Drumsets... the evolution of my "gear"

I started playing in the 8th grade at Northeast Jr. Hi... the following year, as a freshman at MacArthur High School, I joined the Stage Band... I needed some drums. My Dad started hitting the pawnshops on East Houston Street...

• the first two toms acquired (in 1958) were from WWII when, by law, the drum had to be less than 10% metal. The tuning mechanism was like the one to the left - the tuning rods went through the wooden ribs inside which were tightened against the shell resulting in the ribs pushing out against the heads, increasing the tension and tuning the drum
• Also discovered in a pawn shop were a White Marine Pearl 14" dia x 28" deep single-headed cocktail drum with no snares... this became the floor tom... and a WMP
• 9"x13" Slingerland tom tom which I mounted on a snare stand
• I was taking drum lessons from Jim Roumillat at the time... he sold me a WMP 14"x24" Ludwig bass drum that he had used at the Ft. Sam O'Club's Raven Room
• The only new drum was a WMP 5 1/2"x14" Ludwig from C Bruno & Sons that was sold to me by Fred Hoey
• The 21" Zildjian 21" was bought with proceeds of bagging groceries at the Ft. Sam Houston Commissary
• I moved to Robert E. Lee H.S. in my sophomore year - the school boundary line changed. I used these drums - with a replacement new 9"x13" tom which came with a rail tom holder for the bass drum - with the KONO talent-show winning Keith Allison Combo and with the Doug Sahm Trio

By my Junior year at Lee HS I was working several times a month with bands of all types - rock and roll, dance jobs, and after a while even Latin Band leaders Johnnie Rodriguez and Johnny Esquivel were calling me to play. I used to go downtown on the bus and hang out all day Saturday at San Antonio Music on N. Main. I would walk around with the Ludwig and Gretsch catalogs pricing out different configurations. Eventually my Dad opened a charge account for me and I ordered a set of Gretsch Drums in Burgandy sparkle. I had already discovered the cool new Rogers swivo-matic hardware and ordered a cymbal holder and cowbell holder and I ordered the bass drum without a tom holder in preparation for getting the Rogers tom holder.

Gretsch Burgundy Sparkle Set:

• 14"x20" Bass Drum
• 4"x14" "Max Roach" Modern Jazz Snare Drum
• 16"x16" Floor Tom
• Whalberg Hi-Hat stand
• 9"x13" Tom Tom [in Senior year]

Not long after getting this set I bought some timbales from a drummer in the Air Force band at Lackland AFB. I practiced with Stan Kenton albums of Latin music for hours. I put the timbales to good use with the Latin bands I was playing with around San Antonio. I still have the cowbell that I got with these drums and it is still covered with several layers of masking tape - sounds GREAT!!!

This was a REALLY great set of drums!! They were very popular at NTSU -- the drums were borrowed many times for special Lab Band performances and gigs.

I was aware of the big band drummers who had used double bass drums, especially Louis Bellson who had used them with Ellington (along with Sam Woodyard) and Rufus "Speedy" Jones with Count Basie. Jack Sperling played two bass drums on recordings with Les Brown and Pete Fountain quartette and big band which I listened to / practiced with for hours!

And... I was able to get the Rogers drums for dealers cost through Don Sarli's and Fred Adamchek's Music Mart (where I was teaching) and Gene McKinney who worked at Maxwell Meyers Wholesale Music Distributors.

Rogers Mardi Gras Sparkle Set included:

• 14"x22" Bass Drums (2) w/dual sets of spurs
• 5"x14" Chrome DynaSonic Snare Drum
• 9"x13" Tom Toms (2)
• 16"x16" Floor Tom
• 16"x18" Floor Tom
• MardiGras covered barrel stool case

These drums were used for:

• Teen Fair of Texas... this was supposed to be a two week show at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio celebrating the accomplishments of the Texas Teenager... I was hired to play in the band backing the stars of the stage show... it closed in 4/5 days. Before it closed I got to play for several rock stars like Leslie Gore, Paul Peterson, Linda Scott, Bobby Vee, and some others.
• I used the set on the road with Johnnie "Scat" Davis. Usually with just one bass drum... there wasn't room for the rest in the instrument truck.
• NORAD Concert/Show Band. I finished Army basic training about the first week of January... I came back to San Antonio for a day or two, then loaded the entire kit into my 1960 Pontiac Catalina convertible, which required lowering the top, and headed to Colorado Springs... it was snowing when I got to the Springs and I had to put the top down in the snow storm to get my drums out of the car!! They were perfect to use with the NORAD Band concert/show band!!

I was a big Rogers fan!! I owned and loved their drums... especially the Dyna-Sonic snares and the hardware. The Field Band sent me to Chuck Levin's to get some drums for Steve Gadd and me to use with the Studio Band - a 25 piece jazz-rock big band. I ordered a Rogers set in Silver Sparkle...

• 14"x20" Bass Drum
• 8"x12" tom
• 14"x14" and 16"x16" floor toms
• Chrome Dyna-Sonic snare
• Various Latin percussion instruments: congas, timbales, etc.

Steve and I quickly decided the 16"x16" floor tom was just one drum more than we needed. It was left in storage. These drums were on and off all types of modes of transportation without any problems, ever!!

I had started to collect a few odds and ends, including this old brass 14" snare and I had the Ludwig timbales.

• 14"x20" Bass Drum - bought the shell... finished it and installed scrounged hardware
• 4"x14" brass tube-lug snare of dubious heritage and vintage -- it WAS old!
  
• 13" timbale mounted on BD
  
• 14" timbale sometimes used w/floor stand (the "band stand" was cramped!!
  

This was the PERFECT set to leave on this gig... who would take it?? and there was NO chance I would want to use these drums anywhere else!! and they were perfect for the "continental" music we played... cha chas, boleros, tangos, meringues, etc., etc. I had been refinishing oak antiques with some success. This was my first attempt at a drum... the bass drums was finished with several hand-rubbed coats of tung oil.

I had discovered Ted's Music in downtown Baltimore... Check 'em out... I hope they're still there:

  Ted's Music
  11 East Centre Baltimore, MD 21202
  410-685-4198

This old (opened 1931) music instrument store was FULL of old and exotic instruments... hanging from the ceiling, piled on the floor all over the place... including 3 or 4 rooms filled with old drums and drum stuff. I took drummer Mark Stevens (appearing with Burt Bacharach at Merriweather Post Pavilion) there and he went CRAZY buying all sorts of shells, etc. I bought some shells, refinished them, and created this drumset. I used it on this concert at the Maryland shore just before I was discharged. It really sounded great -- it ROCKED!!

• 14"x24" Bass Drum - single-headed bass drum - yellowed white marine pearl
• 10"/12"/13" toms on high stand
• 14" tom on drum stand
• 16" floor tom

At the same time I ordered drums for the US Army Studio Band I bought some drums for myself at Chuck Levin's. Since I knew I was headed back to North Texas to be a "jazz" player, I wanted to have "jazz" drums. Actually I had "need" of two sets -- one for big band (20" BD, 9"x13"/16"x16" toms) and a be-bop set (18" BD and 8"x12"/14"x14" toms). Chuck Levin's had a Gretsch "big band" set in starlight (dark gray) sparkle in like-new condition and I ordered the 3 drums for the "be-bop" set (Gretsch - black shells). Needless to say, the leverage of buying the Rogers gear for our rich Uncle Sam made a major difference in what I had to pay for my new drums... less than $500.00 for all!!

Silly me... at the time I saw the Rogers double bass drumset as bloated and overkill and sold them (all but the DynaSonic snare)... I sure am sorry I did that!!!!!!!!

• The Gretsch starlight sparkle "big-band" set was perfect for use with the NTSU One O'Clock Lab Band
• The Gretsch "be-bop" set was perfect for occasional playing opportunities
• Jeff Sturges, a NTSU Lab band ex, conductor for Englebert, and leader/ composer of the Las Vegas-based jazz-rock big band, Universe, was featured at the Fall Concert. During the first rehearsal the Gretsch "big-band" drums I was using just "disappeared" due to the sheer volume of the band (much of which was mic'd and the amplification of the guitar, bass, etc. I threw together a rock-n-roll set consisting of the "Lab Band's" "rock-sized" Ludwig drums augmented with some Gretsch toms I had for his portion of the concert.
• It became clear that the lines between "jazz" and "rock" drum equipment were becoming blurred.

• Took the "jazz" drums on the road with Lainie Kazan -- easy to transport, even to Australia!!

The multi-tom single headed drum sound took over with the ubiquitiousness of Hal Blaine's recordings!.. Even the jazzers started using several toms when fusion became popular... I had to get me some! I traded a drummer at NTSU some old Getsch drums for A silver sparkle Rogers set - 20" BD, 12" and 13" toms and a Powertone snare drum. Found a Rogers 16" floor tom at Bill & Sis Lacombe's Drum Shop in Dallas to match. Bill ordered 8" and 10" silver toms to complete the set. All very similar to the drums Steve Gadd and I used in the Studio Band.

These drums became my "first-call" set -- I set them up as single-headed toms - even taking the bottom lugs off the drums and filling the empty lug holes with Rogers chrome carriage bolts.

A word about Bill & Sis' Drum Shop... it was THE hang for the NTSU and Dallas drummers (there was a LOT of work in Dallas including jingle and industrial recording in mid-70's). The shop was often filled with several pros... the "gear conversations" would go on for hours. One topic that was especially hot was how to tune a multi-tom setup to get that "pitch-bend" sound that was so new and popular.

I used these Rogers drums for all kinds of performance situations

• Dallas
  With The Mark Franklin Trio in Dallas at the Fairmount Hotel and at Arthur's Restaurant(audio)...
• Chicago... playing "soup to nutz"!!
  These drums were my "studio drums" -- at Dick Marx's studio and sessions in Chicago (audio)... the Gretsch Starlight Sparkle "big-band" set and Black Pearl "Be-Bop" set were used for hotel (Palmer House and Hyatt Regency O'Hare) and casual gigs.
• On Tour With
  • Doc Severinsen -- I took (flew) them all over the country for the orchestra concerts with Doc Severinsen (especially after the first experience of trying to use an orchestra percussionist's idea of what a drumset was on a concert)... and used them one night when subbing for Ed Shaughnessey on the Tonight Show... I was later informed that "they didn't visually fill the space normally taken up by Ed's kit"...
  • Lola Falana -- in Vegas (MGM Grand), Tahoe (Sahara), and the Playboy Hotels
  • Burt Bacharach -- a variety of symphony concerts, the MGM Grand in Vegas, and a three week trip to South America in 1977
• LA: In the studio -- they were my drums in cartage in Los Angeles for
  • Van Dyke & Company - an hour variety show starring Dick Van Dyke
  • Sonny & Cher -- their final season together
  • Diff'rent Strokes (Video)
  • ...and all the other television recording I did.

When I moved to Chicago I quickly discovered John Mulvey's Chicago Drum Center... it became my favorite drum shop. John was a great drum shop owner... he learned what each of his player/customers preferred in terms of drums and hardware and cymbals, and would give them/me a call when he came across anything "special".

I let him know immediately that I was a "Rogers" guy and would be interested in any interesting Rogers gear that came through his shop, especially any Dynasonic Snare Drums. A few months later the Dynasonic I had kept when selling the Rogers Double Kick set above was stolen out of my van, so the search was on for a replacement.

John called me one day and told me that he had just returned to the shop from Slingerland Drums President Don Osborne's home. They were close friends and Osborne, who was retiring, called John and asked him if he wanted the drum gear that had accumulated in his garage over many years. John said to me that he had a couple of things from that "mother-lode" that I might be interested in. "What kind of Slingerland gear would I be interested in?" I thought to myself. I told him, "I was on my way"!!

I walked into the shop and immediately saw this Dynasonic sitting on the front counter... John began explaining where it had come from...

We all know that Buddy Rich started endorsing Slingerland and Ludwig drums early on and then switched back and forth between Slingerland and Rogers many times, with a detour or two with Fibes... Osborne told John that the last time Buddy came back to Slingerland he was required to turn over all his 'other brand' drums, especially any Rogers and Fibes snare drums. This white marine pearl Dynasonic was part of the gear Buddy brought to Slingerland and it ended up in Osborne's garage "collection".

Needless to say, as fast as I could write a check, it was now "in MY collection"!! Also included in that check was the payment for a 20" Zildjian China that had belonged to Jake Hanna (also a Slingerland endorser) that is an amazing cymbal... versitile enough to use with jazz trio to big band and fusion...

The Dynasonic was in amazing shape - the only issues being tiny hairline cracks in the two "bread and butter" lugs below where Buddy would have played a zillion rimshots. I rarely used the drum, because I didn't want it stolen and because, as you will see if you continue reading further down this page, I started playing a lot more rock, using deeper snare drums... the snare was usually the one I grabbed for a bigband or jazz rehearsal/gig. I recently passed it on to my son who has quite a snare collection with a focus on Rogers.

I have tried with out success to locate John Mulvey. I wanted to get a document from him verifying the chain of events I outlined above. It is believed that he sold his shop and returned to the Travel business. A suggestion to any drummers who come across this kind of opportunity... do NOT hesitate to get the documentation when you get the instrument... it may be impossible to get later!!!

• The single-headed silver sparkle Rogers drums were my "first-call" drums until my cartage company lost them. I had another (newer) black pearl wood-shell set of Rogers but they were just not the same.
• My friend and benefactor drummer Mark Stevens (Bacharach, Dinah Shore, the Gong Show and Pearl/Zildjian endorser) called Pearl Drums and Zildjian and spoke to the artist reps on my behalf.
• I was endorsed by Pearl and Zildjian (1977)...
• Pearl sent me out to Hannich Music in West Covina and I picked out some new Pearl fiberglass-shell drums (paid for by the cartage company).
• I got a BIG set of drums. I customized the Pearl tom mounting system in order to get better positioning of the higher toms. And I did the single head modifications I had done to the lost Rogers drums. These drums were LOUD!! I didn't put the bottom heads back on the drums until 1979 when the fatter less cardboard box-like sound came back into favor.
• This became my road kit... This drumset and cymbal eventually grew to the double-kick kit shown in slides 20 and 21. Special thanx to Zildjian's Lennie Demuzio for all the great cymbals he picked out for me!!!
• I played this kit when working for:
  Tony Orlando - (Video: Tony Orlando's First Special
  Engelbert Humperdinck
  Paul Anka
• And for the Nobuko Trio in San Antonio (1983) with the smaller toms and one bass drum - slide 22
• Back in LA...
• Pontiac Fiero Intro Tour
• Subbing for Mark Stevens on Womam of the Year
• La Cage Aux Folles, the Broadway show

After La Cage closed I accepted a six-month tour of A Chorus Line. Because of scheduling challenges due to expanded rehearsal requirements it was decided that I needed to travel a second set of drums... I called artist relations at Pearl and acquired a set of GLX piano-black drums (22" BD, 10", 12", 13", 14", 15" toms, and a GREAT brass SD - all with SuperGripper lugs, and a whole LOT of add-on hardware and cases), all of which I still use...

When "A Chorus Line" closed I was hired by NYC contractor John Monaco (La Cage contractor) for the National Touring Company of "Zorba the Greek" which was a one drummer/percussionist" show. In addition to the GLX set I needed great timps (for the Zorba fight scene solo) xylophone, bells, and an assortment of percussion instruments.

I called Steve Weiss in Philly and ordered Ludwig Pro Series timps (hand-hammered bowls and "life-saving" Planet Percussion hydraulic gauges), Musser Keylon Xylo and orchestra bells (see "keyboard rack setup" pic), a gong, and a whole bunch of other percussion gear needed to cover the book. While "I was at it" I ordered a Sonor Daniel Humair Double BD Pedal... overkill to be sure but it was FUN!! I also used these instruments for "Cabaret" and "Fiddler On The Roof". I sold the timps back to Steve Weiss after "Cabaret" closed. The mallet instruments were sold to music students in NYC after "Fiddler" closed, to finance a drumKAT...

Doubles are where it's at!!!

2007 American Federation of Musicians Broadway Contract
Doubling explained on page 17

I often wondered about the drumset/percussion parts in the shows I was playing.

When a additional instrument is written into a part the player gets an additional payment -- 25% for the 1st double, 6.25% - 12.5% each additional - for "doubling" or playing two or more instruments. Add a third instrument -get another "double" and a pay increase.

Percussion parts often had 4/5 doubles... drumset, timpani, mallet instruments, Latin instruments, electronic instruments (there were even Syn-drums in "La Cage" which were "written out" as soon as the composer, Jerry Herman heard them!) - each "family" of instruments was a double. Certainly many of the percussion parts written into the drum part were important and made sense... some, however were questionable. When Milton Greene (original Broadway conductor) took over the conductor role for the Broadway run of "Fiddler" I had the opportunity to ask the drummer who had played "Fiddler" originally about the combination of the drums/percussion parts.

In the "old days" this veteran explained, the drummer would work with the composer and or the dance arranger during the production rehearsals (long before the final arrangements were written) to add some "doubles' to the drummer's parts -- to add "color" to the sound of the arrangements to be sure, and to raise the drummer's compensation to the level of responsibility.

When it get's interesting is when an additional instrument is added for a part that could just as well been played on an existing one... The old guys knew how to take care of each other!!!!

Great News... These drums are being used again!!!

After getting settled in San Antonio I unpacked the drums, took them apart including the lugs off the shell, cleaned them up and bought new heads for all. In the process I discovered that the snare drum had suffered serious damage in two "professional" moves... 10 of the 20 Super-Gripper lugs were useless, having had their screw tubes sheared off by the brass shell. Apparenly something very heavy had been placed on the case in which the snare was packed. The pressure broke the tubes "clean off".

More about the GLX snare drum and lugs