The Art of Russell Pierce

Like Buddy Rich, I would see Gene Krupa on television when I was a little kid. He also inspired me to start drumming on everything in sight. His style was very flamboyant, his arms waving wildly in the air yet still drumming with exact precision. He and Buddy would engage in drum-offs every so often and even recorded two albums together. Gene was sponsored by Slingerland Drums and Zildjian cymbals. He worked closely with those companies to further develop the technology. With Slingerland he developed tom toms with tuneable heads on both the bottom and top heads generating more tonal control over the drums. With Zildjian, he developed the modern hi-hat cymbals and standardized the names for the various types of cymbals available.