
In 1909, Chicago was the site for two events that would forever change the role of percussion in popular music: The brothers Ludwig launched their eponymous instrument company by releasing a bass drum pedal, and Anna and Bartłomiej Krupa welcomed to the world their ninth child, Eugene.
The pedal, along with other innovations, allowed one percussionist to assemble a small set known as the “traps” (short for contraption). With a single player now able to handle bass, snare, a tom-tom, and some cymbals, the traps saved space and manpower. It became an efficient, though unglamorous, timekeeper for a new rhythm-heavy musical genre then emerging in small clubs and speakeasies.