SKF NOTE: While musician Jim Gordon was serving time in prison, he was said to have all of his musical gear used during his career locked in storage.

Some months after Gordon’s death an acquaintance called me at home. “Do you know for certain what happened to Jim Gordon’s drumset? And to the contents of his storage locker?”

Back-to-back, two answers came to mind.

Idea A: I don’t know what happened to Gordon’s gear. But I agree it’s important the gear wind up in the right hands.

Idea B: Gordon’s drum gear, minus Jim Gordon, is little different from drum gear found in music stores and drummers’ basements nationwide.

Essayist Joseph Epstein, speaking in 2016 to Hillsdale College on the importance of reading biographies said, “When I come upon an artist, a philosopher, scientist, a statesman, an athlete I admire, I find myself interested in his or her background. Which is to say, in their biography. In the hope of discovering what, in their past, made possible their future eminence.”

That is exactly how I’ve felt about the drummers I’ve interviewed over the years.

Just as freelance writer Ramodhi Kuruppu hit the bullseye when, in his 2014 blog post, “Drum Dies with Drummer.“

Kuruppu said, “I learned that one drummer‘s style cannot be followed by another. It’s always different.

“Above everything when the drummer dies, the drum dies too. Because only a drummer will know his beats and the degree of pace to keep with his companions,” reasoned Kuruppu.

I agree.

In the early 1970s I remember hearing Gene Krupa had a house fire in which he lost memorabilia and, I believe, the drumset he played at the famous 1938 Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall Concert. That was very. sad news. How awful for Krupa to lose such a landmark set of drums.

Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts was an avid drum collector. He died leaving a treasure trove of drum sets once belonging to famous drummers like Krupa, Tony Williams, and Art Blakey.

Now what happens to Watts’s drum collection? Do they remain closed in their black trap cases piled onto warehouse shelving?

Here’s another thought: I know it’s possible to authenticate some drum gear. For example, maybe someone has the drumset Elvin Jones used to record “A Love Supreme.” I’ve seen photos in online drum forums of Elvin’s last drum sets, of the set Carmine Appice used with Rod Stewart. Paul Motian’s niece has all of Motian’s cymbals.

On the other hand, how many recordings are there of famous drummers using another drummer’s cymbals and or drumset?

Imagine my surprise when drummer Mel Lewis told me the “great Gretsch sound” on several of his live albums were, in fact, a vintage Ludwig Black Beauty snare drum.

What about Slingerland endorser Buddy Rich playing Fibes drums? Yamaha endorser Steve Gadd playing his Ludwig snare drum?

There’s an inspiring video of Tony Williams playing with saxophonist Stan Getz at Montreux on a small Gretsch kit with Paiste cymbals. Steve Gadd played the same festival with Chuck Mangione. In a video clip floating around YouTube, Gadd tells listeners the Gretsch set Tony plays belongs to Gadd.

There are plenty of true stories of drummers using gear other than what we see them using in endorsement advertising. As I’m writing this I come across Steve Maxwell’s video showing a Billy Gladstone snare drum made for Gene Krupa. Maxwell tells us Krupa used the snare to record his “The Mighty Two: Louis Bellson & Gene Krupa” album. But, says Maxwell, Krupa is shown on the album cover playing a Slingerland snare.

Refocusing, I think my point is: many times we hear fantastic drummers and – we might assume we know what gear they’re using. But we really don’t know. When someone announces they have so-and-so’s drumset – what does that mean exactly?

It’s the same as novelist Jack Carr owning Ernest Hemingway’s typewriter used to write Hemingway’s novel, “A Movable Feast.” The typewriter’s a cool artifact that was once a great novelist’s creative tool, but now it sits on a shelf.

Yes, I do enjoy studying how the great sounding drums were designed and built. Memorabilia does make me feel nostalgic. Part of me wishes preserving a drummer’s gear also preserves the drummer.

But, I can’t shake the idea that when the drummer dies, the drum dies too. And I never feel as excited about a drumset, or cymbals, as I do when my favorite drummers are alive and making music with them.