I purchased one catalog cover of three for sale by accident thinking it was a whole catalog for only a couple dollars. Then a lightbulb went off - I’ll make a framed piece of artwork!

Here’s the playlist of the eight videos that are on YouTube so far. I have eight more in the can that will be uploaded soon. Enjoy!

I hope you all had a good holiday and didn’t get switches and ashes in your stockings! There are some great articles in this issue. Jim

It was an after-hours open stage club in the heart of the jazz district, and our budding jazz band had arranged to play a set -- our first venture outside the practice room. The resident drums were just awful.

 Sorry to disappoint the fans of X Japan and Loudness, this is all about the vintage heavy 10 lug steel shell snare drums made in Japan. These snares are often overlooked in the MIJ drum world because of all of the great wrapped wood snares overshadowing them, but these drums have their place as well, especially if you rock!

When jazz drumming giant Elvin Jones passed away in 2004, his wife Keiko was left with the daunting task of handling his vast estate. Elvin had two apartments in New York City. He and Keiko lived in one; and the other was strictly for his drums.

On November 17, 2024 – Legendary drummer Liberty DeVitto presented a sold-out clinic at Rocky’s Music Studio in Rensselaer, NY.  Liberty performed an over two-hour clinic covering numerous aspects of his studio and live performance career.

The front page of the catalog used a new technique with a cutout to show the new Ludwig metal shell snare drum in a framed setting that was actually printed on the 2nd page and shown through to the front cover. 

Although not as publicly well known as Gene or Buddy or Shelly or Louie, Jack was a treasure. He had steady work his entire career, he always had money, he behaved himself, and he came to play. As you may expect, Jack spent time teaching and coaching and encouraging.

I got this drum a while back. The drum came to me is this condition so no cleaning/restoration was necessary. I don’t see as many 15” Stipelgold snares vs 14” Stipelgold snares. I wonder if this is true with other collectors.

Sun, Dec 15, 3:13 PM

Hi, I was just wondering if you could give me any clue on identifying the era (late 1800's) and/or brand of this drum?

I am also finished with my book I’ve been writing for at least a year – “ The Missing Rudiments – Expanding the American rudiment system with missing and long forgotten fundamental snare drum rudiments, plus the new drum set unison rudiments”.

I call it a “Monday Morning at the Office” drum because the scroll pattern is in every panel but there is no “Ludwig Chicago” engraving that would normally be just left of the strainer.

Chicago based drummer, John Perrin assumed the NRBQ drum chair full-time in 2015. He had to memorize over 500 songs since the band never uses a set list.

This snare drum is a rare 1950s Leedy & Ludwig White Marine Pearl 5” x14”, Broadway model with a solid 1-ply maple shell.

Woolworth’s did sell drums for many years, but unlike the other big department stores, they were not a catalog company by which we could document what and when they sold drums. So all we have are the drums themselves to tell the story.

 This is the long lost twin of a personal pair of these custom made snares for Elvins 75th birthday celebration and were never available to the public. At 5” x 10” it is little piece of dynamite.

The Samba Train beat. video episode #5 in “5 minute lessons with George Lawrence”

Haynes’ remarkable career spanned much of the history of jazz, from the swing era through bebop, avant-garde, modal jazz, fusion, and beyond. His contributions to jazz were profound, playing with some of the genre’s most iconic figures, including Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Sarah Vaughan, Chick Corea, and Pat Metheny, to name just a few

Episode #3 of 5 minute lessons with George Lawrence. This is a linear groove that Steve Klink taught me when I was teaching at Fork’s Drum Closet in the nineties; The Garibaldi Seven.

The Porto-Pak is a very special snare drum.  Punchy and articulate, this 5.5 x 13 1948 – 52 WFL Classic Porto-Pak snare drum is difficult to find these days.  This drum was born out of the need for gigging musicians, be bop and club players to get their drums into the taxi cabs and onto smaller band stands and still hit the spot. 

I’ve started a video series in conjunction with Memphis Drum Shop; “Five Minute Lessons with George Lawrence”. Each video is a five minute or so lesson on how to play a groove, a fill, a rudiment, a pattern, etc. The concept came from drummers asking me “How did you play that”, referring to some short lick I played, and how I showed it to them.

Another sticking challenge from that rascal sage, Joel Rothman

Most companies will guarantee a newly purchased cymbal against certain types of breakage, but it ends there. If a player breaks a replacement cymbal, all love is lost and the cymbal will not be replaced. The rational is that the owner/player must be doing something wrong or just plain abusing their bronze.

I'm So Confused
And so you should be. Options you may hear about bearing edges include: round-over, 30 degree, 45 degree, dual-45, reverse 45,  45 with round-over, bull-nose, baseball bat, vintage round-over. There are also different theories, applications, claims, boasts, and myths. 

Many of us share the introduction into the drumming world with that first snare drum, or if you are one of the fortunate ones, the “Snare Drum Outfit”!

On August 23, 2024, James Gadson released a solo EP, Dance On Through [High Rise Sound]. The five-song, self-penned release finds the eternally youthful 85-year-old badass going deep with crisp funk beats and a buoyant and soulful voice.

I got this rare drum from Bill Wanser of Olympic Drums & Percussion. Bill also pointed out a Ludwig Drummer magazine article that places Rose Pearl at 1929, this aligns perfectly as the Standard-Sensitive model was first seen in 1929. Bill agrees that this was an uncatalogued finish, L & L obviously had the material but it was never seen in a catalog, only in a Ludwig Drummer Magazine article.