Hall of Fame

by B. Michael Williams “Amazing, gratifying, humbling,” is how Mickey Hart describes the experience of joining the ranks of the PAS Hall of Fame. “Being with all the greats—Tito [Puente], Baba [Olatunji], Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Louis Bellson. These are my teachers, my mentors, the brother and sisterhood. I ride on the shoulders of giants,”…

by Frederic Macarez As a Jacques Delécluse student at the Paris Conservatory (1979–81), then as his colleague at the Orchestre de Paris (1987–99), and also as a friend, I have shared with him many great moments of percussion, of music, and of life during almost 30 years. I am very happy and proud of this,…

by Lauren Vogel Weiss Stanley Leonard is best known as the principal timpanist with the Pittsburgh Symphony, a position he held for almost four decades. But he is also a prolific composer and a dedicated educator. From over 50 PSO recordings to compositions such as “Circus,” Leonard has left an indelible musical footprint for musicians,…

by Gordon Gottlieb Anyone in sports (or any other endeavor) who’s got someone in their life they refer to as “coach” is a fortunate person. It suggests that someone has had a mentor, a guide, an inspiration, a leader, and at the very least, a coach. Walter Rosenberger has several nicknames (Walt, Rosie), but Coach…

by Rick Mattingly At his PASIC ’95 performance, Jack DeJohnette started with the cymbals, rolling on each one in turn and then combining rolls and crashes, building in intensity, swelling and retreating in the manner of ocean waves. Gradually he started incorporating the drums—a tom roll here, a snare crack there. Soon he was bouncing…

by Rick Mattingly It is especially appropriate that Tom Siwe be elected to the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame during the year that PAS celebrates its 50th anniversary, as Siwe played a large role in that history and his influence continues to be felt. Siwe was first elected to the PAS Board of Directors…

by Lauren Vogel Weiss Dick Schory is more than a percussionist. He is also acomposer, arranger, conductor, music publisher, record and television producer,audio pioneer, and music industry veteran responsible for instrument design and marketing. But perhaps one of the most telling facts about his impressive musical career is that nine members of the PAS Hall…

by Rick Mattingly If the only album Jimmy Cobb ever played on had been Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue, he would have earned his place in jazz history. “The first time I heard Jimmy was on Kind of Blue,” said PAS Hall of Fame member Jack DeJohnette, “and what got my attention was his touch…

by Lauren Vogel Weiss Last June’s Santa Fe Marimba Festival had been planned long before Gordon Stout was selected to be in the PAS Hall of Fame, but it became a celebration of one of the marimba’s most well-known and influential artists. Among the performers at the New Mexico event were Kevin Bobo, Valerie Naranjo,…

by Mark Griffith Very few drummers throughout history have a signature timekeeping approach associated with their name. I am not referring to licks or a singular beat they played. I am referring to an instantly identifiable concept to playing a time feel. Elvin Jones’s wide and loping swing, Art Blakey’s insistent shuffle infused swing, and…