As the guitarist and leader of Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page was lucky enough to play for 12 years with one of the greatest drummers the world has ever seen, John Bonham.
In addition to this, he also played in one of his era’s other most essential bands, The Yardbirds, and enjoyed an extensive and successful career as a session musician before forming the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ quartet in 1968. This means that, with every aspect of rock music, Page knows quality when he sees it, and whilst it is most evident with guitar playing, he also knows a thing or two about drumming.
It’s reflective of John Bonham’s brilliance that after his untimely death in 1980, Led Zeppelin knew they could not carry on. Not only had they lost a great friend, but in many ways, the collective lightning in the bottle had been lost. An elemental player who fused the jazz panache of Gene Krupa with a natural thunder, Bonham facilitated all of the group’s dynamism, and it would never be the same without him.
Jimmy Page was acutely aware that John Bonham was Led Zeppelin, and reflected to Rolling Stone years after his passing: “He would have a natural balance to everything he was playing. And then he’d give a bass-drum accent that you’d feel it go into your stomach. His technique was just amazing. He was such fun to play with. But the other thing was that he loved Led Zeppelin. He really loved the band, and he used to play the music at home. So we had a lot of fun, and a lot of fun improvising onstage.”
Playing alongside one of the greatest to ever sit behind a kit for over a decade gave Jimmy Page more insight into what makes a great drummer than most. Yet, even in his early career before the days of Led Zeppelin, he could spot a perfect percussionist a mile off, working with some of the best as one of London’s most sought-after session musicians.
One man he was a big fan of during the late 1960s was The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s drummer, Mitch Mitchell. Like John Bonham, he was vital in boosting his bandmates’ development, particularly the group’s focal point, the guitar-playing pioneer, Jimi Hendrix.
When speaking to Guitar World for an extensive chat in 1993, after Jimmy Page lamented never being able to see Jimi Hendrix live before his 1970 death, he was asked what he thought of his fellow guitar hero’s records from a producer’s point of view. In his response, he effused about the “inspired” brilliance of Mitch Mitchell on them before claiming that he had never played like that before and never did after The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Page said: “I thought they were excellent. Oh yeah. Jimi’s drummer, Mitch Mitchell was also a man inspired. He never played drums like that before or since. He played some incredible stuff!!”
