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Bay Area jazz drummer Paul van Wageningen, a familiar staple of Latin jazz combos as well as co-founder of the VW Brothers (along with bassist and brother Marc) has been diagnosed with brain cancer, according to friends.

On December 6, 2010, Paul was admitted to Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley. At the time, doctors thought that he had suffered a stroke. He was in the hospital for a week and his recovery was amazing.

Since then, with few related issues his recovery had been progressing well. Paul had even played several gigs.

In early February, Paul's speech began to show signs that something was not right. He was sometimes unable to read, remember names or words. An MRI showed a mass in his brain, different from what doctors saw in December, which has subsequently been diagnosed as a cancerous tumor in his brain.

Friends and family have created a support page for Paul on the CaringBridge website, where well-wishers can post tributes or make donations in Paul's name.

Born in Amsterdam, where he attended the Amsterdam Conservatory, Paul moved to New York in 1976 to be closer to the American Jazz scene.

Since his relocation to the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s, he has gained recognition as one of the premier drummers in the area of multicultural drumming, receiving three Grammy nominations.

Paul has performed both in the United States and abroad with many of the top global-beat jazz groups such as Pete Escovedo, Andy Narell, Gonzalo Rubalcaba's Trio, the Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet, Mark Levine and the Latin Tinge, Paquito D'Rivera and the Caribbean Jazz Project, Jovino Santos Neto, Claudia Villela and Ricardo Peixoto, Nestor Torres and Dori Caymmi.