John Guerin

John Guerin ( born October 31, 1939 on Hawaii; † 5 January 2004) was an American drummer. He was at the time of his death as the most recorded session drummer and played with musicians such as Thelonious Monk, Frank Sinatra, Quincy Jones, Frank Zappa, Ella Fitzgerald, John Williams, The Byrds, Nelson Riddle and Tom Scott. His work for the Zappa album Hot Rats was especially praised by critics.

Guerin grew up in San Diego and taught himself to play the drums at a young age itself, by embracing accompanied the big-band albums of his father rhythmically. As a teenager, he played in several bands, including Don Sleet and Mike Wofford. In 1960 he joined the Buddy DeFranco Quartet, later he played with the jazz pianist George Shearing.

Since the late 1960s, Guerin hired in Hollywood as a session musician. He was involved in the recording of hundreds of albums, film and television scores.

In 1973 he founded, together with saxophonist Tom Scott and guitarist Robben Ford, the group LA Express, with which he successfully released four albums until 1976. With his band, he accompanied Joni Mitchell, and took with her ​​the successful album Court and Spark on and four more albums.

In the last years of his life Guerin worked with Oscar Peterson and various other jazz musicians.

John Guerin was known to capture the essence of a piece and give it the exact-matched rhythmic foundation. Phil Hood lifts in Drum! out that it was a special gift Guerin to support a piece by he knew it with " mystery and clarity ," which transformed ordinary recordings in pop masterpieces.