Last updated: 22 hours ago
Raised in the Hudson Valley, Lou Varuzzo started on guitar and switched to drums at age 10. While studying with local jazz drummer Charlie Morano, he found additional early inspiration in the playing of Steve Gadd, Harvey Mason, Dave Weckl, and, of course, Buddy Rich. While still in high school, he studied classical percussion at Julliard under the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s principal percussionist, David Fein; subsequent studies included time at SUNY Purchase under New Jersey Percussion Ensemble founder Ray Des Roches and Hudson Valley Philharmonic’s Timpanist, Charles Barbour. Lou also studied drum set at The Modern Drum shop in NYC with Joe Cusatis. Lou began honing his live chops as a teenager during weekly gigs with jazz fusion outfit Second Wind. “It was an intense incubation period,” says Lou. “I’d practice all day in New York at Julliard and sometimes play tympani with an orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall—then I’d come straight home and play the Jury Room in Poughkeepsie with Second Wind.”
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