Jim Chapin

James Forbes Chapin (July 23, 1919 – July 4, 2009) was an American jazz drummer and the author of books about jazz drumming. He is in the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame

Early life Chapin was born in Manhattan, New York, the son of Abigail Forbes and painter James Ormsbee Chapin. Chapin first played piano and clarinet, and left college at the age of 18, when he started to play the drums, studying with Sanford Moeller. His Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer textbook was published in 1948. In 2009, a writer for Drum! magazine wrote that it was "arguably the most important drum set text ever written". this continued into 1956. it was reissued in expanded form as The Jim Chapin Sextet around 1960. The following year, he led an octet of Jimmy Nottingham (trumpet), Urbie Green (trombone), Bob Wilber (tenor sax), Phil Woods and George Dorsey (alto sax), Hank Jones (piano), and Wilbur Ware (bass) that recorded Profile of a Jazz Drummer. In 1971, Chapin's Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer, Volume II was published. Chapin also gave Alex Van Halen of the rock band Van Halen a lesson. A Chapin instructional video, Speed, Power, Control, Endurance, was released in 1992.