Gearhead: How Gene Krupa Kicked the Drum Kit into the Jazz Age

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.