Stan Levey was one of our finest jazz drummers and was a key figure in the be bop era. Stan?s fiery playing can be heard on countless recordings with the be bop pioneers, not the least of which is Charlie Parker, with whom Stan was a very close friend. Stan is alive and well today, and we were recently contacted by his son Bob, with the idea of restoring Stan?s snare drum to its original state.

The drum is a 4x14 20s era Ludwig & Ludwig brass shell 6 lug standard snare drum, and the drum has an incredible history. Stan used this drum on countless recordings and also used it throughout the 60s. It can be heard on the soundtracks for TV shows such as Mission Impossible, Mannix, Batman and more. The drum sounds amazing, and should put to rest once and for all the often debated issue that 6 lug drums are only ?student model? drums and not worthy of true professional players.

When the drum came to us many of the parts were not original. Stan had replaced the top rim with a triple flanged variety; clips and tension rods were mismatched; the snares were held on with shoelaces, which is how Stan affixed the snares when no snare cord was available; and one of the tube lugs was broken.

Bob indicated to us that the broken lug was caused by Philly Jo Jones. Apparently, Philly Jo came into a club where Stan was performing and thought he?d take a shot at ?cutting? Stan on the kit. Philly Jo wasn?t successful, but he played the drum so hard that he broke the lug, which irritated Stan no end. He and Philly Jo were good friends, but they almost came to blows over this. Philly backed off, (which was a wise thing for Philly since Stan was a heavyweight contender).

For the restoration we acquired a similar drum from the same era for the lugs, tension rods and clips. We used chrome over brass hoops, and new snares. We also used a goat skin head for the batter. The shell, strainer and butt plate are from the original drum. Cleaning the shell was the biggest challenge, and the before-and-after photos shown here tell the story better than we can in words.

The drum now looks and sounds remarkable, and we returned it to Bob recently and he and Stan were both thrilled.

Stan and Bob are now working on a documentary of Stan?s career. I have been fortunate enough to see a brief portion of the proposed video and it is terrific. Stan and Bob are working to obtain the rights to more of the film footage of the era so that more clips of Stan can be used. Hopefully, Ludwig will get behind this initiative with Bob and Stan since Stan was a devoted Ludwig player and endorser for many, many years.

Also, check out Ken Burns? video series on the jazz world and you will see Stan providing a lot of the commentary about Charlie Parker and the be bop era in general.