Why Paiste cymbals?
I played Swiss Paiste cymbals and gongs early on in my career mostly for reasons of price. Zildjian cymbals were expensive by the time they got to the UK, and the European alternative, Paiste, was more reasonable. Paiste also had the first listing of endorsing artists that I saw, with small diagrams of cymbals setups, called ‘Drummer Profiles’, stuffed with European jazz drummers, so that was cool. The cymbals were also heavily featured on the records by early E.C.M. jazz stars like Jon Christensen, Fredy Studer, and Jack DeJohnette. I loved that music, so was hip to that. It was and remains a family business deeply concerned about the relationship between the cymbals, the players, and the music they make together, and like Tama they are a constant stream of innovation. I never saw any reason to change.
