Vernel Fournier was one of the premier jazz drummers back in the genre's glory days, playing alongside such legends as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. A New Orleans native, Fournier learned from watching Bourbon Street performers before playing locally as a teenager with jazz singers Nancy Wilson and Billy Eckstine, among others. Not long after relocating and living in New York City for nearly 30 years, Fournier moved to Madison County in the late '90s and died after suffering a brain aneurysm. ~ Greg Prato