Prior to 1976 when I was 19, I had never heard of Tony. Had no idea that he was performing at 17 years old with the legendary Miles Davis. Then a friend told me to pick up “Believe It” by Tony Williams. At the time I was just getting into ‘Zappa’, ‘Return To Forever’, and ‘Larry Coryell’s Eleventh House’, etc. I took that album home, and was blown away!

I was trying to learn and emulate everything I heard at the time in the fusion world. Some of the beats sounded straight forward, but I soon found out they were far from it. But it was the rolls Tony did on his toms that really did it for me. No one was doing anything like that, at least in any of the bands I had heard at the time. Reality is… I never heard anyone play like him!

From there, I explored his work with Miles and really enjoyed his quintet! I was lucky enough to see him with that band up close at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Massachusetts. He had just remarried, and I got to meet and talk with him and his wife for a while after the gig. He was more than gracious and very happy with where his life was at the time. He and the band were going to record again soon, and sadly it was shortly after that show when he suddenly passed away. He had so much more to give us as a drummer, gone too soon!

Jeff Turcotte – Drummer/Percussionist

When I was 7 or 8 years old, my father won an old bugle corps drum with sticks in a poker game! The next morning when I woke up the drum was there in the den. He gave it to me to have some fun with. From that day forward, being a drummer was set in stone. Ha Ha!

My first formal introduction came when I went to junior high and joined the band. It was rudiments and cadences until I went to high school when I started taking private lessons. During that time, I picked up my first drum kit which was a Rogers knock off named Dixie. Got a nice set of Zildjian cymbals used from a friend and I still have the 22-inch ride and the 18-inch crash ride to this day!

With Ted Reeds syncopation book and a cheap Sears stereo the real journey began. I joined my first band, and we played high school and church dances. ‘Stairway to Heaven’, ‘Dream On’, and ‘Smoke On the Water’ were the big tunes at the time! When I got out of school, I worked a bit to get a quality kit and those were Zickos handmade plexiglass with a Ludwig Supraphonic snare.

That started a roughly 3-year stint where I made my living solely through music. I played in a couple of different bands during that time frame playing popular covers. I also jammed with some friends where we created our own music. My tastes broadened then, and I was working with the Joel Rothman book of jazz and getting into ‘Zappa’ and ‘Return To Forever’. I started searching for better musicians to match my love for fusion with some success.

Then life happened and I couldn’t play as much since I was working as an electrician. Obligations limited my time, and I had moved to a new area. Then one of the best things that ever happened to me musically! My wife saw an ad that local Western Mass. legends, FAT were looking for a drummer. So I pulled out my kit and set it up at my martial arts dojo and ‘shedded’ for 2 days prior to my audition. I got the gig and had a great run for about 1 and ½ years playing original tunes and a few covers with 3 cool dudes. We opened for some name acts and headlined many shows, cool experiences!

Life again came along where drums had to be put on the back burner because I traveled for work. But I sat in on open mics with musicians I met all over North America. Then I finally came to work for myself and music came back. Started taking lessons again occasionally, did some recording along the way with a couple of different original projects. Played with various local musicians doing the cover scene! Now I have a successful Allman Brothers tribute band that I started with my son Joel, who is an off the chart drummer.