ambience: “Stompin’ at the Savoy”
Anyone who’s spent much time around a drumset has probably noticed the name “Zildjian” stamped in black letters on the cymbals. Well the Zildjian family began making cymbals hundreds of years ago, in Turkey. In the 20th century, the family business almost died out, but then came jazz. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont. When it was Avedis Zildjian’s turn to take over the family business, he had migrated to the United States and wasn’t really interested. But, says company spokesperson Colin Schofield, timing was everything. “Now you’re talking 1927, at this point. So right at this time you have the birth of the swing era in the United States with these great drummers starting to play, like Chick Webb, Papa Joe Jones from the Count Basie band, and very importantly, Gene Krupa, who was really beginning to become famous. So this is right at the time where the, the modern drum set as we know it is beginning to evolve.” And so, Avedis Zildjian brought his uncle over from Turkey and opened a cymbal factory in the Boston area. “And so you have this master cymbal craftsman kind of transported from Turkey, the source of cymbal-making, onto the east coast of the United States, right near New York, which is a huge jazz center. And so you were able to have this interaction between this master cymbal craftsman and these drummers, who finally had someone to say well, you know, this is what we need, this is what’s happening, this is what we need for our music.” Well, this collaboration between cymbal makers and the early jazz drummers led to thinner and newer types of cymbals, such as the high-hat. ambience: High hat Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science, with additional support provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner. music