Geezer Butler, who served as the bassist in Ozzy Osbourne’s band, shared rare details about his co-artists.
Speaking in a recent interview with BraveWords, the Black Sabbath bass legend spoke openly about the rhythm section of the popular heavy metal band.
He started the discussion by saying, “Bill was the first drummer that I ever played bass with.”
Geezer Butler went on to heap praise for his former co-star and said, “Bill was the greatest person that you could possibly learn bass to and he really, really inspired my bass playing.”
“The thing with Bill is he was a jazz drummer. His heroes were Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa. Those kind of people. So he was an out and out jazz person, and he brought a whole new swing to rock drumming,” he explained.
“So it was great for me, because I was able to do all these jazz scales now. So it really helped me when I first picked up the bass,” the pioneer of metal music remarked before moving on to another topic.
It is pertinent to mention here that Black Sabbath was founded by drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, guitarist Tony Iommi and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne in 1968.