Maybe you've heard of the James family. Better yet, maybe you've actually heard members of the James family.

If you're at a live gig — whether at hip nightspot thirtyninehotel or at sedate Mariposa restaurant — there's a good chance a James is playing drums. And if not them, then one of the hundreds of kids who learned to pound the skins at the Chuck James Drum Shop.

Chuck James and three of his four sons are the equivalent of drumming royalty in Honolulu. Their castle? A tiny industrial space in Mapunapuna with a few tight practice rooms and dozens of drums stacked to its rafters.

"It's a gathering place for our family ... and a sanctuary for good things," said Jeffrey, 18, of the shop and studio. "Not too much negative comes into the drum shop. It's a place to really express yourself. ... We also have our family bickering here, which is what makes us a family. It's a second home."

Justin, 27, copped to spending up to 50 hours a week in the shop teaching, assuming administrative duties and practicing. The hours put in by the other James men aren't far behind. Even semi-musically inclined James sibling Jonathan works the shop. Wife and mom Lynda James makes lunch for her boys and a good portion of the shop's 160 drum students on Saturdays.

"Our relationships all come back to the drum shop," Justin said. "We talk about music. We support each other in performances. ... The drum shop is our similarity. If we didn't have it, I think we'd all be on our own paths."

THE PATRIARCH

In 1999, Chuck James, his reputation as an instructor and musician firmly in place, inherited the shop from a drummer friend he'd worked for, purchasing the retiring musician's merchandise and opening under his own name.

A Los Angeleno by way of his native Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada, Chuck had followed a musician buddy to Honolulu in 1972, seeking gigs and paradise.

Together, they played Waikiki and halftime shows during the Fabulous Five era of University of Hawai'i basketball. Between 1975 and 1985 — the heyday of Waikiki showroom culture — Chuck won gigs with Jimmy Borges, Trummy Young, John Rowles, Ethel Azama and Don Ho. He launched his teaching career with six students at Mad Music on King Street in 1975.

Chuck had been playing drums since age 11, after inheriting drum sticks and some rudimentary instruction from an uncle. He played variety shows and community centers, digging how folks gathered 'round when he rolled into a solo. He drummed with hometown Winnipeg band Silvertone in high school before they became The Guess Who. Inspired by jazz musicians he was increasingly befriending, however, Chuck eventually grew disenchanted with rock.

"Listening to Miles Davis and Tony Williams changed things," said Chuck, now 60. "Tony Williams was around 18 at the time, and I couldn't believe what he was playing."

Chuck finished his last two years of high school in L.A., joined the Naval School of Music after college and took jazz gigs around town.

THE SPIRITUALIST

"Well, they didn't find it on their own," said Chuck, matter-of-factly, when asked if drums were a case of nature or nurture for his boys. "Jeffrey was really easy to teach. ... But Jerome and Justin, I guess I kind of tricked."

Man-about-town Jerome, 30, who has jumped between New York and Honolulu the past few years, allowed his dad to teach him for a short while as a teenager before quitting the kit until age 18.

"He was kind of the happy-go-lucky kid who didn't want to practice, didn't want to listen," Chuck said.

Jerome instead learned on his own terms, using his father's kits and books to teach himself while accepting an occasional word of advice from Chuck. After stints with local emo, blues and funk groups, Jerome connected with jazz — a genre he felt encouraged him to be far more proficient at his craft — and joined the University of Hawai'i Big Band. A three-week sojourn to Cuba on a U.S. State Department project with the University of Havana music program put Jerome, then 20, face to face with players who pursued their passion for music because they had nothing but that passion.

"I saw these drummers that were 5 years old really playing their instruments," said Jerome. "That's when I decided that I really wanted to play the drums."

Back home, Chuck gave a newly energized Jerome his youngest and most-challenging students to teach. Jerome gigged with Cecilio Rodrigues and Azure McCall before moving to New York in 2001 at age 24. There for five years, he played for and put together countless bands — jazz, Latin, blues, djembe and even a Grateful Dead covers band. On trips back home, he formed trios and collectives. His NYHI Music Collective filled Indigo's Green Room with groovy "spiritual jazz" weekly.

THE PERFECTIONIST

Justin didn't want to learn drums from his father, either.

"I didn't want to play drums, period," said Justin, laughing. "I just felt that whenever he worked with me trying to teach me drums, he was a little too aggressive. So I just decided I'd rather do nothing."

Chuck tried to bribe Justin at age 12 with the promise of a color television. He didn't take the bait. Justin even quit a high school jazz band when Chuck got a bit too involved with his renewed interest. Like Jerome, Justin pursued drumming on his own, teaching beginning students in his father's new shop at 18 and joining his first of several bands at 20. After graduating from Hawai'i Pacific University on a full scholarship a couple of years ago, he co-founded Newjass Quartet with a mission of crafting and playing the modern jazz and post-bop he was grooving to. The quartet's two-year-old thirtyninehotel weekly draws a loyal following every Tuesday.

Justin still considers his father his biggest influence.

"Whenever I had a question, I'd come to him," Justin said. "Through his method of teaching other people, I taught myself."

Chuck wasn't cool with the self-instruction at the time.

"But the end result is what you're looking for, so whatever works works," Chuck said. "Sometimes you have to take different methods."

THE NATURAL

Jeffrey took to drumming earlier than his brothers — at age 11, driven by an innate desire to play.

"I learned pretty much all of it from my dad teaching me ... almost daily," Jeffrey said. "He wasn't laid back ... but he wasn't really mean about it. He'd tell me what I was doing wrong ... and gave me some leeway with how fast I had to learn things and how much I had to learn.

"He was good."

Jeffrey took to marching band music first, winning awards solo and as a member of Mililani High School's Drumline group. Self-taught in bass guitar, piano, marimba and several percussive instruments, his primary musical passion remains drumming.

A freshman at Hawai'i Pacific University, Jeffrey hooked up with Tempo Valley earlier this year. He also plays an occasional Monday night Jazz Minds gig with an as yet unnamed trio of musicians who, like him, share a passion for crafting jazz, Latin, funk and progressive rock originals.

"Jeffrey is just so up-and-coming and awesome," Chuck said. "He plays everything. So we'll see what road he's gonna take. But right now, he's in such a learning mode, it's amazing to watch."

FAMILY STYLE

The family dynamic at Chuck James Drum Shop will have to navigate the near future without Jerome.

"I'm really searching for something brand new and fresh right now," Jerome said. "I'm looking to play jazz in a more committed way. I don't want to play it traditional. ... I've been doing a lot of electronic music. I'm also writing and composing music on computer."

Jerome became interested in electronic music after breaking his arm while in New York.

He can still drum, saying he is "definitely playing better than I've ever played." Still, Jerome will move to the Big Island next month for an open-ended sabbatical from city life. He will live on a patch of land in remote, deep-forested Puna with a like-minded collective of musicians.

Justin and Jeffrey will continue to play around town with their respective projects and work at the drum shop, but neither rules out an out-of-state move if opportunities arise. Chuck plays around town in a couple of jazz trios, a salsa band and the PBS Big Band, but playing live is no longer what gives him his biggest musical kicks.

"I'm happiest when I'm teaching kids," Chuck said. "Seeing somebody grow is just amazing. ... I try to be a good role model. And I think we need good role models. ... I like being that."

And though he's occasionally had reservations about the course of their music education and lives, Chuck is pleased with the reputation his sons have gained in Honolulu as skilled, creative go-to drummers.

"Every one of them is like a part of me," Chuck said. "You can't believe how awesome it is ... seeing yourself branching out.

"I'm proud that they're good at what they're doing and that they're doing something."

There's a lot of family pride.

"I think what I'm proudest of most is knowing that if you need a good drummer, you just call 834-4967, and you know you'll get someone for what you're looking for," Justin said, grinning. "I'm also proud that a lot of good drummers (in Honolulu) studied for a certain amount of time with (my dad)."

For Jerome, "It's that we're a family and that we've all been able to do what we want to do. We're all playing music. And that's pretty cool."

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.