To celebrate Duke Ellington’s 125th birthday and to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his passing I wanted to respectfully play this simple melody on the drums. I was inspired by Peter Erskine, Joe LaBarbera, Jeff Hamilton, Ari Hoenig, Terry Bozzio, Simon Phillips, Steve Smith and His Royal Highness, Mr. Max Roach (the king of melodic drumming). Tony Williams (the viceroy of melodic drumming) was the inspiration for the use of the REMO black dot drumheads.
