I’ve always wanted to write about ‘Panama’ Francis, not only because I’ve always been fascinated by his evocative name, but also because he was one of Bernard Purdie’s heroes. His nickname was acquired from the trumpeter Roy Eldridge whom he played with. Eldridge forgot his real name and since he was wearing a Panama hat
As it happens I owe a great deal to this month’s subject, Dougie Wright, as it was he who inadvertently got me my start in big time music. He had been playing drums for 'The John Barry 7' who backed a very popular ‘pop star’ and I received the call to play with him. This
Donald Hugh Henley was born on July 22, 1947 and is described on the internet as an 'American musician, singer, songwriter, record-producer and founding member of the Eagles'. It’s difficult to find reference to him being a drummer which of course he was, and a very effective one at that - all the more so because
Hal Blaine died on March 11th, 2019 and it’s absolutely the end of an era - there couldn’t possibly be another like him because the World of Music has moved on! I didn’t really know Hal Blaine the man, although I would have loved to have. I did bump into him at American music shows
Donald Douglas Lamond was born in Oklahoma City on August 18th, 1920 but spent his formative years in Washington, DC. It was here that he first saw drum corps playing when he was around 3 years old, whereupon his mother made him a drum out of a tin can. This prompted him to begin learning
Billy Gladstone was born on December 15th, 1892 and began life in Romania as William David Goldstein. His father was English and the supervisor of Romania’s Symphony Orchestra. His musical education and playing career began on the baritone horn in his father’s orchestra but he was more interested in studying percussion - enough to make
'Cozy' Cole was born on October 17th, 1909 in Orange, New Jersey and since his three brothers were jazz musicians it was inevitable he’d become one too - especially since his brother Herbie was also a drummer. After a couple of years at Wilberforce University in Ohio, 1926 saw Cozy move just over a half
William Scott Bruford was born on May 17, 1949 and he and I were without doubt contemporaries. We’ve sat together talking about drums and drumming quite a few times over the years. Argent, Yes and several others were happily beating the same progressive rock path around the world so we were often thrust together at
Avedis Zildjian III was born on December 6th, 1889 in Samatya which was the Armenian area inside the city walls of Constantinople. Avedis' father was an attorney who became a politician and who sent his son to a prestigious French school. Avedis was evidently something of a polyglot who, as a boy spoke Greek, Armenian,
I knew Aynsley Thomas Dunbarwhen he was a ‘face’ around London in the sixties who I bumped into a lot around the drum shops, ‘frothy’ coffee bars and London clubs like 'The Speakeasy' in Margaret Street and of course the Marquee in Wardour Street. We knocked about with him when he moved to California around
