SKF NOTE: Recently I listened again to the 1965 hit, “You Were On My Mind,” by the group We Five.

I’ve always liked the song. This was the first time I listened to it while focusing on the drummer’s contribution to the hit song.

“You Were On My Mind” starts with a simple, clean, swinging tap dance sounding beat on unmuffled sounding drums. It reminds me of New Orleans drumming.
The beat continues, with some flourishes, throughout the song.

It took me a few minutes of searching the web until I found out it’s Jerry Granelli on drums. A musical, inventive, inquisitive drummer I first heard in the 1970s on the Denny Zeitlin Trio’s “Live at the Trident” album.

But I’m somewhat red-faced in saying, aside from Granelli’s well-known work with pianist Vince Guaraldi on the Charlie Brown Christmas album, I haven’t listened much to Jerry Granelli.

That situation is changing. Granelli has an extensive discography under his own name, and a long list of appearances on other musicians’ albums. Click here.

I look forward to the listening journey.