 498
17. Alvin Stoller - 497 (if you didn’t call Manne on the West Coast, you called Stoller).
18. Harvey Mason - 479
19. Louie Bellson, 472
20. Alex Acuna - 469 (percussionist)
21. Victor Lewis - 442
22. Lewis Nash - 421 (at 62, he’s obviously going to keep moving up the ladder.)
23. Elvin Jones - 417
24 (tie). Roy Haynes - 410
Ray McKinley - 410
Continued....
26. Art Blakey - 402
27 (tie). Max Roach - 386
Jimmy Cobb - 386
29. Sam Woodyard - 381 (Duke Ellington redux)
30. Airto Moreira - 377 (percussionist)
31. Ed Thigpen - 374
32. Ray Bauduc - 373
33. Bernard Purdie - 361
34. Al Foster - 357
35. Don Alias - 354 (percussionist)
36. Ralph Macdonald - 347 (percussionist)
37. Stan Levey - 343
38. George Wettling - 342
39. Daniel Humair - 341
40. Han Bennink - 339
41. Cozy Cole - 338
42. Gus Johnson - 336
43. Joe Labarbera - 326
44. Art Taylor - 323 (also woulda been higher but for spending 20 years in Europe)
45. Idris Muhammad - 314
46. Connie Kay - 314
47. Kenny Washington - 310
48 (tie). Ben Riley - 306
Panama Francis - 306
50. Adam Nussbaum - 303
51. Hamid Drake - 301
52. Danny Gottlieb - 298
53. Paul Motian - 293
54. (tie). Billy Drummond - 284
Alex Riel - 284
56 (tie). Lenny White - 280
Matt Wilson - 280
58. Billy Cobham - 276
59. Louis Hayes - 274
60. Joey Baron - 273
61. Jeff Hamilton - 272
62. Ed Shaugnessy - 271
63 (tie). Mickey Roker - 270
Warren Smith
65. J.C. Heard - 268
66. Albert Tootie Heath - 267
67. Vinnie Colaiuta - 264
68. Dave Tough - 262
69. Philly Joe Jones - 261
70. Jeff Watts - 249
71. Sonny Payne - 248
72. Oliver Jackson - 246
73. Sid Catlett - 243
74. Gerry Hemingway - 242
75. Charli Persip - 240
76 (tie). Tony Williams - 239 (only 51 at his death)
Leon Ndugu Chancler, 239
78. Minu Cinelu - 235 (percussionist)
79. Earl Palmer - 233
80. Jake Hanna - 231
81 (tie). Joe Morello - 220
Bill Goodwin - 220
83. (tie). Marvin Smitty Smith - 217
Brian Blade - 217
85. Bill Stewart - 215
86. Frank Capp - 214
87. Ray Barretto - 205 (percussionist)
88. (tie). Bobby Rosengarden - 199
Tom Rainey - 199
90. (tie). Cyro Baptista - 196
Dave Weckl - 196
92. Joe Farnsworth - 195
93. Emil Richards - 194 (percussionist)
94 (tie). Roy McCurdy - 193
Kenny Wolleson - 193
96. Zutty Singleton - 192
97 (tie). Andrew Cyrille - 187
Carl Allen - 187
99. Akira Tana - 186
100. Greg Hutchinson - 185
101. Alphonse Mouzon - 184
102. Paul Humphrey - 183
103 (tie). Joe Chambers - 179
Gerald Cleaver - 179
105. Herlin Riley - 178
106. Chico Hamilton - 177
107. Dennis Chambers - 174
108 (tie). Ray Mantilla - 173 (percussionist)
Paul Lovens - 173
110. Jon Christensen - 171
111. Omar Hakim - 170
112. Jim Black - 169
113. Irv Cottler - 166 (Sinatra's drummer from 1956 forward)
114. Alan Dawson - 164
115. Terri Lyne Carrington - 162
116. Clarence Penn - 159
117. Aldo Romano - 158
118. Nasheet Waits - 157
119. Shadow Wilson - 156
120 (tie). Dannie Richmond - 154
Pheeroan AkLaff - 154
122. Dave Bailey - 151
123. Butch Miles - 144
124 (tie). Donald Bailey - 142
Bill Summers (percussionist) - 142
126. Baby Dodds - 150
127. O’Neil Spencer - 146
128: Famoudou Don Moye - 145
129. Bobby Previte - 143
130. Motohiko Hino - 136
131 (tie). Eric Harland - 131
Jeff Ballard - 131
133. Tony Oxley - 130
134. (tie). Freddie Waits - 129
Barry Altschul - 129
Willie Jones - 129
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