Jazz Vibist Duane Thamm Remembers Harry,
Ed Metzenger, and a Fritz Reiner Story
Duane Thamm and Harry Brabec were in school at the same time, though not in the same school. Harry, a graduate of J. Sterling Morton High, met Duane at one of the drum contests in which they were both participating and formed a friendship.
“After we had both graduated,” Duane recalls, “Harry came to see me when I was playing vibes and drums in a nightclub, and he talked me into studying more then and joining the Civic Orchestra. Years later when he was playing the Shubert, he called and asked if I wanted to sub for him. Of course that meant just stepping into the chair without a rehearsal. As I sat there and watched him play chimes and bells with one hand while he was playing something else with the other hand, I told him I just couldn’t do that. He was really a great talent.”
An Ed Metzenger-Fritz Reiner Story
Like Harry, Duane studied with Edward Metzenger (famous timpanist with the Chicago Symphony), and he shared this amusing Fritz Reiner/Metzenger story for THE DRUMMER DRIVES! :
“Metzenger told me about the time Reiner was picking on him about the timpani mallets he was using for a particular number. Reiner didn’t like the sound he was getting, and he asked him to try another pair. During the rehearsal, Metzenger kept changing mallets, with Reiner liking none of them. Finally, he just picked up the original pair and was amazed when Reiner said that was exactly the sound he was looking for.”
Harry would have been in the orchestra at that time, and he may have been remembering Metzenger when he pulled a similar stunt with Reiner the day he picked on Harry, saying he didn’t like the sound of the triangle he was playing at the time. This triangle story is just one of the legendary Harry Brabec/Fritz Reiner stories recounted in Chapter 8 of THE DRUMMER DRIVES! Everybody Else Rides, which also includes remembrances of Harry from several of his Chicago Symphony friends and the heretofore untold story of how Fritz Reiner literally destroyed Harry’s symphonic career for purely selfish reasons.
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Now retired, Duane Thamm is a well-known Chicago jazz vibist who has been around the Chicago scene for more than half a century. 
He has worked with such singers as Frank Sinatra, Steve Lawrence, and Tony Bennett, toured with the Henry Mancini Orchestra, and played countless music gigs over the years. In 2004, Delmark released Tribute to Hamp, an album by Thamm that pays tribute to one of the vibists who greatly influenced his playing.
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Tags: Duane Thamm, Edward Metzenger, Fritz Reiner, Harry Brabec
