There was a thread about Ron Bruner a couple of weeks ago.He plays with The Young Jazz Giants and has toured with Kenny Garrett.
As far as finding your own personal voice..well that doesn't happen overnight!It's a lifetime process.Know the history of drums and drummers,strive for good technique and then forget 'bout it so you can focus on that personal voice you should be aiming to.
One thing tho',it's cool to clone,steal or copy licks from someone.I mean,everybody does that and there's nuttin' wrong with that as long as you manage to make it your own.You should not just play stuff note for note as you've heard it played by someone else.That said,it's all good to "steal" whatever sounds good to you.
Even Thomas did it!!lol .I can hear a lot of Vinnie in his style,the flams and stuff.It's all good as Vinnie is my personnal favourite and he for sure,does stuff that nobody does over there.But then again,Vinnie stole a lot of stuff from Tony Williams,Gadd,Elvin,Zigaboo but he took it to another level ya know?
Like he didn't just copy,he made it his own stuff so now when you hear someone do the single stroke between hand and foot(Buddy Rich memorial) you like"He got that from Vinnie..." but originally,Tony and Buddy used to do it all the time.
That's why you have to know the History man.We're always gonna play stuff that's been played before.Rudiments are the same for all so,unless you come up with different ones,which is most unlikely,chances are you're gona have to own your stuff in order to make it sound different and unique.
Just my two cents..
