Sad to say I never heard of this session drummer and teacher in Ireland before, seems people are remembering him on my Facebook feed, He does sound a real master on drums.

The drum solo is about two minutes in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWEUT_VK1rw

Was he actually reading that? It sure looked like it was on the sheet music......

It would be fun to see the chart he was using, that's for sure.

It did look like it and with a big band he may need to keep the cues tight for the other musicians to know when to come back in. Some drummers certainly can and do read like that.

I guess it could have been a lead sheet with cue notes, though one would think he'd likely just count that.

I certainly believe he was reading the chart. I'm not sure how comprehensive it was as that solo needed about 56 pages!

What an absolutely dynamic performance - from everyone.