One of the absolute greatest drummers of all time!

Steve Vai on Vinnie Colaiuta: "I was just enamored with Vinnie. Back in the Frank days, his whole approach, when I heard Vinnie play, his phrasing - it satisfied something in my heart. It was easy to get certain rhythmic gratification from straight up-and-down-type players. Playing grooves, alternate grooves here and there. But Vinnie just came in and threw a wrench into the works. The guy is an alien. He was able to touch buttons with his sense of polyrhythms that no one has ever done. Frank's band was the perfect soundboard for that. I started transcribing his playing for The Frank Zappa Book. I mean, there's five to six different notations for the hi-hat!" "I'll tell you a really great Vinnie story. He's one of the most amazing sight-readers that ever existed on the instrument. One day we were in a Frank rehearsal, this was early '80s, and Frank brought in this piece of music called "Mo 'N Herb's Vacation." Just unbelievably complex. All the drums were written out, just like "The Black Page" except even more complex. There were these runs of like 17 over 3 and every drumhead is notated differently. And there were a whole bunch of people there, I think Bozzio was there".. "Vinnie had this piece of music on the stand to his right. To his left he had another music stand with a plate of sushi on it, okay? Now the tempo of the piece was very slow, like "The Black Page." And then the first riff came in, [mimics bizarre Zappa-esque drum rhythm patterns] with all these choking of cymbals, and hi-hat, ruffs, spinning of rototoms and all this crazy stuff. And I saw Vinnie reading this thing. Now, Vinnie has this habit of pushing his glasses up with the middle finger of his right hand. Well I saw him look at this one bar of music, it was the last bar of music on the page. He started to play it as he was turning the page with one hand, and then once the page was turned he continued playing the riff with his right hand, as he reached over with his left hand, grabbed a piece of sushi and put it in his mouth, continued the riff with his left hand and feet, pushed his glasses up, and then played the remaining part of the bar." "It was the sickest thing I have ever seen. Frank threw his music up in the air. Bozzio turned around and walked away. I just started laughing."

I love how Vinnie is still absorbing the form of the tune and he's still totally dead on and makes it look completely effortless.

I've been playing a little over 50 years and VInnie Colaiuta makes me want to burn my sticks. He's just a monster.

This guy inspired me to sell my drums

I can't believe you have this footage up! I was a student at Berklee at the time and a friend got me a job working with the lighting crew, so I was there during this rehearsal in the Berklee Performance Center balcony. The musicianship that night was just on another level. Jimmy gave me his bass music which was hand written in pencil, and all the musicians were super kind on top of being spot on with the music from beat one. One of the best all around concerts ever too if you include Steve and Paul Simon doing 50 Ways to leave your lover.

I think Vinnie is the all in one drummer, my favorite drummer he s so creative dynamic and effortless

One of the greatest readers of all time

Vinnie is like a machine,smooth smooth smooth.!!!

The synergy between Vin and Jimmy Johnson is just something else toward the end of this clip. Absolutely unreal.

amazing !!! vinnie reading alien skills

The 1st 30 seconds is so valuable and how Vinnie communicates over a section of music. To think he understands exactly what each person's going to do and how they going to do it and still navigating through it all while reading. That's why he's one of the best!!

Vinnie is a consummate master. Living proof of how far someone can develop natural talent over a lifetime, becoming ALL humanly possible. A great inspiration for us all to WORK at our gifts, taking them farther than we ever thought possible. It's day after day, after day, for a lifetime.

As a guy who’s been playing 40+ years but never got much past beginning books when it came to sight reading I’m just amazed watching these guys reading and playing this stuff just like turning on a light switch!! I’m impressed! True professionals!!!

The greatest drummers make the most difficult things look easy.

Vinnie; out of this world reader ; absolute Talent; so Smooth .Great musicians as well ; regards from Costa Rica.

I don’t know if we’ll see another drummer with the overall skill set that Vinnie has. Watching him direct other musicians with absolute certainty of where each instrument is on any given note in the arrangement is astounding. This isn’t the only time I’ve seen him do it with other musicians as well. An American treasure.

Vinnie has such an impeccable sense of meter. Second to none 👍🏻

I must have listened to “the leprechaun” 100s of time in high school/college but it’s been 40 years...I forgot how great it is!

One of the top 5 drummers of all time.

absolutely amazing!!

The cat on bass is a MONSTER!

UNBELIEVABLE!! This guy takes it to a whole nother level!

What’s crazy is that his skill set would take some another lifetime to even get close to what’s in his brain…and in his hands.

this is so lovely!!

Thank you. Amazing play.

Thanks for sharing..

Vinnie please stop, I can’t believe this amazing feels!

Vinnie having fun and taking chances on a rehearsal!!!

Incredible

For those who might not know it's the song Nite sprite on Chick Corea's album 'the leprechaun'.

Incredible sight reading 🤪🤪🤪🤪

Can't believe that guy play drums on a Megadeth record wow

My favorite drummer of all !!

Tremendous talent and super tight playing by Vinnie .... He was really on top of his game.

The fact that he can read stuff like this down and still play with such world class level of musicality, interpretation, groove etc. is so inspiring. I’m a somewhat decent reader, but this is far beyond just making the notes so to speak.

He is a composer and a great improvisational player. A consummate pro in every sense of the word.

Fantástico!! Incrível!!😃👏👏Musicalidade puríssimo..

Vinnie Colaiuta + Jimmy Johnson = Groove Monster

That's some damn fine playing. Of course I expected nothing less.

That snare sounds so good!

Awesome, Awesome !!!!!!!!!

👍Vinnie's TOTALLY on it!!!

God created Vinnie to share his amazing gift of musicianship through drumming!,,

He's got a brain for each limb, one for reading the charts and a couple to spare just in case it gets tricky.

The Master!

You cannot go wrong with Vinnie

The Best!

instant read chart with feels...graduated from Zappa academy!

VINNIE!!!

Vinie Colaiuta...!!! El más grande y mejor baterista del mundo....!!!

unbelievable;;;;

Warmup for Vinnie: Got my sticks. Got my drums. Okay, all warmed up.

That's the true feeling of heaven right there 😁

He reads, anticipates and execute like no other ! BEAST

Mr vinnie colaiuta

Pro's !!!!!

4minutes 29 seconds 😂😂 loved that

Pro of pros.

It's funny how if you saw any of those guys on the streets you would never think they were such bad dudes.

Three-fifths of James Taylor's touring band, too (Jimmy, Larry & Mike).

Can u imagine Vinnie running into the Dollar General for some ice...gets to the counter and the "attendant" take forever to get him through? Vinnie's inner voice, "Really dude...I just did a session that is really complex, i nailed it every time, and you can't run ice through the scanner?"

The V-man !!

Super powers!

God of Sightreading!!!

My god. Always thought Vinnie's (and the band's) take on the last run-through here was even better than the show performance. Just sickening.

You have balls to rehars this just the day of the concert.

This music is the very reason that I can't stomach what they pass off today as music. The sad thing is that today's entertainers ( I Refuse To Call Them Musicians) is the gross amount of money they make without any effort. Guys like Vinnie are The Real Deal but just don't get the pay & rewards they deserve

1:41: This is the rarest thing in the universe. The unobtanium of music. It was Vinnie Colaiuta slightly making a mistake.

Does anyone know what cymbals Vinnie was using in this set-up: specifically the ride?

Interested in some of Vinnie's charts? Check this out: kzfaq.info

Jumps in anywhere he damn feels in a chart in the middle of a 16th, this guy is super-human good. Glances over at the chart while he's basically soloing. WTF Vinnie? Can you imagine all the drummers that hung it up because of you? Why bother? LOL !!!!!!!!!

Alguien sabe el nombre de la cancion? Name of the song???

When you known as a drummer by your first name that's all they need to know

1:04

Does anyone know the cymbals he uses here?

One of Zappa’s posse, nuff said! Frank only recruited the best, as you can see.

It's like to see Leonardo painting the Monnalisa..

1:25 someone missed some Notes ;-)

Where is music from?

Chick Corea - “Night Sprite”

Like Axel said, i played my drums for 30 years, but now it's time to sell them ...

Chick Corea tune!

Yeah I’m trying to dance to this but it’s impossible! 😉

I can do that, but I dont wanna

The music reminds me of Chick Corea from the 70s.

jesus christ!!!!!......uffff....

vinnie is thinking this is sophmoric compared to what Frank was aspiring to

What kind of K ride is he playing here?

wow, it helps to read, read and play, Vinnie pisses me off

Vinnie WALTER WHITE Colaiuta !!!

300 IQ

Proof aliens exist.

Great playing but don't like the sound of the snare. A bit too tight for my taste.

I wonder what a drummer who doesn't know how to read music would do in this case...

This music is so played out..! I want to give my drums away

This is great reading by all involved but Vinnie doesn't play this like Steve Gadd did. Vinnie is a fantastic drummer but he plays too busy here. Steve was much more to the point without all the extra stuff.

Technically yes yes very good but this kind of weird music still sounds like shit.

There are a lot of 'insanely brilliant and technically genius drummers out there on Instagram but I'm afraid to inform, Vinnie is the master along with Dave Weckl. Their 'overall' genius is simply on another stratosphere. To think Vinnie is sight reading in this clip. Shut your eyes and you'd think he was just jamming with a bunch of shit hot musicians. There's a reason why he is the most hired session drummer out there. He a very gifted musician who just happens to be a drummer.