BB: Where and when did you first hear drums? AS: I was ten years old and on my way home from school in the Bronx. I passed a house and heard a drummer playing a Gene Krupa/Cozy Cole-like solo. I froze in my tracks. It was one of two mystical things that have happened to me in my life. It was as though someone reached in and lit the pilot light inside of me. The other, by the way, was meeting my wife, Susan. BB: When did you first hit a drum? AS: I finally conned my folks into drum lessons, and when I was 13 years old, they got me a set of Gretsch Blue Pearl. It was a somber day for the neighbors in my building. BB: What music and drummers did you listen to? AS: Somehow I went from Gene Krupa directly to Max Roach, especially the […]

November 1983 Issue