Bernard Purdie

Session work and live performances

In 1961, he moved from Elkton to New York City. There he played sessions with Mickey and Sylvia and regularly visited the Turf Club on 50th and Broadway, where musicians, agents, and promoters met and touted for business. It was during this period that he played for the saxophonist Buddy Lucas, who nicknamed him 'Mississippi Bigfoot'. Eventually Barney Richmond contracted him to play session work.

Purdie was contracted by arranger Sammy Lowe to play a session with James Brown in 1965 and recording session records also show that Purdie played on "Ain't That A Groove" at the same session. Purdie is credited on James Brown's albums Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud (1969) and Get on the Good Foot (1972).

Purdie recorded Soul Drums (1968) as a band leader and although he went on to record Alexander's Ragtime Band, the album remained unreleased until Soul Drums was reissued on CD in 2009 with the Alexander's Ragtime Band sessions. Other solo albums include Purdie Good! (1971), Soul Is... Pretty Purdie (1972) and the soundtrack for the blaxploitation film Lialeh (1973).

Purdie started working with Aretha Franklin as musical director in 1970 and held that position for five years, as well as drumming for Franklin's opening act, saxophonist King Curtis and the King Pins. From March 5 to March 7, 1971, he performed with both bands at the Fillmore West; the resulting live recordings were released as Aretha Live at Fillmore West (1971) and King Curtis's Live at Fillmore West (1971). His best known track with Franklin was "Rock Steady", on which he played what he described as "a funky and low down beat". Of his time with Franklin he once commented that "backing her was like floating in seventh heaven".

Purdie was credited on the soundtrack album for the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978). In the mid-1990s, he was a member of the 3B's, with Bross Townsend and Bob Cunningham. He was the drummer for the 2009 Broadway revival of Hair and appeared on the associated Broadway cast recording. In 2016, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in music by Five Towns College.

On 13 September 2025, Purdie played at Madison Square Garden with Vulfpeck. Introduced by Jack Stratton and helped to the stage by Antwaun Stanley, Purdie then played drums for the song My First Car, showcased the Purdie Shuffle to the crowd, and played drums for a cover of Simply Beautiful.

Encounter records

Purdie founded Encounter Records in 1973 and released five albums:

• Seldon Powell – Messin' With Seldon Powell (with Jimmy Owens, Garnett Brown)
• Sands of Time – Profile (with Jimmy Owens, Garnett Brown, Seldon Powell)
• East Coast – East Coast (with Larry Blackmon, Gwen Guthrie, Haras Fyre)
• Frank Owens – Brown 'N' Serve (with Hugh McCracken)
• Harold Vick as "Sir Edward" – The Power of Feeling (with Victor Gaskin)

All five studio recordings released under Encounter Records were all released in 1973, which is likely when the label also shut down.

Supposed playing on Beatles records

Since around 1967, Purdie has claimed to have over-dubbed or completely re-recorded the drums for 21 songs by the Beatles. This claim has been argued since by Purdie and Beatles fans. Ringo Starr denied these claims, stating "Well then, what was I doing in the studio? I've heard that rubbish before. Everyone was expecting me to come out and fight it. You don't bother fighting that shit." Jim Vallance, a Canadian songwriter and producer, bluntly stated that "to claim that he 'fixed' or 'replaced' Ringo's drums on twenty-one Beatle recordings—or that 'Ringo played on nothing'—is a blatant fabrication. Fiction. A lie."

Drumming style

Purdie is known as a groove drummer with immaculate timing who makes use of precision half note, backbeats, and grooves. Purdie's signature sixteenth note hi-hat lick pish-ship, pish-ship, pish-ship is distinct. He often employs a straight eight groove sometimes fusing several influences such as swing, blues and funk. He created the now well-known drum pattern Purdie Half-Time Shuffle that is a blues shuffle variation with the addition of syncopated ghost notes on the snare drum. Variations on this shuffle can be heard on songs such as Led Zeppelin's "Fool in the Rain", the Police's "Walking on the Moon", and Toto's "Rosanna" (Rosanna shuffle). Purdie plays the shuffle on Steely Dan's "Babylon Sisters" and "Home At Last".

Achievements

On 29 September 2024, Purdie was the recipient of the inaugural "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the UK Drum Show, held in Liverpool.

As leader/co-leader

• Soul Drums (Columbia, 1967)
• Purdie Good! (Prestige, 1971) [note: reissued as Legends of Acid Jazz: Bernard Purdie in 1996]
• Stand by Me (Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get) (Mega Records [in the 'Flying Dutchman Series'], 1972) with the Playboys
• Soul Is... Pretty Purdie (Flying Dutchman, 1972; reissued on BGP/Ace in 2014)
• Shaft (Prestige, 1973) recorded 1971 [note: reissued as Legends of Acid Jazz: Bernard Purdie in 1996]
• Lialeh (Original Movie Soundtrack) (Bryan, 1974)
• Delights of the Garden (Celluloid, 1975) with the Last Poets
• Purdie as a Picture (Kilmarnock, 1993) with Galt MacDermot's New Pulse Jazz Band
• Bernard Purdie's Jazz Groove Sessions in Tokyo (Lexington/West 47th, 1993)
• Coolin' 'N Groovin' (A Night At 'On-Air') (Lexington/West 47th, 1993)
• After Hours with the 3B's (3B's Music, 1993)
• Soothin' 'N Groovin' With the 3B's (3B's Music, 1994) with Houston Person
• The Hudson River Rats (3B's Music, 1995)
• Fatback! The Jazz Funk Masters Featuring Bernard Purdie (Seven Seas, 1995)
• Kick 'N Jazz (Drum Beat Blocks, 1996)
• Soul to Jazz I (Act, 1996) with the WDR Big Band
• Soul to Jazz II (Act, 1997) with the WDR Big Band
• In the Pocket (P-Vine, 1997)
• Get It While You Can (3B's Music, 1999) with the Hudson River Rats
• The Masters of Groove Meet Dr. No (Jazzateria, 2001) with Reuben Wilson, Grant Green Jr., Tarus Mateen
• King of the Beat (3B's Music, 2001)
• Purdie Good Cookin' (3B's Music, 2003) with Purdie's Powerhouse
• The Godfathers of Groove (18th & Vine, 2007) with Reuben Wilson, Grant Green Jr., Jerry Jemmott [note: originally released as The Masters of Groove]
• The Godfathers of Groove 3 (18th & Vine, 2009) with Reuben Wilson, Grant Green Jr., Bill Easley
• Jersey Blue (Running Rogue, 2009) with Gene McCormick, Jack Hoban
• Selling It Like It Is (Cadence Jazz, 2009 [rel. 2013]) with David Haney
• Cool Down (Sugar Road, 2018)

As sideman