"Life to me seems like a chain reaction of different events. One leads to another. This is an attempt to review the links in the "chain" to which I credit the past and current positions in my musical (and many times personal) life.
Here are some of the people who made (and continue to make) a difference in my life.

 

 

I  want to thank:

    - My parents Mirijam and Vali Mayer, for your continuous love and support, for bringing me into music, believing in me, buying me my first drum set and for taking me to the movie to see "THUNDERBALL" at age3

    - My sister Delia, for being my soul mate and your quest to help me find myself

    - My grandma Oma Julie Kohn, for still knowing what's up

    - My late grandpa Opa Salomon Kohn

    - Count Basie, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, The Beatles, Ella Fitzgerald,The Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, Spike Jones, Aretha Franklin, Quincy Jones, Thelonious Monk, Sergio Mendes,Janis Joplin, Ray Charles, the Meters, Astrud Gilberto, the Monkees, Jimi Hendrix, Charlie Parker, Blood Sweat & Tears and many more, for providing the soundtrack to my child hood

    - Charlie Antolini, for being my first drum hero and showing me how to play a roll

    - Jaques Hoffman, for those Saturday afternoon hangs in my (and my sisters) childhood

    - Peter Frei, for his guidance and introduction to the modern way of playing

    - Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters, Weather Report, the Brothers Johnson, ELP, James Brown, Return to forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, John Coltrane, Jeff Beck, Led Zeppelin, George Benson, Jaco Pastorius, David Bowie, Miles (again), Tower of Power, Frank Zappa, Stevie Wonder, Peter Frampton (!), Earth Wind & Fire and many more, for delivering the musical soil of my teens.

    - Billy Cobham, for the inspiration which got me more serious about the drums

    - Alex Bally, for giving me my first endorsement deal

    - Thomas Moekel, David Bruehwiler, George Morgan and Juerg Grau for giving me a gig back when nobody else did

    - Everybody who ever gave me a gig

    - All the drummers i've learned from (this list is tooo loooooooooooooong........)

    - Tony Williams, for simply breaking my heart…

    - Matthias Goetz, for friendship and being the first dude around at my age who would share the love for the music i dug

    - Monty Alexander, for the recognition and for giving me my first major break

    - Omar Hakim and Vinnie Colaiuta for slapping me out of my "Tony-trance"

    - James "Blood" Ulmer, Decoding Society, The Police, Steve Coleman, Miles (again), P-Funk, King Crimson, Prince, VSOP, Grand master Flash, Allan Holdsworth,  Ornette Coleman, Afrika Bambaata, John Scofield & Run Dmc etc. for adding new inspiration and direction to the musical influences in my twenties

    - Wietn Wito, Harald Haerter, Thomas Jordi and Roland Phillip for joining me on our punk-jazz crusade

    - Christoph Stiefel, Christian Ostermeier and Hanswalther Huggler for the Stiletto days

    - Harry Sokal and Heiri Kaenzig, for lifting me out of the Swiss ghetto

    - Herbie Joesch and Karlheinz Menzel, for first putting the industry spotlight on me

    - Jim Chapin, the man who changed my hands

    - Daniel Portner, for your enthusiasm and support

    - John Dyke, for sustained kinship

    - Toscho Yakatokuo, for your friendship and keeping it real

    - Elia Lyssy, for your friendship, kicking my ass to come to New York and for helping me to make the move

    - John Zorn, for my first gig in NYC

    - James "Blood" Ulmer, for the NYC politics pointers and the jams your his loft

    - Ben Perowski for your anti thesis to the NYC competition theme

    - David "Fuze" Fiuczinski, for the Screaming Headless Torsos / room mate experience

    - Steve Arnold and Kathy Rich, for the Buddy Rich Memorial lift

    - Domenico Ferrari, for your friendship and for getting me hip to the new dance music

    - Bill, Andy, Bob, Stacey, Wayne,  Steve, Mark, North, Bobby....and everyone at SABIAN

    - Marco "Grappa" Soccoli, for the 48thst. "protezione" and support

    - Freddy Gruber, for your insights

    - Pierre Romaine, for being the first cat in NYC to take a chance with live d 'n' b

    - Swingsett, Jim "$mall Change" Dier, Yuki, Joshi, Roli, Jamie, Tim, Takuya, Shahzad, Leon, Jonathan, Zach, Karsh, Julie Covello, Dough, Jessie, Luis, Gardner, Jennifer, Robin, Chrigel, Lisa, Yoo-jin and all the staff, musicians, artist, DJ's, media folks and fans whose enthusiasm and support helped to put PROHIBITED BEATZ on the map

    - Marcus Dehmut, my trusty tek and guardian of my drums

    - Dr. Dan Reinstein, for freeing me from my glasses

    - Roli Mosimann, for your friendship, courage and the inspiration to think differently

    - Robin, for your friendship, enthusiasm and support

    - Chrigel, for your friendship and your artwork

    - Wena, for your friendship and emotional shelter

    - Tina, my sweetheart and mini vacation. None of this matters to you, thanx! (..meow!)

    - Marco Tempest, for your brotherly friendship, help, the magic, inspiration, critique, advice, trust, support, kindness and for constantly kicking me in the ass.

    THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, I COULD NOT HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU! !"
     (Boo-hoo / Oscar clip...).

     Love, JOJO

    P.S. I also want to thank my webmaster Bruce Kent who bravely compiles the documents and designs for this home page.

(hmm.., I'm sure I forgot someone...)

(to be continued...).

.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS