No question, Gordon "Specs" Powell is unanimously acknowledged as a leading figure in American music. What is less known is Specs' seminal influence on Martin Cohen, who steered LP from a boutique style enterprise manufacturing durable, good sounding percussive devices to the world's largest producer of percussion instruments that addressed the needs of both indigenous folkloric and modern musicians.



While jazz players have always spoken in glowing terms about Specs Powell, the issue came into sharp focus at winter NAMM. There Specs was presented with the NAMM Support Music Award in respect of his lifetime achievements.



The relationship of Specs Powell and LP Founder Martin Cohen goes back to 1963, when Specs was staff drummer on The Ed Sullivan Show and also one of the busiest studio percussionists in NYC. In fact, the late bassist Milt Hinton, in his book Bass Line, recalls Specs and him breaking the color barrier on a studio gig, The Woolworth Hour, in which they were the only blacks in a sixty-man orchestra.



At any rate, Martin and Specs became fast friends. “My family and his,” recalls Martin, “spent countless weekends at his summer place in Westbrookville, New York. One day, Specs asked me to build him bongos but insisted it be placed on a stand. While a departure from the traditional way of playing bongos between the knees, his request made sense. He needed the mounting to facilitate the rapid transition from marimba, timpani, kit, and orchestral bells. This led me to develop the first bongo mounting system. It also led to a new designation, the 'fusion percussionist', who now plays in every form of band from rock to world music.”