74
Legend has it that metallurgist Avedis
Zildjian hoped to make gold when he
mixed copper and tin with a substance
held secret to this day. He ended up
creating an alloy that, unlike regular
bronze, could resonate without crack-
ing or shattering—just the thing for
crafting cymbals that were less likely
to break during exuberant perfor-
mances. His descendants spent the
next 300 years or so in Turkey before
moving to the US, introducing their
wares to jazz musicians, who appre-
ciated both the sound and durability.
Today, you’ll find drummers in every
genre playing Zildjians, each of them
forged from a material that proved
almost as valuable as gold.BORN 1618