I met him twice....
The first time was in '68 at a friends loft/studio on the Bowery.
Herb had come to do a quick overdub as a favor. I had no idea who he was,
but right away I noted that he played left handed and put his wallet on the snare drum.
I started doing that myself, and in a video that I appeared in years later, with my wallet on the
snare, the narrator noted that and wondered why I did it. It not only deadens the sound but there is an
imperceptible bounce that adds an enhancement to the sound of the snare.
The second time, Elliott Randall and I were going uptown from a rehearsal at SIR and when we
got in the cab, we were both shocked to see that Herbie was driving! Ells, who knew him well from
many sessions together asked him why he was doing that and he said that he had started taking acting
lessons and driving a taxi gave him the flexibility he needed to do so. Actually, I SAW him one more time, but it
was on television, where he had landed a recurring role on Law and Order!
He was a fantastic studio drummer who made thousands of recordings with the legendary section of Chuck
Rainey, Hugh McCracken & Paul Harris.
