The one drummer Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason calls the greatest: “There’s no one else like him”
There are a lot of rags to rock riches stories in the world of music that feel incredibly linear. One hit, rise to the top, and they stay there. The story of Pink Floyd is a complex one.
The common reading of their history often concentrates on the decline of original frontman Syd Barrett, the group’s sonic refinement with a series of hit concept albums in the 1970s, and then the great schism involving creative director Roger Waters and guitarist David Gilmour in the following decade. This is all well and good, but it often overlooks the input of drummer Nick Mason.
Due to the prominence of Waters and Gilmour in Pink Floyd, Mason and keyboardist Rick Wright are often discussed in almost secondary terms. Still, they were just as vital to the operation as anyone else. Mason is one of the finest drummers of his generation, fusing an artful inclination with a love of jazz and rock ‘n’ roll. A wholly dynamic drummer, his rhythmic panache facilitated all of the band’s experimentation and sophistication.
Given that Mason is such an accomplished drummer, it makes sense that he took his cues from some of the best to do it when establishing his style. Notably, one man he is particularly indebted to is Cream legend Ginger Baker, a spellbinding drummer who was arguably the first to instil rock with pulsating jazz spirit. According to Mason, he “wouldn’t be here” without Baker.
Mason watched Cream play a storied show in 1966 at Regent Street Polytechnic, a moment which changed his life. In his 2004 autobiography Inside Out, Mason recalled: “I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for Ginger Baker. When the curtain opened at the Regent Street Polytechnic in 1966 and there were Ginger, Eric and Jack I thought, that’s what I’d like to be, and that was it.”
When speaking to Music Radar in 2010, Mason revealed his favourite drummers, and alongside Baker, he discussed some familiar faces. One of the most compelling accounts he provided was of Mitch Mitchell, the rhythmic dynamo who made The Jimi Hendrix Experience tick. An overlooked master of the drum kit, it says all about Mitchell that he could go toe-to-toe with the eminent guitar work of Jimi Hendrix and provided him with the perfect basis from which to build an array of classic compositions. Alas, Mason commented that “there’s no else like him”.
The Pink Floyd drummer explained: “In terms of style and rock drummers I like, it was Mitch Mitchell. Whether it’s behind the beat or not, it’s so lazy, but it worked perfectly under Jimi and that slightly jazzy thing. There’s no one else like him.”
Mitchell has often been called one of the world’s most underrated drummers. He wasn’t as flashy as John Bonham or Keith Moon, he didn’t possess the power of Ginger Baker or the precision of Neil Peart. What Mitchell had was swing and an unbelievable amount of cultured style.
When speaking to Stewart Copeland about his favourite drummers, he told us: “I liked the fact that Ginger used his tom-toms a lot. He was playing more of his drums than the others, as was Mitch Mitchell, who was probably the most inspiring out of all of them. It was between him and Buddy Rich. Mitch Mitchell just had that electric spark that was just perfect for Jimi Hendrix on guitar. As a frustrated guitarist myself, that was a problem; ‘Who am I?’ ‘Am I the guitarist, drummer or both?’”.
Mitchell’s legacy is unmuddied by poor songs, and instead stands alone as some of the finest work a drummer ever produced.
