dhpeck, shadorne, and roxy54, agree with all ya’ll. czarivey, if by best you mean technically, you have a point. It takes a lot more technique to play Jazz than most Rock, so Jazz players coming to Rock have a distinct advantage. Frank Zappa and Steely Dan are two musics that benefitted from having Jazz players as drummers.
But I’ve heard Jazz players who don’t quite understand what makes Rock work, and play inappropriately for the music. It’s not just what you play, but what you don’t as well, as the old saying goes. It’s also horses for courses; as Keith Moon responded when asked if he could play in The Buddy Rich Big Band (a question intended to humiliate, or at least put in his place, him): "No, and Buddy Rich couldn’t play in The Who."
One reason I don’t care for a lot of Rock drumming is that I don’t like Rock music, for the most part. But I love Rock ’n’ Roll! Just last week I saw a clip of Tom Petty talking about getting into music at ten years of age, listening to Rock ’n’ Roll. He then made a point of saying "Not Rock. Rock doesn’t swing." Exactly! A lot of Rock drummers, including Bonham, don’t either. The creator of Rock 'n' Roll drumming, in the opinion of a lot of Rock ’n’ Roll musical historians, was Earl Palmer, who swung like mad. He was a New Orleans Jazz drummer, but really knew how to play what was best for the music. Insanely great drummer!
