EyeShotFirst said:
Shame, I've been searching high and low for a jazz drummer. Got too tired of all these young metal/rock drummers that play too damn loud.
My last drummer had his whole set mic'd so he could be louder.

Jazz drummers have the best dynamics.

Jazz drumming requires constant use of dynamics. By contrast, rock drumming requires dynamic consistency. When I found myself in rock settings, I had no problem playing any of the patterns, but never sounded quite right because my hits weren't all at at a uniform volume. And on the flip side, it's why a better rock drummer would often sound stiff in a jazz setting.

Every music is hard to play well, and just because you're good at a more "technically advanced" style doesn't mean you can pick up one of the so-called less demanding styles and sound decent. I was fairly in demand as a sideman because I could play almost anything, but I knew when I wasn't in a jazz setting that I never sounded any more than passable. Sure, Wes Montgomery could play circles around Jimmy Page, but Led Zeppelin would suck if Wes were the lead guitarist.

And if you want to hear some really sorry-ass jazz, check out some of the YouTube clips of the great classical pianist Berezovsky playing jazz. He made some claims about jazz being easy, made a fool of himself in some clubs and then followed it up with a bunch of demeaning remarks (also on a youtube interview) about how there is nothing to it. Judging from his play, he never had a clue. By contrast, Vladimir Horowitz and Art Tatum had a sort of mutual admiration thing going, each claiming that the other was the true genius.