The inspiration for this set was the set Buddy Rich played when he was around 5 years old. Chuck James sold me a 26" Slingerland bass drum. The big kick and no-tilter cymbal rod straight out of the top set the mood. During the bebop era, it was thought of as "square" to play quarter notes on the bass drum. Coming up, the older bop guys gave me a hard time for playing that way. When I played with Jeff Castleman from Duke Ellington's band he asked me why I didn't play quarter notes on my kick, and I couldn't believe it. Then I saw a video of Buddy playing crazy loud bass drum that way. So like bebop was a revolution against playing the quarter notes and just playing the bombs, this set is a rebels against bebop..... rebop!

PICS COMING SOON!

The small tom came from eBay, I've seen similar ones in the 1930 Ludwig catalog. All the stands are Walberg and Auge. I put a calf head on the kick and use a huge lambswool beater on it - it has a sound very much like the pitch and timbre of thunder. The snare is a '64 Supraphonic with Earthtone goatskin heads. The bottom head is way too thick so I'm looking for another. The floor toms are 60's Ludwigs with plastic heads that I'll be swapping for calf as soon as I can find some.

My grandfather Benjamin Bairos painted a picture of Diamond Head in the 50's that I traced to make the pattern on my kick. Washcloth material was glued on the inside of the head to make the design, and then I mounted a 15W bulb inside. The light helps keep the calf head dry but it keeps blowing out so next I'm going to try using an LED bulb.