Back in the 60’s, my grandparents would invite our entire family to their cottage in Northern Ontario. At one family event, a close friend of ours introduced us to her new boyfriend Jimmy Hayes. Jimmy was a one man party. He would sing, dance, tell jokes and kept everyone entertained and in stitches. To me though, he was extra special as he also played drums. I was totally captivated by the way he would play my grandfather’s snare drum whenever we got together. He made that one drum sound like a full kit. I couldn’t wait for family events so I could watch Jimmy play. I had to learn to do “that”.
Jimmy was so excited about me wanting to learn and started by teaching me the basic rudiments. I spent every waking moment practicing the Mama Dada double stroke roll and single paradiddles in all the permutations. He also made sure that I learned to play every rudiment with both my right and left hand. I ended up playing drums professionally and have always given my uncle Jimmy credit for sharing his passion for drumming with me and getting me started. I made sure I mentioned him in all of my album acknowledgements.
Jimmy passed away in 2018 and we all miss him so much. Just 2 weeks ago, we had our annual family reunion and I got the biggest surprise when his daughter took me out to her car to show me Jimmy’s drum kit. She wanted to give them to me as she knew how much they would mean to me. She said that Jimmy was very proud of my career in music and would want me to have them. I was blown away. His red sparkle kit was made in Japan by a company named Gracy. I took them all apart, cleaned and polished the hardware and shells. The red sparkle wrap came back to life and they look brand new. I will cherish these drums for all the beautiful memories they hold for me.
As I don’t have any knowledge about Gracy drums, I will do some research and get back to you in a future article.
Danny Bilan, Our Man in Canada