RIP Jim Capaldi

I always thought Capaldi was an underrated drummer. It took me years to figure out that Traffic began with a template (organ-drums-horn) borrowed from American jazz (think: Jimmy Smith, among many others). Because it was the Sixties, they mixed their origins with some psychedelic effects (especially on their first album, titled Mr. Fantasy in the States, after their first FM hit) and a lot of then-novel world music influences (especially Spanish and Middle Eastern) and created an original (and unique) sound. Capaldi's drumming was right at the center of that sound. He played as economically as a classic soul drummer (Al Jackson, say), but with great swing. And much as people love Traffic's albums from The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys onward, I always thought their music lost that swing when classy pros like Jim Gordon and Roger Hawkins took over the drum chair and Capaldi moved to tambourine (and, as Stephen Davis once wrote, "standing around looking blitzed").