The only photo I can find of Melvin is this one from an L.T.D. album we did together.
I want to tell you about him.

Melvin Webb (Big Mel) was not only a great drummer and a guy with the most positive attitude I've ever seen in the industry, he was my best buddy.
We were so close that only he and my mother ever dared to call me "Donnie".
It was at his urging - when we were doing the Marvin Gaye tour - that I relocated to L.A. to do studio work. It was he who first cut me into James Gadson.
Big Mel died in 1982 of diabetic complications, too young and with too much left to contribute, but he left a great legacy of recorded music and hundreds of real friends.

Melvin even lives on in my speech patterns. Every time I hear myself say:

"That's in the pocket"
or
"Let's hit that one more time"
or
"I Love That!"

I think of Big Mel.

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