Requiem for a drummer

I am saddened to learn of the passing last week of British session drummer Ian Wallace, 60, from throat cancer. Perhaps the name escapes you, but he has backed artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Don Henley and David Lindley.

He was also the drummer in an early 1970s incarnation of the progressive rock band King Crimson. While Mike Giles and Bill Bruford receive the lion’s share of adulation for their percussive work with that group, Wallace’s contribution to “Islands” and radio recordings from that era is noteworthy.

Most recently, Wallace led the Crimson Jazz Trio, a group that interpreted King Crimson music in a piano trio format.

I had a chance to see them last year at La Ve Lee in Los Angeles, where my table was about a yard away from his hi-hat stand and I could observe the dynamics of his performance up close. (His playing gave no indication that he was in ill health.)

Wallace proved to be quite the English gentleman during the break when he signed a CD for me. It’s a long story, but I had made a suggestion that alleviated a technical problem the band was experiencing and he was most effusive in his thanks.

– Al B.