Freddie Gruber

Steve Smith (Vital Information, Journey)

“My phone rang, and my friend Peter Erskine was on the line: ‘Do you know Freddie Gruber? He’s looking for you’. It was late 1989, and I had not heard of Freddie. Peter told me that one of Freddie’s students had showed him some of my 1987 DCI video Steve Smith Part One and Freddie said, ‘I can help him get out of his own way’.

“Ian Wallace also told me about Freddie, and at the 1990 Zildjian Day in NYC, Ian introduced me to Fred. After the Zildjian Day concluded, Freddie, Ian and I, plus a small entourage, went to my hotel room for my first lesson. I had a pad and a pair of sticks. Freddie said, ‘Play a roll’. I played a press roll for about three seconds, and the palm of Fred’s right