Drummer on "Ooh Ooh Child"

[green glass drum]

Is the drummer on "Ooh Ooh Child" Bernard Purdie?
Or is it the 5 Stairsteps drummer.
Either way, it is a great drumming job on the song.

[CTMichaelV]

According to Wikipedia:
The song featured various members, including lone female member and eldest sister Alohe, brothers Keni, Dennis, James, lead Clarence Burke, Jr. singing in various parts of the song and also drummer Jerome Brailey on the original recording.

However according to Kilesmith.com: At 13 I liked the energy, but now I can appreciate what a monumental force he is. The first thing that came to me when I heard this song again was, “Who is this guy?” It took a while, because I don’t know of any encyclopedia of session players, but I found him: Bernard Purdie.
Bernard Purdie picks up “O-o-h Child” by the scruff of the neck and makes it the song it was meant to be. His tempo: polished granite. In this podcast interview with WFMU’s Michael Shelley, he refers (about a half-hour in) to the struggle to get his tempo across to everyone, and that had to have influenced his playing. His tommy-gun fills are a constant reminder of where the tempo is. Even the cymbal ride under the opening vocal (you can barely hear the 16ths between those rim knocks: tsit-tsit-tsit-tsit) is a friendly reminder from HQ that this is the tempo. It’s soft, insistent, and exactly in place, a steel needle stitching with silk thread. The long runs between stanzas are rivetingly precise, but the real truth lies in those phrase-bridging double- and triple-flams, little giddy-ups that make me smile every time. They aren’t show-off flourishes; they’re horse whips. Tight and righteous, they propel you through the song. And his hi-hat is a smart-bomb, close and hard: small, targeted explosions that make you flinch.

According to Funklet.com it was all Pretty Purdie
When Purdie wasn’t feeling a track, he let it show.
“O-o-h Child” wasn’t clicking. They were trying everything.
Purdie explains: “In the last twenty minutes of the session, Vince (Stan Vincent, writer) gave me my head. Bam! Fifteen minutes later, we have ‘O-o-h Child’. My way.”

Michael

[green glass drum]

Thanks CT.
I had read those articles too.
By the way, CT, Do you know a CK Dexter Haven?

[CTMichaelV]

GGD
Don't know anyone with that name other than from an old movie.
A name used on a forum?

[green glass drum]

No that's it. The old movie.
Your CT just reminded me of that role Cary Grant played.

[larryz]

Cool story! This was my sister in law's wedding song 10 years ago.