Dreams - Drums - and Memories - The Little Drum Museum

by Don Doman

On shelves, which circumnavigate the entire space, are drum kits, cases, and individual drums from a Green Day burned and melted drum kit to the entire collection of drums by Elvin Jones. If you close your eyes you can almost hear many of the songs that have been played on those drums from When I Come Around to The Drum Thing. You can close your eyes and get Good Vibrations.

In a small, older business mall in Bellevue, Washington is a little shop crammed with dreams and memories. Donn Bennett sells percussion equipment there, but the latest innovations and drum kits are not what makes the Bennett Drum Studios a great place to visit.

As you open the door to the shop a bright glittering rainbow of cylinders assaults your eyes. There are drums in a myriad of colors stacked almost to the ceiling. On the ceiling and in almost every available wall space there are autographed drumheads. The narrow room is part showroom and part museum. The autographs cover generations and venues from jazz to alternative rock.

On shelves, which circumnavigate the entire space, are drum kits, cases, and individual drums from a Green Day burned and melted drum kit to the entire collection of drums by Elvin Jones. If you close your eyes you can almost hear many of the songs that have been played on those drums from When I Come Around to The Drum Thing. You can close your eyes and get Good Vibrations.

Donn started the shop out of his home: buying, selling and trading drums for his own personal collection. Donn found he had a knack for finding rare and unusual drums and his collection became so large he opened up the shop, so he could teach, sell drums and share memories.

Donn has the full drum kit of Buddy Rich. He bought it from someone that had been given the set by Buddy Rich himself. Buddy supposedly said, “You want ‘em? Take ‘em.” Some of the drum sets are autographed like Carmine Appice’s drums from Rod Stewart, Simon Kirke’s of Bad Company, Alan White’s from Yes, Jerry Kramer’s from Aerosmith, and Michael Derosier’s of Heart.

The person who has probably spawned the most drummers is Hal Blaine, who has played the drums on more hit records than anyone else. One of his drum kits is on the shelf. Picture a garage band learning songs by listening to the latest records. In The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Drums it says, “Hal Blaine is a legend. As the top Los Angeles studio drummer in the 1960s and early 1970s, he played on more than 8,000 different tracks for hundreds and hundreds of different musicians. His list of hits is staggering, and it's almost impossible to listen to an oldies radio station for more than 10 minutes without hearing a Hal Blaine song.”

Think of the huge number of young drummers learning their craft by pounding out the beat to 8,000 different tracks and making it their own. Drummers inspire drummers. Drummers can start with surface and a pair of drumsticks. Donn keeps buying more drums and more drumsticks as he shares his passion for drumming. He attracts drums.

Over the years Donn has become well known not just in the Puget Sound area, but in the world and with some of the most famous of drummers. The widow of Elvin Jones sought out Donn. He ended up buying all of Elvin’s equipment. Just imagine the sound of those drums accompanying John Coltrane on his classic recordings and still rolling around inside the drums and cases. Dreams, drums and memories . . . they’re all there at a little shop in Bellevue.