Here's my Joe Morello story...On Dec 9, 1967 (I still have the ticket stub), a band buddy and I saw the Dave Brubeck Quartet in concert at Kleinhan's Music Hall in Buffalo, NY. I was a newbie drummer and he was a newbie guitarist, and we both loved "Take Five." (still do!).At the end of the gig, as people filed out of the hall, we noticed that Joe was taking down his Ludwig Super Classic kit (in silver sparkle, of course.) No roadie, no drum tech, just Joe. He was alone on stage. We walked up to the foot of the stage, and I said "Say Mr. Morello, would you like some help?" He replied, "Sure, kids - c'mon up." Whereby we leaped up onto the stage. The security guy came running down the aisle, but Joe waved him off. Anyhow, my guitarist buddy didn't know squat about tearing down drum kits, so he stood by onstage while I broke down the stands and put the drums into their cases. When we were done, Joe stood erect to shake our hands, and it was only then that I noticed his coke-bottle bottom glasses, and I still remember wondering if he could even see our faces. His glasses were so thick! Anyhow, my buddy and I really enjoyed our quick brush with fame, helping Joe Morello take down his drum kit. After all these years, we still reminisce about that! Fond memories.....

Here's my Joe Morello story...On Dec 9, 1967 (I still have the ticket stub), a band buddy and I saw the Dave Brubeck Quartet in concert at Kleinhan's Music Hall in Buffalo, NY. I was a newbie drummer and he was a newbie guitarist, and we both loved "Take Five." (still do!).At the end of the gig, as people filed out of the hall, we noticed that Joe was taking down his Ludwig Super Classic kit (in silver sparkle, of course.) No roadie, no drum tech, just Joe. He was alone on stage. We walked up to the foot of the stage, and I said "Say Mr. Morello, would you like some help?" He replied, "Sure, kids - c'mon up." Whereby we leaped up onto the stage. The security guy came running down the aisle, but Joe waved him off. Anyhow, my guitarist buddy didn't know squat about tearing down drum kits, so he stood by onstage while I broke down the stands and put the drums into their cases. When we were done, Joe stood erect to shake our hands, and it was only then that I noticed his coke-bottle bottom glasses, and I still remember wondering if he could even see our faces. His glasses were so thick! Anyhow, my buddy and I really enjoyed our quick brush with fame, helping Joe Morello take down his drum kit. After all these years, we still reminisce about that! Fond memories.....

Here's my Joe Morello story...On Dec 9, 1967 (I still have the ticket stub), a band buddy and I saw the Dave Brubeck Quartet in concert at Kleinhan's Music Hall in Buffalo, NY. I was a newbie drummer and he was a newbie guitarist, and we both loved "Take Five." (still do!).At the end of the gig, as people filed out of the hall, we noticed that Joe was taking down his Ludwig Super Classic kit (in silver sparkle, of course.) No roadie, no drum tech, just Joe. He was alone on stage. We walked up to the foot of the stage, and I said "Say Mr. Morello, would you like some help?" He replied, "Sure, kids - c'mon up." Whereby we leaped up onto the stage. The security guy came running down the aisle, but Joe waved him off. Anyhow, my guitarist buddy didn't know squat about tearing down drum kits, so he stood by onstage while I broke down the stands and put the drums into their cases. When we were done, Joe stood erect to shake our hands, and it was only then that I noticed his coke-bottle bottom glasses, and I still remember wondering if he could even see our faces. His glasses were so thick! Anyhow, my buddy and I really enjoyed our quick brush with fame, helping Joe Morello take down his drum kit. After all these years, we still reminisce about that! Fond memories.....

Thanks for your interest, guys, but I'm afraid I don't remember any more about tearing down Joe Morello's kit. No real conversation - just "what goes where." He packed the cymbals himself, I only helped stuff the drums into the soft zipper cases and folded the cymbal stands and snare stand. I'm quite sure he had a Speed King, but I was only 16 years old at the time, a beginning drummer playing Kents (the factory was near my school), because I couldn't afford Ludwigs, and I was no expert on anything. I had awful Kent cymbals, and I knew that Zildjians were the cymbals to have, but I was not conversant in them. I was just in awe of his greatness, and the fact that "Take Five" was such a cool song in 5/4 and he could play it so fluidly. MB

That's a great looking silver sparkle kit - sure looks like Joe's - love it !I have to share my Joe Morello story ... I took drum lessons from a cat named Tony Monforte from 62-65 in upstate NY (Binghamton). Tony was a bebopper. He was also a great teacher, cool guy, and knew Joe. Tony told me Joe had a girlfriend in Binghamton and would occasionally stop by his studio to say hi when he was in town. On 2 separate occasions he stopped by Tony's drum studio when I was taking a lesson. Just the 3 of us there with him and Tony chatting. I remember him being very friendly and low keyed. I remember his poor eyesight and him staring at a piece of music from 6 inches away to read it. I also remember him sitting down to play a bit at the studio kit . The thing I remember most was his amazing stick rebound control he had with his left hand ... wow ! At the time he was #1 in the Downbeat Jazz drummer polls and giging with Dave Brubeck the super group of their day. It was all such a great experience for me just a 15 year old kid at the time.Doug