On January 6, 2010, my first drum instructor, Frank Hensler, passed away at 74. As events like this inevitably do, it caused me to reflect on life in general and my musical path to this point. I’ve learned a lot of things from a lot of drummers over the last nearly 20 years of playing, but what I learned from Frank is at the core of who I am as a drummer.

He played such a formative role in fostering my love of drumming and jazz. Back when I was amassing my collection of Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa recordings, it would always amaze me when I would bring a new one to him and he’d know every tune. We’d sit and dissect the parts, and he’d show me how to play things that sounded impossible at the time.

Coincidentally, New Year’s weekend I had pulled out Gary Chester’s New Breed, my very first instructional book for drum set. It’s all marked up with notes from Frank. What a credit to him that all these years later I can return to those old lessons and still learn new things.