Comment: How Charlie Watts' drumming shaped the Stones Published on: 26 August 2021 Writing for The Conversation, Dr Adam Behr discusses how Charlie Watts' unique drumming was integral to the sound of the Rolling Stones. , Drummer Charlie Watts, , was as integral to the Rolling Stones as its frontman Mick Jagger and songwriting partner and guitarist Keith Richards. As Watts鈥檚 biographer Mark Edison : 鈥淣o one dances to the guitar solos. No one dances to the words.鈥� Watts鈥檚 drumming was unique. He differed from his peers in the rock drumming pantheon, partly due to being a jazz aficionado, a sensibility that he took to the music of the Stones, and also through his self-contained manner. For someone at the heart of a legendarily dissolute band, he largely eschewed both the glitz and grime of his milieu. Watts wasn鈥檛 formally trained as a jazz drummer, but like fellow Rolling Stone Brian Jones and Cream members Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, he passed through the early sixties British blues evangelist Alexis Korner鈥檚 outfit, . He idolised jazz pioneers including Max Roach, Tony Williams and Joe Morello, and his jazz sensibility 鈥� his capacity to 鈥溾�� 鈥� informed the Stones鈥� music. A jazz sensibility in a rock format While the Stones鈥� most obvious musical inspiration was the blues, Watts鈥� drumming had the fluid yet disciplined tendencies of jazz. Few would say he pulled the Stones in an overtly jazzy direction 鈥� this would be something he would explore more fully later through side-projects in the 90s, including a big-band and a jazz quintet. But his jazz underpinning would help the band incorporate other genres into their repertoire, from reggae to funk, which helped expand what a rock sound was. One such sound was the Afro-Cuban mambo groove, which he became familiar with via big band music. This allowed him, , to play seamlessly alongside conga player Kwasi Dzidzornu on , which opened the landmark album when the Stones sought to broaden their palette in the late 60s. While he was able to stretch out across genres, Watts鈥檚 playing was uncharacteristically unflashy for a drummer in a rock band. Brennan that, in the popular consciousness anyway, are associated with rock drummers 鈥� being primal, powerful, virtuosic and exhibitionist. On the face of it, Watts displayed none of these. Unlike Led Zeppelin鈥檚 John Bonham, he was not an especially powerful hitter. He lacked the quixotic flair of The Who鈥檚 Keith Moon, and his playing was far removed from the complex virtuosity of the prog-rock and fusion players who emerged in the 1970s, or indeed, his jazz influences like Roach. Self-effacing as well as self-taught, for Watts, serving the song was key. 鈥淚 try to help them get what they want鈥�, . 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think what I do is particularly difficult. What is good, though, is that people look at me and say, 鈥榃ell, I can do that鈥欌��. But doing what he did is not as easy as he made it sound. Modesty and distinctive simplicity Watts鈥檚 hallmarks were simplicity and a feel that provided both space and a solid base for Keith Richards鈥� on guitar. The Stones groove derived from how Watts played infinitesimally behind the beat, which to his distinctive style, and credited as foundational to the Stones sound. On the hi-hat, most guys would play on all four beats, but on the two and the four, which is the backbeat, which is a very important thing in rock and roll, Charlie doesn鈥檛 play. It pulls the time back because he has to make a little extra effort. And so part of the languid feel of Charlie鈥檚 drumming comes from this unnecessary motion every two beats. It鈥檚 very hard to do 鈥� to stop the beat going just for one beat and then come back in 鈥� And the way he stretches out the beat and what we do on top of that is a secret of the Stones sound. The Stones, then, relied almost as much on what he didn鈥檛 play 鈥� on the space he left 鈥� as on what he did. Watts himself , 鈥渢here are a million kids who can play like me鈥�. But it was his deceptively difficult and idiosyncratic playing that propelled hits such as and . In Honky Tonk Women, this can be heard in the slight mismatch between the cowbell and his drums. Then again in the way he subtly pushes the tempo as the song nears its conclusion, which makes it simultaneously a standard rock beat with a tinge of funkiness - without overt syncopation. 鈥淣o Charlie, no Stones鈥�, . His passing will surely test that claim to its limits. Ultimately, he shaped rock and roll by ignoring its expectations. 鈥淐harlie鈥檚 good tonight, innee鈥�, said Jagger on the live 1970 album . This was both true, and beside the point. Modest, understated and reliable in a musical world characterised by volume, extravagance and mercurial personalities, Charlie was always good on the night. , Senior Lecturer in Popular and Contemporary Music, This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the . 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