Herlin Riley: master of drums in the cradle of jazz

https://www.npr.org/2023/12/30/ [login to see] /herlin-riley-master-of-drums-in-the-cradle-of-jazz
It's a Wednesday night in the venerable Bayou Bar of the Pontchartrain Hotel in New Orleans – one of the best (and least publicized) jazz gigs in the city known as the cradle of jazz.

Herlin Riley is presiding. The 66-year-old drummer sits at his drums like a prince before his court. The tavern is packed because when Riley plays, there's always a crowd. He is one of America's most revered and distinctive drummers. Tonight, the audience will know why.

You can't take your eyes off of Herlin Riley or you might miss something. He's twirling his sticks in the air like a Vaudeville drummer. He's playing everything: cowbell, wood block, tambourine, the drum shell, the other drum stick. On one tune, he drops his left stick and plays the drumhead with his hand like a bongo. On another tune, an admiring waiter holds out a water pitcher in the middle of his solo and he beats out a rhythm on that. Later, the same waiter – is he part of the act? – hands him a glass of red wine. Riley holds the wine in one hand while playing a rollicking one-stick solo with the other, keeping time with the bass drum and high-hat cymbals.