The Rhythm in Everything

The New Yorker has a killer profile of Ahmir Khalib Thompson, aka Questlove:

At fifteen, Ahmir was already a seasoned professional. Yet he spent his high-school years wondering whether he was good enough to play drums at all. This was partly an accident of history. In the late nineteen-eighties, the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts was home to an astonishing crop of talent. Ahmir’s class alone included Christian McBride, Joey DeFrancesco, and Kurt Rosenwinkel — arguably the greatest jazz bassist, organist, and guitarist of their generation. As a junior, in the school’s talent show, Ahmir lost to future members of the R. & B. group Boyz II Men. As a senior, he took the jazz singer and future Grammy nominee Amel Larrieux to the prom.

If you’re a music lover, it’s worth picking up the November 12 edition for this article alone. Grab it on your iPad or, if you’re feeling old-school, on the shelves at your friendly neighborhood newsstand.