Mel Zelnick, alive and well at 82

Doug Cook reports about the 82 year old drummer Mel Zelnick who in the early 50s played with Benny Goodman and still practices at home on a drum kid from time to time, although after bypass surgery he needs a portable oxygen tank to breathe efficiently ( The Prescott Daily Courier ). He started playing the drums at the age of nine, heard Chick Webb at the Apollo Theater and modeled his playing after Webb, Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. Goodman hired him at once, he reports in a video interview published on the newspaper's website; and he never received "the ray" from the bandleader, a mean critical stare Goodman was feared for with musicians. Wardell Gray and Stan Getz were the best tenor saxophonists with whom he ever played.