Every young drummer who ever saw Sonny Greer in his heyday was awed and inspired by his equipment, and the pros still talk about it. There were chimes, gongs, tympani, cymbals it seemed by the dozen, tom-toms, snare drums, and bass drums, enough to equip the whole percussion section of a symphony. It was not only ornamental, for he used to get some crazy effects. Greer was not the world's best reader of music, but he was the world's best percussionist reactor. When he heard a ping he responded with the most apropos pong. Any tune he was backing up had the benefit of rhythmic ornamentation that was sometimes unbelievable. << less