That’s me standing up.
By the time I joined Azure at 16, I was an established professional drummer in the region and a member of Local #160, American Federation of Musicians.
Azure played mostly high school proms, festivals, and private occasions.
With my experience and the breadth of styles that I could play, I was able to blend into Azure’s mostly acoustic sound. However, it was sometimes challenging “holding back” to avoid overpowering the acoustic instruments: 6- and 12- string guitars, cello, french horn, flute, and piano. Jazz training taught me to play soft. Other venues allowed us to electrify and I recall at least three “Stairway to Heaven” proms during which I could play normal dynamics.
Later, we decided to “cut” an “album” of our original songs. Most of the songs were composed by Fritz, an amazingly talented Cellist who, like me and Robyn, our guitarist and french horn player, was a professional member of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. For our album, I “composed” and “laid down” the drum tracks. Fortunately, with a limited pressing, few will ever hear the recording studio errors of my youth.
Sadly, our leader, Fritz, died of cancer at 26 and, with him was buried our band.