Phil Seaman

A few years ago I spent a great deal of time traveling to Penticton, British Columbia to visit my girlfriend (who's now my wife!). One summer while I was touring the Okanagan with saxophonist Taylor Cook I was fortunate to meet a wonderful older gentleman there named Bill who had immigrated from Britain years ago and who had spent his career playing drums in London's West End. We got along very well and talked at length about Joe Morello and other Jazz drumming related things.

Bill recommended that I check out the legendary British Jazz drummer Phil Seaman - a drummer who was an important part of London's Jazz community during the 60s along with other important UK players such as Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott. He was also apparently a significant influence on Ginger Baker. He plays sort of like a British "Philly" Joe Jones (!) and although there's not a lot out there I did come across these two clips of him on youtube.com:





Someone has also put together this interesting website devoted to Phil Seaman's legacy:

http://www.littledrum.co.uk/philseaman/memoriesofphil.htm