Hi all,
Happy New Year to all of my friends and fellow drum collectors.
I got this Gene Krupa drum from my good friend Mark Cooper. As most of you know I just collect vintage snare drums but this drum is a great piece of Gene Krupa/drum history that, as a collector, I can appreciate.
This drum can be found on page 255 of Slingerland/Gene Krupa authority Brooks Tegler’s book: GK The Tools that Built the Gene Krupa Legend. If you have any Slingerland/Gene Krupa questions, Brooks is your man and if you want an extremely accurate and thorough documentation of Gene Krupa’s drums, I highly recommend his book.
Brooks was kind enough to allow me to use his description of this drum from his book.
5 x 10 BG Trio/Quartette Mounted Tom
“This drum was recently acquired by respected and well known vintage drum collector, Mike Curotto. It is a ‘One Of-A Kind’ treasure in that it is the first (right side) mounted tom Gene used with the Benny Goodman Trio/Quartet in the 1936 period. There are few photos of this drum in use but luckily, one or two have been in the public eye for many years. The B&W photo below shows the drum in use (by Gene) during a ‘37 Goodman’s rehearsal. The same (usual) methods were used by this author to verify and authenticate the drum. The fact that it is indeed the same drum as in the Goodman’s photo is further enhanced by the original calfskin heads installed on the drum that carry the Bill Mather’s Drum Shop ink stamp as well as hand lettered (in blue ink) ‘GK’ around the stamp. The original set was (technically) pre-RADIO KING and also never featured by Slingerland in any advertisement.”
Enjoy!
Mike Curotto