[dtxtremeiiispecial]

Louie Bellson was still working in the recording studio cutting an album at age 83.

Buddy Rich was still playing with his big band only weeks before his death at age 70. (And by the way, how could Jake Jerger teach Buddy Rich if Buddy never had a lesson? I question the claims about Jake Jerger.)

Ed Cassidy played at least until 1998, when he was 75. But it's hard to pin down. He may have played longer.

Jim Chapin may be 89, but in the last 20 or so years of his life, he has focused on music education and hasn't been playing out. I don't think he fits the thread question -- "still playing gigs."

Freddie Gruber will be 83 this May, and he may still teach, but I don't believe he's been a performer for some time. I don't think he fits the thread question, either.

Anyway, at this point I'm saying Louie Bellson was the oldest productive drummer, doing studio work until age 83.

[dtxtremeiiispecial]

OK, found one older than Bellson. British drummer Eric Delaney was still playing gigs in 2009 at the age of 85.

[Maninblack]

Eric Delaney has just finished a tour as guest percussionist with The Glen Miller Band so at almost 86 he is still gigging. He also plays regularly in a bar in Benidorm, Spain.

The other night I went to Southampton Guildhall to see The Stranglers. The drummer, Jet Black, is still a human metronome and drives the band along at a cracking pace despite being 71 with a heart condition.

[eieio1943@centurylink.net]

I believe the oldest living drummer in the world is my Uncle Don Kidwell who lives in San Diego, CA. and is 93 years old. Don has been drumming over 75 years, has been in countless Swing, Jazz, and Big Bans, and is still alive and well today. I am his Nephew Bob.

[zoud]

I'm happy that someone above mentioned Ed Cassidy who is still doing some guest appearances on the central coast of California. He's pushing his late eighties now but still remains one of the best "dead stick" practicianers around.

[dtxtremeiiispecial]

Chapin may be 89, but he hasn't really gigged for about 20 years.

Eric Delaney, an inventive and exuberant British drummer and percussionist, was still gigging at age 87. He played a tour as guest drummer with the Glenn Miller Band at age 85, and he played in seaside resorts in England and Spain before and after that. He played with the Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra a couple months before his death, and when he didn't show up to play at the annual Wigan Jazz Festival in 2011, he was found dead in his home.

He played drums in England during the World War II's blackout days, and a blind George Shearing would lead him home in the dark at night. He played double bass drum starting in the 1950's. He pioneered the technique of playing tympani with wire brushes. He was adaptable, and when audiences wanted something new, he adapted.

A born showman, he leapt across the stage from drums to tympani, fired a cannon during "Hornpipe Boogie," and put different-colored lights inside his drums, which were set on a revolving pedestal with flashing lights. Trumpeter Tony Fisher described him as a master showman but said: "The danger was that firing guns on the stage and so on obscured the fact that he was one of the greatest British drummers ever."

He became lifelong friends with Louie Bellson, and in 1960 the two recorded an album together, "Repercussion," which was a jazz bestseller. He was the subject of a 300-page book, The Magnificent Eric Delaney (2006) by Eddie Sammons.

His drumset consisted of drums including double-bass, three tympani, a military side drum, tubular bells, Chinese gongs, symphonic cymbals, sleigh bells, tamborines, a glockenspiel, and a vibraphone,
with a 10-ft diameter gong standing at the heart of it all.

He led groups both big and small until his death. Even in his old age his performances were both eccentric and relentlessly energetic -- he he bounded around the stage hitting things with remorseless energy. His closing remark to audiences at the end of concerts was stark but true: "The drummer is knackered" [exhausted].