Hall of Fame

by Lauren Vogel Weiss The formation of NEXUS was the result of a rather complex network of relationships among the members. Bill Cahn and John Wyre grew up in the same Philadelphia neighborhood, studied with the same music teachers (including Fred Hinger) and went to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Russel…

by Payton MacDonald John Beck is the percussionist’s percussionist. As a performer he has worked in a variety of situations, including the “President’s Own” Marine Band (1955-59), Principle Percussionist with the Rochester Philharmonic (1959-62), Principle Timpanist with the Rochester Philharmonic (1962-present), jazz drumset with a variety of artists, including Coleman Hawkins and Hot Lips Page,…

by Gordon Gottlieb Arnie Lang is one of the ‘youngest’ people I know. Consistently living in the present, possessing a ripe sense of humor, a keen mind, an open fascination and curiosity about so many things, a man who tells you the truth-this is the stuff you want in a best friend. I love hanging…

by Dan Moore For Terry Gibbs, boxing is a metaphor for his life. He once wanted to be a boxer, and many of his most significant life experiences relate in some way to the pugilistic arts. That Gibbs is a percussionist who makes a living hitting things is perhaps a bit of a stretch, but…

by Lauren Vogel Weiss “Whether as an arranger, teacher, clinician, judge, company spokesperson or friend, Fred Sanford was simply the best…. He was the first, the best, the great artist, the person without whom so many of us would have struggled for acceptance and respect. Thanks for everything, Fred; your legacy will live on through…

by Terry O’Mahoney When Robert Zildjian talks about the cymbal business, it all rings true-the anecdotes about music industry leaders (William F. Ludwig, Fred Gretsch), drummers (Boston Symphony Orchestra cymbal player Tommy Thompson, Nashville session drummer Larrie Londin), the innovations in cymbal manufacture (hand hammering, signature series cymbals) and his joy of being in the…

by B. Michael Williams I am the drum, you are the drum, and we are the drum. Because the whole world revolves in rhythm, and rhythm is the soul of life, for everything that we do in life is in rhythm. — Babatunde Olatunji Babatunde Olatunji has been hailed as the father of African drumming…

by Jim Payne 1923–2000 Tito Puente brought me into his garage last year. We were working together on a book/CD, Tito Puente’s Drumming With The Mambo King, and later we were going to a video shoot for the same project. We needed to load up his timbales because he was going straight to a gig afterward. The…

by James A. Strain Al Payson, retired Percussionist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, was nearly at a loss for words when informed of his election into the PAS Hall of Fame. “I am stunned to learn of my selection and words fail me,” Payson said. “I feel really honored to be chosen and can’t quite…

by Lauren Vogel Weiss Almost every drummer has a pair of nylon-tip sticks. The man who first decided to put nylon tips on wooden drumsticks was a very clever and innovative drummer named Joe Calato.  As a cabinetmaker and part-time musician raising a family in the early 1950s, Calato recalls what led him to one…