How the Lunar drum came to be.
The Lunar Drum
Well as I recall, the sounds created by my drum were like nothing I had ever heard before. The sounds were not synthetic but lunar or space like. I believe the time frame was 1976, which was 45 years ago. I have called it the lunar drum ever since.
The rototom as shown here is slightly different in how it is tuned and used, and I had created my lunar drum to vary the head membrane tension continuously by a hydraulic system I designed using a foot pedal. It is somewhat similar to the talking drum of Africa to vary the drum head tension, but my hands and body are free.
My LUNAR drum sound can be heard on “Jazz- Dig It” starting about 1:35.
Although used throughout the piece, it is by itself here.