Hi Thunderbird,
Welcome to the Cafe.
Just from my personnel experience I am a lot like you.  I always played match grip and for the past couple years I have been working on Traditional for certian Jazz or Latin beat type songs.  I have come to realize that there is nothing that I can't do with matched grip that I can with Traditional.  I think that traditional is fun to play around with but I am more comfortable with matched grip to the point that I see no use for Traditional.  You should do a search on "Grips" here.  You will find that we have discussed it quiet a bit.  Go to the Green Tool bar and at the top and click search.
                           Nutty

Trad grip is great but like with anything there are trade-offs.  I think most here believe you can do anything matched that you can do with trad so why bother.  I chose to be a trad guy and I'm not formally trained so go figure.  If you watch the great players using trad, you don't see them having much problem getting around, e.g., crashing one the left side, moving to alternate snare, crossing over, etc. so I think it's simply a matter of practice.  I can get around reasonably well but I spent a fair amount of time working that left hand.  It will take a lot of time to get comfortable with any new technique so you need to decide if the benefit is worthwhile.  Key point:  IMHO I don't think you can set your kit up optimally for both - it's either one or the other.  The angle of the snare, the position of toms and cymbals change - at least for me.  Weckl used to switch between trad and matched but said he would get a pain in his arm so he pretty much sticks with trad.  If you decide to stick with it, take some time and watch the videos of the greats, you will definately pickup some ideas and inspiration.

I really have no idea, but Tony Williams echoed your same comments. He said he liked trad grip because it helped him think of his left hand as a separate entity from his right. I really can't vouch for that. I have a different set of problems in trad grip than I have in matched grip. Maybe it's because my brain unhinges the connectivity. I dunno.

The same route you take to Carnegie Hall, practice, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

I too have tried to become comfortable with Trad, but just feel more comfortable with matched.  I don't remember which DVD it was, but Weckl does go rather in depth about it in one of his later ones.  I watched it and studied it over and over and still feel WAY more comfortable with the matched.  Of course, being a classically matched gripper, I think I will always use matched.  However, if I'm playing traditional jazz or something of that sort on a smaller kit, I will ocasionally use trad because it is really easy to get some good snare play and bounce with it.  something I dont' really have a use for otherwise.  I hope I haven't thoroughly confused you.  LOL!

I agree with Nuclear in principle, but on the other hand (pardon the pun) there can be some value in experimenting with new grips, etc. If it puts you into a different mindset that generates critical thinking about grip, stroke, muscle use, set-up or spurns you into new creative territory, there can be great value in working on a new grip, outside of the greater facility you may, or may not, achieve.

In my own experience, I've started working on more traditional grip stuff because I found I hit certain roadblocks in my brush playing. I originally learned to play brushes traditional style, but moved to matched grip on the advice of Barry Elmes, a fine, fine jazz drummer who plays everything matched. The logic was the same as yours, Nuclear: why learn another grip when one will do? But over time there were shadings and effects that I found were easier to execute with traditional grip so I've had to go back and try to teach myself more trad. grip technique. Now I have BOTH options in my quiver.

I think I've said this in every trad grip thread, but I think it's a wise comment from a great player worth repeating a few times:

Dave Weckl states his switches back and forth between matched and traditional, but when he does it it's entirely an emotional choice. He can play anything with one grip that he can do with the other. He recognizes that his comfort zones have little to do with the grip's capabilities and more to do with the way his brain is wired ... he learned different grips at different stages of his development. Not only that, but he dramatically changed his trad grip and now uses a bunch of different techniques with it, so he's constantly shifting his left hand in traditional.

I think this comment drives home the point that it makes a lot of sense to stick with one grip and master it. Weckl's the only drummer I know that uses both with an extremely high level of efficiency, and his comments seems to still reveal a discomfort with either. He's more comfortable now, but not really at peace. I've used both for almost as long as I've been playing (30+ years), and if I had to go back and do it over again, I would stick with one. I feel like I lost a year or two of learning really important stuff to pursue my trad grip chops.

I've always switched back & forth, traditional to matched grip. Depends on what I'm playing.

Many big time drummers do, too. Watch a video of Steve Smith or Neil Peart very long and you'll see them switching to matched for better reach around the kit and back to traditional for more snare work.

Boomerweps.

Yep, I just wanted to point out that even Weckl understood it as an illogical thing. He switched back and forth, but he never noticed any benefit to it other than subconscious comfort levels.

I didn't know until you mentioned that he's dropped matched entirely. I'm guessing that's Freddie Gruber's influence.

After many false starts, I'm finally getting up to speed with traditional grip.

I find I can swing and I can play quietly with traditional.  I can't do either with matched.  That's likely just because I learned to bash out rock beats with matched and now I'm learning Blues and Jazz with trad.  Fresh start.
Exactly.  With matched grip my left hand was always struggling to match my right.  With trad it seems more normal to let the left hand set the pace, and the right hand follows easily.

I'm always puzzled by the trad/matched debate.  I mean, just look at the grips - they're different.