It actually started back in the early 1950s during rock and roll's infancy. In fact, Jazz and big band had first won over Laurin during his teenage years. At seven, he was playing the trumpet. His father, who was an understudy for Bing Crosby during the 1930s and 40s, encouraged Laurin to play and later built him a drum set out of trashcans and corrugated boxes. Soon the trumpet gave way to the saxophone and then finally the drums and the reason for this was that Laurin felt that the drummers in his junior high school band were having more fun.
Drummers always have more fun.
He continued with the drums and played on his first album as a session drummer in 1953 while only ten years old. During his sophomore year, he decided to drop out of high school to pursue music on a full time basis by playing with local bands around Los Angeles. At nineteen, Laurin took a correspondence course to the Berkeley School of Jazz and devoted his life to music. The great jazz artists of the day such as Davis, Monk and Mingus were his influences. It was so strong that I can't even begin to tell you.