The Story

In 1976, I saw legendary jazz drummer Buddy Rich perform with his big band at the Capitol Theater in Wheeling, West Virginia. I was just 7 years old, and I was mesmerized by the shiny cymbals flashing in the stage lights. I was hooked. I got a Sears “Denim Country” aluminum drum set for Christmas, later followed by drum lessons, and thus began a life in love with making and performing music. I played in orchestras and bands throughout the 80’s and 90’s, got my bachelor’s degree in music and was a Music Therapist in Chicago for 8 years.

I put most of that aside in 2003 when I moved to New Orleans (you know…a city known for its music), but when the pandemic hit in 2020, I fell right back into playing drums and making music. I refurbished/assembled a few drums from mid 2020 to mid 2021 and found that I had a passion for building. That blossomed into a couple of shell prototypes and in June of 2021, Seven Six Drum Company (named after the year I saw Buddy and started drumming) was born.

Living in the Tremé, the neighborhood where both jazz and Louis Armstrong were born, I’m not far from Congo Square. This is where African slaves were once allowed to play music and create rhythms on Sundays. They collaborated with European Creoles, who provided more pedagogy and structure, and the resulting music was called Jazz. Living around so much music (second line parades pass by my house often), it’s easy to be inspired to create custom musical instruments for drummers around the world.

-Marc Pagani