Good to see a shot from that gig, Tommy! Hope things are going well. As always, fantastic drums.

Im speechless...so I can only write! what a sweet set of tubes and pies!!!!!!

The Rogers small style of WMP just photographs awesome something about it Well Tommy you certainly have a awesome kit and I know for a fact how it sounds... :)

There is a special look to an "outfit" (to use the era specific vernacular) that has the cymbals positioned perpendicular to the floor. It's just plain classy!

The 90 degree, perpendicular positioning of the cymbals was used by all the great big band drummers, Belson, Krupa, Rich. When did that change?

Was it with the dawn of rock that cymbals began to be placed on stands at an angle toward the drummer?

I know personally the flatter cymbals are placed the easier they are to crash or strike from the bottom. Striking from the bottom up to create sound is a lost art. The great swing, jazz and big band drummers used this technique extensively to great visual and sound effect.

-kellyj

Bharrington!... THANKS!! I know you are also a fan of BR and his drums. Appreciate the comment!!

vintage drum bug!... THANKS!! Glad you liked, and I hope your speech returns! LOL!!

Mike T!... Yeah, you know all about Rogers Mike! Course your Ludwigs.. ( most recent aquisition ) .. are killer too. Buddy would have LOVED to play those, especially with that 26" bass drum!

kellyj!... Gotta tell ya, you are square on here. Admittedly, I have been a BR freak since 1967, thus ALL my sets/snares are BR models, irrespective of company, as he was with 6 total, including return endorsements with two of them: Ludwig and Slingerland. For me though, it was 1967 and my dad bought me the "Swingin' New Big Band" album with Buddy and his GORGEOUS WMP Rogers Celebrity's right on the cover in full color. Game over right there. Buddy was IT for me... as were the Rogers. But nope!... my first set was Ludwig as my folks didn't want to pay the EXTRA for the Rogers at the time. I was still happy of course, but I knew I HAD to get those Rogers BR Celebrity's eventually... and I did! Regarding the cymbals/positioning:

I .. ( like so many others too! ) .. ripped off Buddy and Sonny Payne who were IMHO, masters at catching cymbals from underneath, and the perpandicular positioning makes that all the easier! I use that technique quite a bit actually. It's more "show than go", but it does add a nice visual aspect to the casual viewer. The technique also works very effectively with brushes. It IS a lost art, but I'm doing my part to keep it alive! LOL!! It doesn't hurt that the "Sinatra Show" gig is PERFECT for ALL of this stuff. The material, stylistically, is all swingin'. THANKS for the comments kellyj!

Tommyp

I love the look of those. A very classy outfit.

Tommyp! As always, beautiful drums! My girlfriend and I were at the Pantages Theater a few weeks back to see Sinatra's "Come Fly Away" show. What we enjoyed most was the live on-stage band. They were great! I can only imagine that you played most of the same songs. Would love to hear you live!

Ploughman!... Always appreciate your fellowship regarding Rogers drums! And yeah, there's just "something" about Rogers WMP!

Mark!.. ( idrum4fun ) .. THANKS!!! There is no doubt that we did play pretty much the same book Mark! We do an hour and a half length show and it encompasses ALL his hits, and some that are always requested. There is one "drum feature" which gives "Frank" a break. The band does that great Neal Hefti/Count Basie gem, "Cute". I attempt to channel my best Sonny Payne sprinkled with a little BR for this one. LOL! There is an extended solo on this contingent on the gig/venue. It's a GREAT gig, although it's a reading gig. Everything is charted out using Sinatra's original big band arrangements. LOTS of horn/vocal lines to support with a lot of the horns/drums being concerted. Here's an interesting side bit:

The "Sinatra Show" is doing a performance/video recording on the 28th of December which will be edited down to a bunch of "clips" for the agency website. This will be the way to hear this LIVE. I will certainly let you know! By the way, "Come Fly With Me" is one of my favorites! That one swings hard!

Tommyp

Oh man...

Class is just drippin' off that kit... That kit is pure, it just does not get better.

And, cymbal placement! I looked at an ancient pix of me on my Crown kit when I was a kid. Horizontal cymbals... I couldn't tell you when or why I tilted them. I always mount splash cymbals horizontal, but tilt the rest.

fishwaltz!... THANKS for the nice comments!! These drums almost always invite comment in every venue I play, and the word "Classy" comes up often. Truly! Regarding this style cymbal positioning:

Because I was a Buddy geek originally.. ( started at the ripe age of 12! ) .. I copied his set-up for YEARS!, as a lot of us did back then. I deviated in the 80's for about 6/7 years as I got heavy into fusion/funk.. ( which I stll love to this day ) .. and my cymbal set-up changed as did all the angles of the crashes and the ride. In 1986 I went back to the BR set-up, including drums and cymbals, and have been that way since. I work with other groups besides the "Sinatra Show", but I always play the same set-up/cymbals. I work with a Contemporary Jazz Quartet fronted by an alto sax player, and the first time he saw my drums/cymbals he said to me: Kind of dated, isn't it? You know, the Buddy/Gene/Sonny set-up and FLAT cymbals, in WMP to boot! LOL!! But it was the playing/sound, not how "vintage" they looked that he ended up liking, and I have been working with him for 19 years now!

Tommyp