Tom Brechtlein

grew up in East Meadow, Long Island and gravitated to drums after listening to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. In junior high, his attention turned to big band jazz, and he became attracted to the music of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra. His investigation of jazz led him to Dave Brubeck's drummer Joe Morello and then to modern giants like Elvin Jones and Tony Williams as well as legends like Papa Jo Jones, Max Roach and Philly Joe Jones. "When I was 18," he recalls, "I saw Chick Corea's Return To Forever on PBS Television; and I remember sitting there thinking, ' I'm going to play with that guy someday.'" Tow years later, in 1978, he auditioned with Corea and got the gig. He remained in the band till 1983, at which point he joined Wayne Shorter's band. There followed extensive road work with guitarist Al Di Meola and violinist Jean Luc Ponty before Tom finally hooked up with Robben Ford in 1986.

Tom plays Yamaha Drums exclusively. His current set up consists of the following:

Yamaha Maple Custom 22" Kick Drum
Yamaha Maple Custom 12" Rack Drum
Yamaha Maple Custom 10" Rack Drum
Yamaha Maple Custom 15" Floor Drum
Yamaha Maple Custom 14" Floor Drum
Yamaha Maple Custom 14"X3" Snare Drum Model TB
Yamaha Double Turbo Pedal

We will be adding to this information with in a couple of weeks as well as having close up pictures of the set up.! Here is a drawing that Tom himself drew up so that we could place it here on the site.

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