Ginger Baker with Cream and Blind Faith got him hooked on the drums. At 12 he was playing Cream covers with a rock group and as a teenager he was the drummer with a jazz band led by a flute player who sounded like Herbie Mann. There weren't a lot of guys here with international experience. I had two other languages, two other cultures. I'd learned some things, life wasn't just black and white to me any more.
Music here is like no other place.
It's exciting in terms of civilization upon civilization. Turkey is a melting pot, like the States. Greek and Gypsy and Hungarian musicians - there are some burning trumpet players from Serbia. All these cultures - Armenian, Russian, Arabic, Jewish. Tel Aviv is only an hour's flight away.