This was one of the greatest days of my life! No kidding! So, before we start, if you don’t know who Zakir Hussain is, you should look him up. Here you go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakir_Hussain_(musician) In brief, he is a Tabla virtuoso, a composer, a teacher who’s been awarded multiple cultural honors all over the world. He is, in my personal estimation as well as that of many others, one of the most accomplished musicians—ever. I’d been a huge fan of Zakir Hussain since I first heard him with John McLaughlin’s group, Shakti, in the late 1970s, so when… Read More

Amazing technique and a true artist. You must check out Jojo Mayer’s drumming. Just astounding! He developed his extreme style by listening to the computer generated breakbeats of drum ‘n’ bass (150-180 beats-per-minute) and thinking, “I can play that!” Remarkably, he could! Jojo is a visual artist as well as a musician. He was a lot of fun to work with. This photo was used as a cover for Modern Drummer.

Shot in the downtown warehouse district of Columbus, OH to look like downtown NYC—the cobblestones, the glare of the street lights—it all seemed to fit the look I was going for. They were used as backgrounds in one of FX Networks‘ campaigns for Rescue Me.

When I took these shots, Thomas Pridgen was drumming for the now-defunct The Mars Volta. An amazing player and a sweetheart of a guy to work with. This was a cover shot for Modern Drummer magazine.