Sabian - Because Sound Matters

Bill Ward

Rising out of industrial Birmingham, England, in the late Sixties, Black Sabbath forged the true meaning of Heavy Metal. Their dark, nihilistic, riff-centered music blasted its way onto the world stage, shaking the global music scene with a vibration still felt strongly in the 21st century. Driving the Sabbath sound with a rhythmic vocabulary and technical fluency absorbed through years of emulating the great jazz and swing drummers and bashing our rock ?n? roll in smoky clubs was Bill Ward, who quickly joined his Birmingham buddy John Bonham as one of the kingpins of heavy drumming.

Eventually succumbing to the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, Bill withdrew from Sabbath, returning in 1997 and continuing to participate with the band. Bill also performs and records with the Bill Ward Band, is a disc-jockey on Mike Stark's Rock 50 radio show, and has become a supporter of up-and-coming bands. In 2005 Black Sabbath was inducted into the UK Hall of Fame, and will be honored in the US with an induction into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.

Walfredo de los Reyes, Sr.

One of the world's great drummer/percussionists, Walfredo de los Reyes, Sr. was one of the first to mix jazz, pop, Cuban and Caribbean rhythms using a combination of drum set and latin percussion. He pioneered in early Descargas and recorded Latin jazz in Cuba and the United States with such greats as Israel Lopez 'Cachao', as well as working throughout Puerto Rico, Mexico and Latin America.

As a major session veteran in Las Vegas he performed with the greatest names in show business. A guest instructor at theBerklee College of Music in Boston, Walfredo also plays benefits for the handicapped and supports youth music education programs.

A recipient of Modern Drummer magazine's 'Editor's Achievement Award', Walfredo takes joy in the fact that his sons Daniel, Walfredo Jr., and Kamar, are also excellent musicians. Currently residing in the San Francisco Bay area, Walfredo has been a featured artist with the San Francisco and Fujitsu Jazz Festivals, and recorded on soundtracks for such major movies as Mambo Kings and Predator II.

Mitchell Peters

Mitchell Peters joined the renowned Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he is currently Principal Timpanist and Percussionist, in 1969. A holder of the Performer's Certificate and bachelor's and master's degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with William Street, Mitchell launched his career as a member of the original Marimba Masters, performing on The Arthur Godfrey Show and Ed Sullivan Show. He also served as timpanist with the Seventh US Army Symphony Orchestra and performed and recorded with the Dallas Symphony.

A widely published author and composer, Mitchell?s compositions, including recently published method books for timpani and mallet instrument, are highly regarded around the world. In 1996 he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Percussive Arts Society (PAS).

Today, in addition to keeping busy with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mitchell is the Percussion Instructor at UCLA, where he also teaches privately and conducts the Percussion Ensemble, and is a member of at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.