SKF NOTE: Respected drum teacher, Freddie Gruber’s drum students include Neil Peart, Steve Smith, Dave Weckl, and Vinnie Colaiuta.

Gruber, a product of post-World War 2 NYC, is known by his peers of that era as a visionary jazz drummer. Perhaps the best example is drummer Jim Chapin‘s description of Gruber’s drumming circa 1949:

Gruber grew up, he explains in this excerpt from my 1982 Modern Drummer interview, influenced by his environment, and by his associations with, and observations of, the great drummers of the Big Band and BeBop years.

Why, then, I asked Gruber, did he study with classical/legitimate percussionists Fred E. Albright and Morris Goldenberg, and not study with jazz drummers? And is what he learned from his legit teachers valuable in how Gruber taught students in 1982?

Gruber answers me in this 1982 Modern Drummer interview excerpt.

We were sitting at the kitchen table in Buddy Rich‘s NYC apartment. Buddy was not home, but I was in awe at being so close to Buddy’s presence.