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HenTHE HEARTBEAT OF JAZZ

The Swing Years

Curt derailForeword by Mel Torme

Property ofOxford University Press

LIBRARYNot To Be Taken Awa

OXJORDUNIVERSITY PRESS

Drummin

OXFORDUNIVERSITY PRESS

Oxford Ne w YorkAuckland Bangko k Bueno s Aires

Cape Town Chenna i Da r es Salaam Delh i Hon g Kong Istanbu lKarachi Kolkat a Kual a Lumpur Madri d Melbourn e Mexic o City Mumba i

Nairobi Sa o Paulo Shangha i Singapor e Taipe i Toky o Toront o

and an associated company in

Berlin

Copyright 1990 by Burt KorallFirst published by Schirmer Books, 1990

First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 2002198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016

Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataKorall, Burt.

Drummin' men : the heartbeat of jazz, the swing years / Burt KorallDiscography: p

Includes bibliographic referencesISBN 0-19-515762-1 (pbk.)

1. PercussionistsUnited StatesBiography2. Jazz musiciansUnited StatesBiography

3. Big bands-United States.I. Title.

ML399.K66 199 0786.8'1654'092273-dc20[B] 89-1091 8 CI P M N

1 3 5 7 9 1 0 8 6 42Printed in the United States of America

on acid-free paper

For m y wife Paulath e best there is ; for m y son Andyand daughter Diana .

For France s Preston, a special musical lady.and

For Buddy Rich, a friend an d a great talent, muc h missed .

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Contents

Foreword b y Mel Torme i x

Preface xii i

INTRODUCTION 1

CHICK WEBB (1907-1939) 7

GENE KRUP A (1909-1973) 4 1

RAY McKINLE Y (1910-) 8 9

JO JONES (1911-1985) 11 7

SID CATLETT (1910-1951) 16 3

DAVE TOUGH (1908-1948) 20 5

BUDDY RIC H (1917-1987) 24 9

OTHER MAJO R FIGURE S 30 5Sonny Greer (1903-1982) 30 7George Wettling (1907-1968) 31 0Cozy Cole (1909-1981) 31 4Jimmy Crawford (1910-1980 ) 31 8O'Neil Spencer (1909-1944) 32 2Cliff Leema n (1913-1986) 32 5Ray Baudu c (1906-1988) 32 8

EPILOGUE: INTO THE 1940 S 33 3

Vll

Viii CONTENT S

Notes 33 7

Discography 34 7

The Interviewee s 35 7

Index 37 1

Forewcnl

I must have been a pathetic sight , dressed i n saddle shoes, corduro ypants, and leather jacket, my breath steaming in the December cold,my nos e firml y presse d agains t th e hug e pane o f glass, m y eyes fo-cused longingl y on th e irresistibl e clutte r o f drums, festoone d withcymbals, templ e blocks , and cowbells , featured a t th e fron t o f th eLyon and Healy music store display windo w in Chicago.

With Europe on the brink of all-out war, with the Great Depres-sion still doggedly nipping at th e heels of the American public, andvirtually everyone worried about the future, the main concerns in myfourteen-year-old head and heart and mind were a) deciding whetherto opt for a set of Wm. F. Ludwig drums, the sort Ray Bauduc playedwith Bo b Crosby's Bo b Cats, o r a gleamin g group o f white MarinePearl Slingerlands , th e choic e o f my tw o drummin g heroes , Gen eKrupa and Buddy Rich, and b ) how to talk my financially-strappedfamily int o pooling thei r meage r resources an d popping for a dru mset for me for Christmas .

Drumsand drummerswer e th e epicente r o f my univers e in1939. Tha t particular yea r itsel f was probably th e optimum twelve-month perio d in the entire history o f the Swing Era. Th e Big Bandswere in ful l bloom . Virtually every weekend, the great swing orches-tras wer e appearin g a t th e Chicag o Theatre, th e State-Lak e o r th eOriental, a s wel l a s th e mecc a fo r jitterbugs an d musi c lovers , th ePanther Roo m of the Hote l Sherman .

I would make it my business to take a big double-decker bus tothe Loo p an d drin k i n th e talent s o f m y favorit e drummers . Clif fLeeman with Charlie Barnet; Big Sid Catlett with Louis Armstrong'screw; Buddy Schutz with J. Dorsey and Buddy Rich with Artie Shaw.Those guys magnetized and mesmerized me . I had been a child per-former from the age of four. I had sung in vaudeville and acted on theradio. At one point, my ambition was to be a movie star.

But ever since I had heard Chick Webb play "Liza," and then RayBauduc's stirring march-like beats on Bob Crosby's record of "SouthRampart Stree t Parade," my goals had firmed up, my ambitions hadcrystalized. I wanted, more than anything in the world, to become adrumming, singing, arranging bandleader. That desire became obses-sive, pervasive. I mean , for God's sake , wha t i n the worl d coul d b emore rewarding , mor e exciting or fulfillin g tha n t o be perched highatop a grea t swin g band, behin d a shimmerin g se t o f white pear ldrums and shiny brass cymbals, while the pretty girls in the front row

IX

X FOREWOR D

of the theater or ballroom regarded you with hero-worshipping eyes?And so, all through 1939, 1 practiced o n my rubber practice pad ,

attacked th e inadequat e schoo l drum s I was allowed t o play in theShakespeare Grammar Schoo l dru m an d bugl e corps , an d doodle dbass-drum hea d designs on the cover of my three-ring loose-leaf note-book, when I should have been paying attention to my schoolwork. Ileafed incessantl y throug h m y burgeonin g collectio n o f Down Beatmagazines and drum catalogues, noting the cymbal arrangements ofO'Neil Spence r (drumme r wit h Joh n Kirby' s fine little octet) , th eradical tilt of Gene Krupa's snare drum , the oversize hi-hat cymbalsused b y Basic's Jo Jones (thirteen inch!!) , and th e elaborate carica -ture gracing the head of Chick Webb's Gretsch bass drum .

Things did not work out quite as I had planned. When my careertook a turn i n the direction of solo singing, I felt a real sense of loss,of unfulfilled desires . Ye t plainly, by 1947 , the bands had bee n rele-gated to a secondary position in the public's affection, and the Day ofthe Singe r ha d arrived . Perhap s I followe d th e pat h o f leas tresistanceI don't know. Or perhaps I realized two things: first, thatthe glorious , golden , irregula r decad e (1935-1945 ) know n a s th eSwing Era had com e and gone and tha t w e would never see its likeagain musically , and second, that while someday, somehow, I mightbecome goo d enoug h as a singe r t o be though t o f as "th e best, " aslong as there was a Buddy Rich living, breathing, and drumming, Iwould never ever be competitive with him. And so it went.

I hav e neve r quit e gotte n ove r m y thwarte d ambition s wher edrums are concerned. I still play them during my concerts and enjo yit. And I remember, with no small amount of nostalgia and regret, therepeated offer s I got to occupy the dru m chai r i n the bands o f StanKenton, Tommy Dorsey, and eve n Gene Krupa. At that tim e in mylife, tw o things got in the way : my vocal group, the Mel Tones, andthe awarenes s o f the coming end of the Swin g Era.

This wonderfu l boo k i s no t onl y a long-delaye d tribut e t o th egreat drummer s o f that periodit is a paean to the Swing Era itself :evocative, nostalgic, and bittersweet. I simply cannot think of anyonemore qualifie d t o have authored thi s work than Burt Korall .

Long a distinguishe d write r an d observe r o f the musi c scene ,particularly knowledgeabl e abou t jazz , an d mos t importantly ,blessed wit h the talen t t o make you see and fee l wha t i t was like toplay drums with the famous name bands and be lucky enough to livethrough that shining time, Burt Korall has written a book for the ages,a superbl y researche d an d realize d memoi r tha t wil l stan d a s th edefinitive wor k on the subject . I am goin g to stop writin g this now,open Burt's engrossing boo k and read it once again. (This will makethe fourth time!)

FOREWORD XI

Then I'm going to haul out my old dog-eared Down Beats and myequally wel l worn drum catalogue s an d have a rendezvous with ThePast.

Mel Torme

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Preface

This book has bee n in the makin g most o f my life . I t had it s begin-nings i n m y grandmother' s livin g room i n fron t o f the radio , th ecenter o f fascination tha t captured m y generation. I sat ther e dailyand welcomed th e preponderance o f jazz all over the dial . Jazz waspopular musi c back in the 1930s ; i t served a function , bein g essen-tially dance music . It was the concern of the many, as rock is today.I fel t lik e th e ultimat e beneficiary . Drums becam e m y soun d an dmusic, a central concern . A love affair began .

Memories abound. There were Sunday afternoon broadcasts bythe Basic band fro m th e Savo y Ballroom an d evenin g programs b yDuke Ellington from various spots, notably New York's Cotton Club.I vividl y recal l th e Arti e Shaw ban d afte r i t hi t wit h "Begi n th eBeguine," and, of course, th e Benny Goodman band. Its records, ra-dio shows , an d "remote " broadcast s fro m ballrooms , hotels , an dclubs around th e country caught m y ear .

Because o f the motivatio n provided b y radio, I moved out int othe real world, seeking music and drummer s i n the flesh. My fathergot things started by taking me to the Paramount Theater , the meccafor nam e band s i n Ne w York's Times Squar e area . The attraction :Gene Krupa an d hi s orchestra. My uncle followed u p with anothe rtrip t o th e fame d theater ; thi s tim e I sa w and hear d th e TommyDorsey ban d wit h Budd y Ric h a t th e drums . M y connection wit hmusic suddenly turned int o something intense . From the n on, I en-couraged member s of my family and my friends to accompany me totheaters wit h stage shows .

I graduated t o clubs an d hotels , whil e continuing to haunt th epresentation theaters . I moved around uptow n and downtown NewYork City . I wa s ben t o n experiencin g everyone . After Krup a an dRich, I focused my attention on a variety of drummers and bands: JoJones with Basic, Ray McKinley with Will Bradley, Sid Catlett withLouis Armstrong, Jimmy Crawford with Jimmie Lunceford, Moe Pur-till with Glenn Miller, Sonny Greer with Duke Ellington, Ray Bauducwith Bob Crosby, Cliff Leema n with Charlie Barnet, and others .

When Phi l Brown, my oldes t friend , move d int o m y neighbor -hood, m y affair wit h drums an d musi c entered a key phase. He hadbeen playin g drums fo r a while . At fourteen, he knew a lo t and al -ready was deeply into things. His enthusiasm was contagious, and hepassed on his knowledge in a very open manner. I had a lot to learn.

I wa s luck y enough t o lin k up wit h a grea t teache r befor e my

Xlll

XIV PREFACE

fifteenth birthday. Alle n Paley was suggested to me by Danny Bur-gauer o f Manny's, the fame d musica l instrumen t sho p on Manhat-tan's West 48th Street . The studying process bega n befor e I had adrum set . I was taught o n a rubber practic e pad , set on a stand. Iplayed sitting down. Allen placed primary emphasis on performingcorrectly. He explained the best way to hold the sticks and how tightlyto grip them, depending on the circumstances. He emphasized wristdevelopment, constantly illustrating ho w to turn the m in a precis eyet relaxed manner . "If you hit th e drum just right, you get a goodsound," he insisted.

Allen's chief means to excellence were drum rudiments, or strok-ings, i n al l thei r variety . Practice wa s a must . An hour o r tw o ofconcentrated daily practice sometimes turned into three or four hoursas I endeavored to progress as quickly as possible. Allen also taughthis students about musichow to read and interpret it . When I got adrum se t (courtesy of my grandmother) after a year or so of study,things really started falling into place.

Allen ha d bee n a n excellen t drummer a t th e brin k o f a grea tcareer; illness, however, had prevented him from realizin g his enor-mous potential. As a teacher , he was a task master ye t very under-standing. He became my friend an d mento r and develope d in me asense of dedication.

When I got to college, I faced a dilemma. My English composi-tion teacher strongly suggested I become a writer. For several yearsthrough New York University and during my service stint with ArmedForces Radio-Special ServicesI continued to study and play drumsbut becam e increasingl y involve d in writin g and radi o work . Dis-charged from the Army in December 1954,1 first sought employmentin radio . Then quite suddenly I go t a job a s a n editor-write r withMetronome, a prestigious music magazine that was heavily into jazz.A decision had been made for me. I would write and remain close tothe music and players I loved.

Drums were left behind as I grew as a writer and music businessexecutive. Instead o f traveling with bands an d playin g with smal lgroups, I wrote feature articles and reviewed jazz, worked for a recordcompany (Decca-Coral-Brunswick), and then was hired by BMI. I'veworked at BMI as a public relations executive, magazine editor, andspecial assignments director longer than seems possible. Through theyears, I also wrote for newspapers and magazines, and continue to doso. I also collaborated o n a book, "The Jazz Word."

It al l has worked out right , despit e th e fac t tha t I have seldomplayed. Do I have twinges of regret becaus e I lef t th e playing arenabefore truly testing my ability? Sometimes. But it seems I have beenguided by a caring deity.

PREFACE XV

As experience shaped me , the lov e affair initiate d in my grand-mother's living room grew, stabilized, became permanent. Most sig-nificantly, th e feelin g fo r musi c an d drummer s wa s pu t t oconstructive use. While learning from othe r writers, composers, anda wid e variet y o f musicians, I gav e something back , exercisin g atalent that had been all but unsuspected when drums were the dom-inant force i n my life .

My work at BMI and a variety of assignments as a writer, critic,and columnis t mad e possibl e one-to-on e exposure t o a numbe r ofdrummers treated in this book. Krupa and Rich became close friends.Ray McKinley, Sonny Greer, Cliff Leema n and J o Jones were inter-view subjects before and/or during the research for "Drummin' Men."Cozy Cole was m y teacher fo r a brie f period i n th e lat e 1940s . Theothers passed o n before I had a chance to meet them.

When the idea for Drummin' Men emerged at a meeting with KenStuart, forme r editor-in-chief of Schirmer Books, a number of yearsago, I jumped at it. What could be more perfect for me? At the outset,the book had far more scope. It went through several phases. First thebook was going to be a series o f profiles o f all th e grea t drummers .Then it was going to be a history, or a dictionary. My editor, MichaelSander, an d I conclude d tha t th e boo k neede d a shar p focus . Wesettled for the Swing Years and the drummers who came to the fore -ground during that key period. It couldn't have been more appropri-ate; after all , swing drummers had lit the torch of interest for me inthe first place.

The book ended up being something of an oral history. In addi-tion t o first-han d observation and/o r listenin g to recordings , whatbetter wa y t o ge t t o kno w drummers an d ho w the y play tha n b ytalking t o them ? If that wasn' t possiblean d even if it wasther ewere other fertile sources of information: those who knew the drum-mers, taught them, worked with them, employed them. I found th epeople who were close to a drummer could supply a sense of dimen-sion sometimes lacking in the subject's own comments about his life ,personality, and performances.

In th e proces s o f researching thi s book , I listened to countlessrecordings, conducted over 200 interviews and spent a lot of time inlibraries an d researc h center s such as the Divisio n of the Ne w YorkPublic Library at Lincoln Center and at the Institute of Jazz Studiesat Rutgers University in Newark. The book's content has everything todo with my own personal judgment. I covered in depth the drummersI felt ha d heavily affected th e music during the Swing Years; I gavethe other importan t drummers less detailed attention.

I receive d much assistanc e fro m friend s an d associates . Spac e

XVI PREFAC E

limitations prevent me from mentionin g all who helped, but the keypeople mus t b e credited .

Certainly Drummin' Men never could have been completed with-out th e aid of my friend Da n Morgenstern, director o f the Institute ofJazz Studies at Rutgers University, and his associates Ed Berger andRon Welburn. I was given great encouragement by PEN, by my per-sonal doctors , Dr . Nat Stockhame r and Dr . Arthur Lindner, and bymy cousin Sand y Yorn. My gratitude goes also to Gene Krupa, BuddyRich, Me l Torme , Me l Lewis , J o Jones , Phi l Brown , Alle n Paley ,George Simon , Hele n an d Stanle y Dance , Lore n Schoenberg , Jud ySpencer, Gar y Giddins , David Baker, Stanle y Kay , Ray McKinley ,Artie Shaw, John Hammond, Sy Oliver, Doug Ramsey, Whitney Bal-liett, Ir a Gitler , And y Kirk , Chic o Hamilton , Maria n McPartland ,Philly Jo e Jones , Bo b Haggart , Pe e Wee Erwin, Chi p Stern , MaxRoach, Tony Williams, Bob Thompson, Jonah Jones , Manny Albam,Chubby Jackson, Ro y Haynes, Joe Morello, Stan Levey , Illinois Jac -quet, Jim Chapin , Le e Konitz, Ric k Mattingly o f Modern DrummerMagazine, Walter Wager , Lee Jeske, Ellio t Home , Jerry Heermans ,John Simmen , Elle n an d Ke n Stein , Lennie DiMuzio of The AvedisZildjian Company , Bil l Simon , Kenn y Washington , BMI' s Da nSinger, Evely n Buckstein , Gar y Rot h an d Michae l Palladino , tran -scriber Richard Mealey, Managing Editor Michael Sander, Editor-in-Chief Maribeth Payne, and notably assistant editor Fred Weiler withwhom I worked closely to put Drummin' Men into its final form. Andlast but certainl y not least , I offe r m y appreciation and love to mywife Paula for her support an d advice and for typing the final draft ofthe book .

Burt Koral l

Drummin'Hen

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Introduction

A few musicians ar e special . They bring something fresh, new , andunusual t o music.

Some o f these ver y gifte d peopl e establis h immediat e contac twith both the musically knowledgeable and the less informed. Pow-erful an d appealin g melodic , harmonic , an d rhythmi c element swithin their playing and/or writing make this possible .

Pioneers lik e Louis Armstrong and Duk e Ellington found recep -tive audiences soon afte r comin g to Chicago and Ne w York, respec-tively, in the 1920s . Both Armstrong and Ellington adeptly used theexisting structure of the entertainment business to advance the causeof music. Their innovations, integrated within show-business presen-tations, wer e acceptabl e specificall y becaus e the y didn' t seem to oradical to the majority of listeners. Ellington was particularly cleverwhen it came to achieving a balance between art and show business.

Other ground breakers, more rebellious and alienated than Arm-strong an d Ellington , generally ignored th e rule s o f "the business"and chose to allow their artand their ar t onlyt o speak for them.Many of these "originals" were mystifying a t first. Only a few criticsand fan s go t to the hear t o f their ideas early in the game . More fre-quently tha n not , these independent , confoundin g creator s wer edenounced b y commentators , musician s (usuall y o f a n olde r gen-eration), and a number o f jazz devotees .

I remember vividly the difficulties encountered by Charlie Parkerand Dizz y Gillespie in th e 1940s , by Thelonious Monk i n th e 1940 sand 1950s , by Ornette Coleman in the late 1950s and early 1960s, andby Ceci l Taylor an d Joh n Coltran e a t abou t th e sam e time . Man ypeople didn' t wan t to deal with what they had to offer .

These innovators and others who modified the contours of jazzi.e., Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Jimmy Blanton,and Charli e Christianeach caused a revolution with their concep-tion of how feelings should be communicated through music.

Eventually, a new musical language is understood and placed inperspective. Sometime s i t takes an awfully lon g time. But it alwayshappens.

Drummers hav e als o mad e meaningfu l change s i n jaz z an dheightened it s expressiveness . B y alterin g concept s o f tim e an drhythmsometimes radicallydrummer s enric h th e musi c an dmake i t mor e meaningful . Eac h decade , on e or tw o more artist s ofvision come along and push music into the future .

1

2 INTRODUCTIO N

Baby Dodd s helped consolidat e th e discoverie s o f early drum -mers while addin g significan t concepts and invention s o f his own .Other supremel y talente d drummer s brough t a sens e o f creativityand more than a little of themselves to the music.

Zutty Singleton, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Dave Tough, KennyClarke, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, and cer-tainly Chick Webb, the gian t o f the 1930s , modernized drumming,paralleling experimentation within jazz as a whole and anticipatingwhat would happen i n the years t o come. They made possible con-tinuing vitality and adventure in the rhythm section. Because of themand others, the drummer, that central source of pulsation and color,became increasingly important in jazz.

Memoriesthey come in flood. Those of us who were shaped by the1930s cannot forget a variety of things: the economic distress, the art,the books, the music....

As a small child during the period, I was balanced on the periph-ery of all that happened, protected b y my youth and my family. Ourmost immediat e response t o the economic situation was rather typ-ical. My mother and father and I moved into my grandmother's bi ghouse to pool resources. There were no luxuries, and few trips to thestores fo r clothe s an d shoes ; famil y membersal l o f whom wer eworking, fortunatelywalked instea d o f taking trolley s o r buses . Irecall overhearing severa l conversation s about neighborin g familie slosing their houses, being put out of their apartments; much was saidabout loss and lack of jobs, and th e need for money and a firm foun-dation.

But in our family group, surprisingly, ther e was not the despairyou might expect. My family became even more tight-knit in the fac eof adversity; each member drew strength from the others. There wasa sens e o f exhilaration abou t smal l things : trip s t o th e ic e crea mstore, en masse, good company, and good friends. Basic things gainedin value, like a memorable baseball game, or a tasty meal inventivelyorganized fro m ver y little.

There were the moviesthe fantasy musicals, the gangster films,the romance s tha t alway s came ou t okay . Movies wer e uncompli -cated an d escapist; the y showed attractive people in situations tha ttook the collective mind away from day-to-da y tensions. The cost ofa ticke t wa s minimalan d loo k a t wha t yo u go t fo r th e pric e o fadmission: a doubl e feature , news, a cartoon , perhap s a serial . I nlarge cities, the movie palaces had one picture less, but a marvelousplus: a stage show, a complete vaudeville presentation that my fatherloved. More about tha t later .

Only th e "privileged " wen t t o Broadwa y play s an d musicals .

INTRODUCTION 3

Unless your family belonged to an organization that bought tickets inbulk, which brought th e price down, you had littl e chance of seeingthe "proletariat " plays o f Clifford Odet s and Maxwel l Anderson, orthe Rodgers an d Hart, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin musicals .

But ther e were books . At the library , a person coul d b e trans -ported for free b y the novel s of Steinbeck, Hemingway, Dos Passos,James T . Farrell, Erskin e Caldwell , and Thoma s Wolfe . An d therewere the poets: Car l Sandburg, T.S . Eliot, Archibald MacLeish.

Books, magazines , and newspaper s documente d th e emergenceof fascism, the spread o f socialism, and the advent of Hitler. But onesubject dominated : th e Depression and how various kinds of peopleresponded t o it and survived.

Of cours e ther e wa s th e radioimposing , generally large , an dlocated i n a key spot i n the living room. The radio gave relief in theform of comedy by Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Eddie Cantor, and Burnsand Allen ; adventure with Doc , Reggie, and Jac k on "I Lov e A Mys-tery," drama and crime on "Gang Busters," "The Green Hornet," and"The Shadow" ; an d romanc e an d fantas y o n th e soaps : Wh o canforget "Th e Romanc e o f Helen Trent" ?

Sports really came alive on radio. The Joe Louis fights were pureand unrelentin g i n thei r intensit y an d beauty . Th e second contes twith Germany's Max Schmeling in 1937 , a prelude to World War II,was classic i n its brevity and detail .

Music seemed everywhere . It was all over the radio dial . Fromearly morning int o the evening hours, programs supporte d b y well-known sponsors featured leading singers and bands and top musicalfigures. Sustaining shows (without advertising) offered lesser-know nsingers and instrumental groups, some of them very promising. FrankSinatra an d Dina h Shore , amon g others , wer e showcase d o n suchshows.

From the ballrooms, clubs , and hotel rooms around th e countrylate at night came "remotes" by the big bands. The names of the glam-orous sites are lodged in memory: the Glen Island Casino "at water' sedge in New Rochelle, New York," Frank Dailey' s Meadowbrook onthe Pomp ton Turnpike in New Jersey, the Famous Door on New York'sSwing Street (52n d Street), and, twenty blocks downtown, the HotelPennsylvania. In Chicago there was the Congress Hotel, the Grand Ter-race, the Palmer House, and the Hotel Sherman; i n Los Angeles, thePalomar Ballroo m an d th e Hollywoo d Palladium. Other spots als ocome to mind: New York's Hotel Lincoln, the Trianon Ballroom in Chi-cago, Sweet's Ballroom in Oakland, New York's Roseland, and "TheHome of Happy Feet," the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Radio announc-ers with cavernous voices clearly enunciated the band leader's nam eover applause, th e band played its theme, and the fun would begin.

4 INTRODUCTIO N

Benny Goodma n an d hi s orchestra , wit h Gen e Krup a a t th edrums, li t the flame of interest an d fanned it to a high level at mid-decade. Th e music was jazz. But i t became know n far and wid e asswing, captivating th e young and old . Afte r a highly depressed fiveyears (1930-35), when popular music declined, the situation began toimprove. Goodma n turne d Americ a on. Other grea t leadersDuk eEllington, who heralded swing' s coming with his 193 2 anthem, "I tDon't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing," Artie Shaw, TommyDorsey, Coun t Basic , Chic k Webb, Jimmie Lunceford , and Glen nMillercompleted the process.

Swing revive d th e musi c business . Th e recording industr y re -flected the trend : Te n million recordings wer e sold i n 1933 , at th every depth o f the Depression , thirty-three millio n in 1938 , and 12 7million in 1941. The juke box business was up. Radio's revenues rosebecause o f the ne w positive thrust o f popular music . Veteran musichistorian Rus s Sanjek, writing about th e 1930s , noted:

In one week in 1938, as sampled by the Federal Communications Com-mission, 51.6 % of al l programming , both sponsore d an d sustainin g(without advertising), included popular and light music, and the vari-ety programs tha t depended on both. Of 6,000 hours of live programs,the networks and their affiliates devote d 2,291 hours to popular musi cand variety , and onl y 325 hours t o th e ful l rang e of news programs,sports, flashes, news, crop, and weather reports.1

Because swin g was excitin g and a grea t mone y maker, clubs ,theaters, ballrooms , an d hotel s increasingl y opened thei r door s t olarge an d smal l group s o f jazz musicians . Th e bes t musician s go twork in major cities. But whether the venue was a large city or small,or a town , village, or hamlet , th e jazz virus spread an d eventuallyreached epidemi c proportions .

Its principa l vehicl e was th e bi g band. A powerful, convincing,often sleek , multifunctional apparatus, th e bi g band serve d peopl ewho woul d physicall y expend themselve s dancin g t o ho t item s o rromancing to slow numbers .

The big band was both socia l an d musical , and i t conveyed analmost tangibl e feelin g o f excitement. If you heard on e a t it s best ,particularly in the dramatic setting of a theater, you never forgot th eexperience.

New York was the place to do just that .In th e Broadwa y area , "withi n eigh t block s wer e th e Capitol ,

Roxy, Loew's (State), Paramount and Strand Theaters. You had yourpick of the big bands," recalls dedicate d fa n Lans Lament.

If you were lucky enough to get in, you lived in the theater for days onend. Nothing today can recapture tha t pause when the film ended, the

INTRODUCTION 5

last chords of the organ [all major Broadway presentation theater s ha dorgans and organ players in those years] had reverberated throug h thetheater, an d the n i t came : [Benny ] Goodman's clarine t liltin g "Let' sDance" o r Charli e Barnet's saxophone shoutin g out "Cherokee. " Yousat bol t upright , nudgin g your schoolmat e an d unconsciousl y begin-ning to pound your feet in rhythm. The stage lights burst aglow and outof th e pi t ros e thi s marvelou s ar k filled with sixteen t o twenty men,their gleamin g golde n instrument s flashin g i n th e spotlight s tha tbathed th e whole scene.

There was hardly time to catch your breaththe band was alreadypulsating wit h life , th e fron t sa x sectio n fillin g th e hal l wit h sweetnotes, the brass setting your ears afire , Buddy Rich or Jo Jones flailingtheir snares , tom-tom s and cymbals , a ro w of trombonists executingprecision drill, Charlie Shavers or Cootie Williams piercing the rafterswith a pure paroxysm of trumpet joy.2

Indeed, joy was wha t i t wa s al l about . The big band coul d beexultant or quietly delightful; i t covered all the bases. The leader andkey sidemen were stars who became as much a part of your life as themusic itself. The big name leaders and players of the time were to the1930s wha t th e Beatles , th e Rollin g Stones , an d Michae l Jackso nwere to later decades of the future .

You had t o be there.

"The universal language of man isn't music. It's rhythm. That's theone thing that people all over the world understand. The drum. Thebeat: boom, boom, boom. The person -who sits behind the drum setgives us the foundation, the heartbeat of jazz."

CHICO HAMILTON

"The drum is the first instrument. And the drummer is the keytheheartbeat of jazz."

JO JONES

"Drums were there at the beginning. They have served us well. Acommon bond, a means of communication, they are the motor inthe jazz machine. Drums and drummers provide the pulse, much ofthe life and excitement, the heartbeat of jazz"

CARL HAVERLIN

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Chick Webb(1H/-IIM)

"He represented true hipness. His playing wasoriginal, different, completel y his own."

BUDDY RICH

Chick Webb, trying out a cymbal a t th e Avedis Zildjia nCompany factory in Massachusetts, circa 1938 . Phot o pro -vided b y The Avedis Zildjian Company .

8 CHICK WEBB (1907-1939)

Chick Web b turne d thing s upsid e dow n i n th e Depression -ridden 1930s . He was th e gu y everyone wen t t o hear an d t owatch. A truly dramatic figure , he deeply influenced musiciansand excite d fans. He surprised bot h an d mad e them feel.

His sweeping talen t mad e th e impossibl e possible . Open -ing th e doo r t o a ne w place i n drumming , h e mad e us e ofpreviously undiscovere d o r disregarded techniques , bringin ginto focus ways and mean s t o make the instrumen t a tellingsource o f strength an d graphic comment .

He redefined ideas concerning rhythm and syncopation. Hebrought rudimentary/militar y drummin g int o a highl y com-patible relationshi p wit h straight-ahead , swingin g jazz. Withthe hel p o f his grea t instincts , h e mad e playin g wit h a bi gbandhis primary vehicle a craft filled with artful subtleties.Calling on his unusual facility , and combining it with a supe rtalent, Webb moved jazz drumming along as no one had beforehim. He created an entirely new view of what drums were allabout i n a jazz context.

Very simply, Webbthis computer wit h a heart an d sou lthe size of Manhattanwas a genius.

"His beat demanded action, (his) drumming was capable of per-suading members of the Women's Christian Temperance Union tolose some of their inhibitions or of making the Guy Lombardo bandswing."

BARRY ULANOV1

"He represented true hipness. His playing was original, different,completely his own."

BUDDY RICH

"I found direction when I first heard Chick. He changed everythingaround for me, not long after I came to New York. Why? He thoughtin an original way and knew exactly what to do, particularly in abig band. He had style/ But there was so much beyond style. Chickhad drive and ingenuity and magnetism that drew drummers by thedozens to where he was working. All of us in that 'learnin groovein the 1930s were enlightened by him."

GENE KRUPA

CHICK WEB B (1907-1939)

"Chick Webb was the boss. The man was touched by God."BEVERLY PEER

"Chick Webb does everything there is to be done to a drum and doesit beautifully and sometimes he plays with such stupifying tech-nique that he leaves you in a punch drunk stupor and ecstaticallybewildered as this sentence has wound up to be."2

DAVE TOUGH

"He came to New York very young. And he was so good they puthim in bands. He was just ahead of everyone."*

TEDDY MCRAE

"I don't speak of Chick Webb, the drummer, I speak of Chick Webb,the epitome."4

JO JONES

"He was a powerhouse, an elemental force.... The big thing Iremember about Chick was the sense of controlled abandon thatpermeated his playing."

ARTIE SHAW

"There were great drummers in those times. But they weren't in thesame league as Chick Webb. Compared to him, they were societydrummers. You know what I mean?"

DOC CHEATHAM

"I looked up to Chick as a great, great person. His reputation pre-ceded him. When I finally heard him play, he scared the life out ofme."

CLIFF LEEMAN

"You never thought anything except that he was a heck of a drum-mer and nobody played nearly as well. And that was all there wasto it."

DICK VANCE

"The records keep Chick's enormous talent a secret. They only sug-gest what he could do. I saw and heard him liv e night after nightand it was never less than exhilarating. He felt such happiness

9

10 CHIC K WEBB (1907-1939)

when he played and transmitted a spark to the players. The manwas inspiring."

VAN ALEXANDER

MEMORIES

Chick Webb passed from the scene when I was in the fourth grade, buthe lives in my memory. I initially became fascinated with Webb becauseI had heard so much about him. Musicians and fans who had seen himin person couldn't forget what he had done; they spoke of Webb fre-quently and with special reverence. Their descriptions of the little drum-mer were colorful, often precise and detailed. My picture of Webb becameincreasingly clear. His records and transcriptions help sharpen the im-age. Though they don't reveal him in his true gloryessentially becauseof technological difficulties in the recordingthey provide enough evi-dence for this listener to draw key conclusions. Webb was "the man" ondrums in the 1930s. No other drummer of the period played with suchflair, facility, and imagination. He brought jazz drumming to a new levelof adventure and maturity. I'm sorry I never had the privilege of expe-riencing him live on his own turf in Harlem.

Chick Webb's love affair wit h drums an d rhyth m began a t ag ethree. It progressively grew in intensity and terminated only with hisdeath. Becaus e th e littl e drumme r responde d s o strongly to musicand brought so much of himself to it, the need to play would alwaysbe there .

It wa s a night-and-da y concer n h e share d wit h severa l o f hiscontemporaries. With them, playing often displace d suc h basic ne-cessities as eating and sleeping .

ROY ELDRiDGE : W e neve r seeme d t o ge t tired . Ther e always wa senough energy for blowing, no matter what time it was. It wasn'tunusual to get a call about a session in the middle of the night.Many a tim e I' d ge t ou t o f bed, get dressed , an d g o out again ."Pres" [Lester Young] and Jo Jones and I got around a lot whenthe Basic band first came to Chicago. It seemed like I never putthe horn away.

EDDIE BAREFiELD: Chic k played all the time until he died. He never hadto lay around and just do the thing on weekends. And that goe sfor all the musicians back in those days. Everyone was always onthe go . When we weren't o n th e job , we were movin g aroundwhatever town it happened t o be, looking for action. Each place

CHICK WEBB (1907-1939) 1 1

had its good players and the sense of challenge always was there.Guys from tha t period , like Chick, Roy, Jo, Pres, Ben [Webster]learned fro m experienceth e best teacher .

Chick Webb's competitiveness and enthusiasm were obvious as ayoungster. "Littl e Chick " played o n pot s an d pans , garbag e cans ,marble stoops, and iro n porch railings in his native Baltimore, longbefore h e earne d enoug h money by selling newspapers (reportedl y$103) to buy a secondhand se t of drums.

Webb's famil y encourage d hi m t o pla y drum s i n th e hop e i twould strengthen him. He had grow n increasingly frai l followin g atragic accident early in life. He had been accidentally dropped on hisback, an d severa l vertebra e wer e smashed . Becaus e o f this , Web bnever grew to full size ; he was rendered a hunchback and suffere d agreat dea l o f pain throughou t hi s life . Drum s gave him a n interes tand a means t o build up his body.

RICHARD GEHMAN : No t muc h i s known about hi s father ; hi s grandfa -ther, a porter in a downtown Baltimore shoe store, was the dom-inant influenc e i n hi s life , fo r his mothe r move d back into he rfather's house when the boy was very small.

The other kids called him Chic k because of his size, and th ename stuck.... At nine he had to go to work to help support thefamily. . .. B y th e tim e h e wa s twelv e he ha d hi s drums ; h ebanged away at the m for hours i n the fron t roo m o f his grand-father's house , and onc e or twice the police came. Presently heworked out a series of drum solos that got him work as a featuredattraction wit h local jazz bands.5

STANLEY DANCE : Tric k drumming came naturally to him, and passers -by rewarded him generously when he performed on the streets.From there h e graduated t o weekend gigs with little bands. Hisfirst regular job was with the Jazzola Band that worke d the ex-cursion boats on Chesapeake Bay. Here he began a lifelong friend -ship with guitarist John Trueheart, who was his senior by threeor four years . In times ahead, they shared prosperity and hard-ship together, and were never separated excep t by illness.6

Webb and Truehar t moved to New York in 1924 . They roome dtogether i n Harlem , th e cente r o f everything fo r th e blac k player .Harlem wa s a mixing bowl, inhabited by the great , the near great ,and those on lower rungs of the ladder. Moving in fast company withother enthusiastic young musicians, including Duke Ellington, Sonny

12 CHIC K WEBB (1907-1939)

Greer, Coleman Hawkins, and Bobby Stark, seventeen-year-old Webblearned th e folkway s of the Ne w York scene.

It wa s a bi t o f a scuffl e gettin g started. New York makes greatdemands o n youn g musicians . Big-time , established player s nee dproof that a new kid deserves to be in their company. The proof camein jam sessions , generall y held afte r hour s i n club s o r apartment suptown. Sometimes ther e were audiences comprised o f other musi-cians and jazz devotees. Often these contests of musical prowess werejust a matter of a couple of players getting together and playing whatthey couldn't o n the job with few witnesses, if any, to document thesession other than th e musicians themselves.

Webb made the session scene and filled in for other drummers onjobs with bands large and small, whenever possible. Musicians cameto trust and admire him. Trumpeter Bobby Stark, who later played inthe Chick Webb Band, recommended Web b for his first steady NewYork gig with Edgar Dowell' s band.

When the band was to audition for a club job, Webb showed up,just i n cas e h e wa s needed . Th e regula r drumme r go t los t i n th esubway, and Stark persuaded Dowell to allow Webb to play. He filledthe gap laudably. In fact, the club owner said he would hire the bandonly if Webb were part of the package .

For a brie f period , Web b was flush , makin g $5 0 a week . Andbecause living was reasonable in Harlem, he sent most of his salar yhome t o Baltimore . Afte r th e ban d brok e up , th e drumme r ha d asomewhat easier time making it than he had before .

RICHARD GEHMAN: Peopl e never stopped marveling that the small, con-torted ma n coul d mak e s o muc h noisean d nois e tha t mad ebrilliant musica l sensewit h his drums. Other drummers wentto watch hi m whenever he played a one-nighter with a pickupband. The word would spread that Chick would be on the stand,and those who weren't working would assemble.7

Duke Ellington, Webb's most vociferous champion, arranged th edrummer's first engagement a s a leader a t Manhattan' s Black Bot-tom Club in 1926. Heading a group that included saxophonist JohnnyHodges, Stark, Trueheart, and pianist Don Kirkpatrick, Webb workedthere for five months before moving on to the Paddock Club under theEarl Carrol l Theate r o n 50t h Street . Teno r saxophonis t Elme rWilliams an d a trombonis t know n a s "Slats " were adde d fo r thestand a t th e Paddock, which burned dow n not long after the Webbband opened. Though the drummer had no real desire to be a leaderHodges ha d t o exer t pressur e an d convinc e himh e neve r looke d

CHICK WEBB (1907-1939) 1 3

back. His band grew in sizefrom a quintet to an octet to ten then 1 3piecesand became mor e and more potent throug h th e 1930s .

Webb had littl e room i n his lif e fo r anything but music . "Musiccomes first," he often declared . When he wasn't playing, he thoughtand talked about musi c and how it should be played. He constantlymulled over the drummer's rol e in the band and what could be doneto make the drummer mor e of a contributing factor in the music heloved.

Although he had no interest a t first in being a leader, Webb grewinto the job, gradually accepting the added pressure and responsibil-ity. H e in fact became quite intense about his ambitions for the band.Webb wanted two things that are not usually compatible: musicalityand success, and tha t led to more than the usual share of problems.

HELEN OAKLE Y DANCE . Fo r months on end th e group endured starvationregimens. Relying on occasional gigs to pay the rent, they wouldhole up in one room and refuse to separate. Chick set an example,turning down jobs that called for changing the band. He tried tohire and hold the finest musicians he could get; most of the bestinstrumentalists o f th e da y worke d wit h hi m a t on e tim e o ranother.8

Webb was totally loyal to friends and those musically associatedwith him. He helped trumpeter Cooti e Williams, who worked for himbriefly an d live d with him fo r a period. The drummer wa s close t oJohnny Hodges . Webb also ha d a ke y relationship wit h trumpete rMario Bauza: He brought Bauza into the band, and every night afterwork, he showed th e young Cuban musician how to play his music.Few leaders would have done that for a sideman.

Though he had a strong sense of self, Webb was highly receptiveto the need s o f others. Musicians in and ou t o f the band wer e givencredit and respect for their accomplishments. Drummers he admired,such as Ray Bauduc, Krupa, and Dav e Tough, were treated warmlyand with deference. Webb didn't bad-mouth people. He was optimis-tic and had a n engaging flair for the humorous .

HELEN OAKLE Y DANCE : Wheneve r I think of Chick I always smile. Pic-ture a bunch of musicians hanging around on the sidewalk nearthe Rhythm Club, uptown. Everyone seems to be engrossed an dlistening intently. Nine times out of ten, in the '30s , Chick was inthe middl e o f it. Unti l you got up close , you didn' t kno w whatwas going on. But when you arrived in the center of things, therehe was hanging onto someone's lapels or poking his long finger atone or another of the guys and telling the tallest storiesboasting

14 CHIC K WEBB (1907-1939)

and everything. But he spoke with such humor that no one tookoffense. Hi s dedication wa s so obvious and sincer e tha t i t onlyendeared hi m to everyone.

His most typica l comment: "Ain' t nobody gonna cut m e ormy band!"

Business apparently wasn't the drummer's strong point. But fewblack artist s wer e allowe d t o handle busines s matter s durin g tha ttime. In a segregated America , the black musician, performer/or ac-tor had to have a powerful, knowledgeable white person to handle hisaffairs.

It was up and down for Webbwith and without the guidance ofbookers an d agents . More than once , Webb took a wrong turn. Forexample, afte r successfull y playin g fo r dancer s i n Ne w Yor k ball -rooms, h e trie d vaudeville , terminating a long-ter m successfu l en-gagement at Rose Danceland at 125t h Street and Seventh Avenue inorder to take the tour. It was a disaster. The band was out of work fora while, and the owners of Rose Danceland were bitter over the lossthey took when the Webb band suddenly lef t th e ballroom .

But Web b slowly put th e piece s back together a s the 1920 s be-came th e 1930s . The band playe d th e Cotto n Club uptown and th eStrand Roof, Roseland, and later the Casino De Paris downtown. Thedrummer and his men toured with the show "Hot Chocolates;" theyperformed i n theaters an d made records with Louis Armstrong. Andthey began making records on their own: "Dog Bottom" (Brunswick,1929), "Jungle Mama " (Brunswick, 1929), "Heebie Jeebies" (Vocal-ion 1931) , and "Sof t and Sweet " (Vocalion, 1931).

Harlem's Savo y Ballroom becam e th e cente r o f Webb's activi-ties, particularly afte r h e signed a managemen t contrac t wit h MoeGale, booker, personal manager , and stockholde r i n the Savoy . Butthe clim b to prominence was slow and difficult . Th e band's recip ewas no t commercia l enough to allow for the Webb organization toestablish a strong link with a large audience.

The musica l element s wer e al l there . Web b and hi s chargin gensemble impresse d wit h boilin g performances a t th e Savo y an dother spots . I n band battle s wit h King Oliver, Fletcher Henderson ,and Fess Williams, among others, the Webb crew won hands down.Moving throug h imaginativ e "head " arrangementsthes e wer eworked out by members of a band, memorized, and seldom writtendownwith enviabl e elan an d pulsation , Web b and hi s famil y o fplayers became the talk of Harlem.

Harlem was hot back then, and the Savo y provided a lot of theheat. Musicians, jazz fans, dancers , an d th e curious gathere d there .

CHICK WEBB (1907-1939) 1 5

The music shouted an d whispered, pulsated an d throbbed . Its mes-sage was easy to grasp; i t spoke boldly of good times.

At th e hear t o f all thi s was Chick Webb. So much a part of theSavoy ambiance, the drummer, his musicians and late r singe r EllaFitzgerald helped make the place a magnet.

Otis Ferguson, the stylish and perceptive writer who died duringWorld War II, gives us a pretty good description of the Savoy: It was

a respectabl e plac e . . . no barrelhouse, no basement cree p joint . .. .Inside, up the wide flight o f stairs, the hall must be seventy-five yardslong by twenty-five wide; the ceiling and lights low. . . . When the bandgets pretty wel l into it , the whole enclosure, wit h all its people, beatslike a drum an d rises i n steady time , like a ground swell . . . .

The dance floor is a hopeless mas s of flying ankles, swirls, stomps ,really beautiful dancing. . .. Everybody immensely busy, sweating, ful lof spirits .

It i s a strang e sor t o f atmosphere. Yo u cannot se e everything a tonce bu t yo u can fee l everythin g at once , a sort of unifying outflo w ofenergy, you can almost se e it burn. Its foca l poin t i s around the stan dof rough and well-splintered wood,. . . and the drum spiked to the floorand th e string bass fixed in a socket an d th e big pianos wit h the key-boards worn lik e flights of old wooden stairs. . . .9

Allen Paley , an exceptionall y promising young drummer i n th elate 1930s , who gave up playing in 194 0 because o f illness, has par -ticularly vivid memories of Webb. A New Yorker, he made the sceneat Harlem's Savoy Ballroom several times a week whenever the littledrummer was the attraction. The band blasted, making the stand (60feet, fro m en d t o end , with room fo r fou r bands ) vibrate. Webb, awhirlwind, totally captivated him.

ALLEN PALEY . Chic k was a god. What he did wa s totally unbelievable.His huge fourteen-inch by twenty-eight-inch bass drum obscuredhim. Th e guy was so small and, in some ways, fragile looking. Hecouldn't have been more than four fee t tall . I wondered: How ishe going to reach his cymbals, tom-toms, and the bass drum? Butit was no problem for him. He had strong wrists, long arms, hugehands, long fingers an d legs . Only his torso was short an d rela-tively undeveloped. Sitting up high, he'd lean over the set and hitor softly touch the various drums, cymbals, and other accessoriesalmost without moving. Sometimes he'd stand up and play.

Chick ha d grea t energ y an d power , eve n thoug h h e wa schronically ill . He would si t bac k and hoc k thos e drum s an dcome up with exciting and unusual sounds and rhythms. Everynight I would be amazed at wha t I saw and heard .

16 CHICK WEBB (1907-1939)

I go t t o kno w him . H e was quiet , shy , excep t behin d th edrums. Much of the time between sets, he would stay by himself.

His illness an d deformityChic k wa s a hunchbackdidn' taffect hi s playing . Al l he knew is that when he heard music h eplayed. He couldn't read a thing. Untrained, he learned by play-ing, listening, and allowing his great talen t t o grow.

The man was one of a kind. There won't be another like himagain. I've heard an awful lo t of drummers. But he was the bestnatural player I ever came across. Fast, clean, flawless, he playedlike a machin e gu n .. . but wit h enormou s feelin g an d under -standing of what the band was trying to do. It was almost bar -baric the way he drove that band. He'd hold the sticks7As, verythinby the butt and use them just like whips.

Music was a part of him. He was original; he had ability andtechnique, a n ea r an d taste . H e had i t all . Ever y drummer i ntown came t o the Savoy , at on e time or another, t o pick up onhim. None of us really knew what the hell he was doing becauseit was just too fast th e way he cut it .

When he played a break, i t was here and gone. You couldn'tget hold of it. But the way he tied in the bandoh, you had to bethere! Th e breaks coul d becom e quit e complicated . Ye t every-thing fiteach piece. His comments worked as drum patterns andas music. And they seemed almos t custo m made . Chick createdwith the sense of perfection you associate wit h a master cabine tmaker. You know, I never heard hi m play a bad break or solo .

What he did was the beginning of the bebop thing. Instead ofputting togethe r a bunch of beats o n the tom-toms , as many ofthe jazz drummers were doing in those years, he functioned in amore musica l way , using drums t o create rhyth m an d melody.Chick was the forerunner of what we began hearing on a broadscale five and ten years later.

He used to play off the cowbell a lot. He'd break things up,developing ideas off the cowbell, the cymbals, the tom-toms. Theway he cut the thing up, using the snare as his basic instrument ,it woul d ge t s o disjointed man y o f us would shak e our heads ,knowing we could never fully unravel what he played. But for alltheir "mystery," hi s performances had logic to them.

When I think of himand I often doth e word "explosive "comes to mind. He released energy in an almost violent way. Hiswork i n suppor t o f the ban d wa s so strong and aggressive ; hi ssolosthey were fantastically syncopated explosions .

The best o f the drummer s wh o came to the Savo y to sit i ncouldn't compar e wit h Chick . Big Sid Catlett? Nothing next tothe littl e man . Krupa ? H e was a salesman ; h e played a lo t of

CHICK WEBB (1907-1939) 1 7

beats. If Krupa lived four lifetimes, he couldn't play drum breaksthe way Chick did.

So many years later , m y memories of Chick and th e Savoyremain quit e clear. The thunder o f Chick's drums an d th e shuf -fling and wild stepping o f the dancersthe pictures and sound sfrom those night s uptownare with me. Chick was a phenome-nal drummer who played with his band in a historical spot , to agreat audience , during a memorable time for jazz.

ARTIE SHAW : I n 1929 , not long after I arrived in New York, I found myway to Harlem. I was just a kidnineteen years old. Of courseHarlem i n thos e day s wasn' t wha t i t i s now. It wa s sor t o f aplayground for white folks. Because I was a reader even then andexcited by writers wh o spoke of Harlem in their books and arti -cles, it seemed the place t o go and get to know.

It was great for players interested i n jazz, particularly whitemusicians. Whit e guy s i n Ne w York had fe w jazz outlets . W ewere limited to dance and show bands like those headed by Vin-cent Lopez and Paul Specht. If you wanted t o stretch your mus-cles, musically , you r onl y optio n wa s Harle m an d it s clubs ,ballrooms, and after-hour spots .

One nightoh, i t mus t hav e been 'roun d midnight I waswalking u p Lenox , nea r 140t h Street , o n m y way t o Po d andJerry's t o play with Willie "The Lion" Smith, the great pianist. Iheard this band reall y blowing ! What a surprise! There were nobands aroun d tow n like that. The only band tha t cam e close inthat period was the one led by Fletcher Henderson .

I just had to go into the place where all this great music wasbeing made. I bought a ticket and went up the stairs. As I movedinto the Savoy Ballroom, the music hit me head on. It didn't takeme long to find out it was Chick Webb's band. I selected a spo tnear the drums. And things got even better. God, the sound Chickgot out o f those drums. Wha t he did almost blew me away. Heperformed with such power and originality . You know, Chick socompletely capture d my attention, musically , I didn't realize hewas so small and a hunchback until he stood up after the first set!

Unlike most people, Chick realized tha t drums are a musicalinstrument. He knew that unless drums are treated i n a musicalway, they'r e terrible , a burden t o the other players .

Like my grea t frien d Dave y Tough, Chick tuned hi s drum sbeautifully. And he had great taste and ears. He must have heardreally wel l because wha t h e playe d wa s extremel y apropos t owhat was going on. He seemed t o sense so much.

Besides that, Chick was very forceful, propulsive. He literally

18 CHICK WEBB (1907-1939)

lifted tha t band . When it cut loose, he was behind every phrase,like a chariotee r drivin g horses. Offstag e yo u would never sus-pect h e coul d becom e s o highly charged. Chic k was a quietl yfriendly, affable , thoroughl y unpretentious person .

I realize he had no training. But that can be very good. Notbeing tied down to formal techniques can fre e you . If you lear nby playing on the job, there i s no necessity of divesting yourselfof various preconceptions tha t come with study. It's the same injazz with any instrument.

What I'm trying to say is that not studying can be a positivething in some cases. I t depends on how much drive and need aperson has. If we're talking about someone with the kind of mo-tivation that Chick obviously had, there is no necessity for study.It can be an impediment for people who really wan t to play.

Looking back, I don't feel anybody during that period couldhold a candle to Chick. Every drummer who heard him had to goaway saying, "Hey, wait a minute. All I've heard u p to now is abunch o f nonsense!" N o question abou t it . Chic k was unique ,alone in his day. The guy was a force of nature. He came at youHis bass dru m shot s a t th e Savoy I can fee l the m vibrating inmy upper chest and abdomen right now.

It was a tremendous experience for me, digging Chick whenI wa s s o young. Later w e became goo d friend s an d playe d to -gether. Ther e wa s a jam sessio n that' s affixe d i n m y memory .Chick, Duke and I got it going.

Not only was Chick a great playe r and a gentle, giving per-son, he was ambitious for himself, his band and black people ingeneral. I remember when my band was taking form in Boston in1938, he was playing in that city at a dine-and-dance place calledLevaggi's. No w and the n h e woul d com e b y and liste n t o th eband. Durin g one o f the rehearsals , h e sa t ver y quietly in th edimly-lit cellar, chewing gum, obviously deep in thought. Whenwe got finished, he came over to me and said :

"You kno w some thin', man? Some day I'm gonna be walkin'up the street one way and you gonna be comin' down the otherway, an d w e gonna pass eac h othe r an d I' m gonn a say, 'Hello,best whit e band i n th e worl ' ' and yo u gonna say, 'Hello, bes tcolored ban d in the worl' 'you know that?"

And he gravely shook hands with me on that statement , al-most as if we were entering into a solemn pactand in a way, Isuppose we actually were.10

ANDY KIRK. - My ban d worke d opposit e Chic k at the Savo y severa ltimes. That was the only place to get to the heart of what he did.

CHICK WEBB (1907-1939) 1 9

I'd ofte n stan d ou t o n th e floo r afte r m y se t an d watc h him .During an evening, he'd ge t some wonderfu l things goin g wit hthe dancers. He could translate int o percussive terms what theywere doin g ou t there . H e caught everythin g th e dancer s did ,tricks and all . It was like a show in itself.

And he' d swin g tha t band ! Everythin g wa s definite , everyaccent. Th e whole ban d wa s him , really . Bein g a sickl y littl efellow, I don' t kno w wher e h e go t th e energy . Bu t h e playe dboldly. All his strength wa s in his music.

DOC CHEATHAM: Chick' s band had th e right style that suited the danc-ers at the Savoy. His tempos were right for themnot too fast ortoo slow. Remember, those lindy hoppers had a lot to do with thebands tha t succeede d a t tha t place . Wh o was booked and whostayed on depended o n them.

JERVIS ANDERSON : Webb' s group played what came to be called "th eSavoy tempo." In its relationship t o what the dancers did on thefloor, it bore a resemblance to the bands of the Southwest. DukeEllington late r remarke d tha t Webb' s "command o f his audi -ences" sprang from his "communication with the dancers"andwhat their fee t were doing.11

BUDDY RICH : Unti l the mid-1930s , I had neve r been any place wherejazz wa s played . I was i n anothe r world , a world calle d sho wbusiness tha t reall y ha d nothin g t o d o with music . I live d inBrooklyn with my famil y whe n I was becoming involved withjazz. One Wednesday night in '35, a bunch of my friends took meto the Apollo Theater on 125th Street i n Harlem for the amateurnight thing. That was the first time I dug Chick Webb.

He was the total experience on drums. He played everythingwell. A little later , abou t the tim e I joined Joe Marsala at theHickory House in 1937,1 went up to the Savoy to check him outagain. What I remember most distinctly was that he was differ -ent an d individualno t lik e Coz y Col e or Jimrn y Crawfor d o rany of the other cats. Even his set was different. He had cymbalson thos e goosenec k holders , th e trap table , a specia l sea t an dpedals made specifically fo r him because he was so small.

Chick was hell on the up-tempos. He kept the time firm andexciting, tapping ou t a n eve n 4/4 on the bas s drum . Tha t wa ssomething in the 1930s . Most of the guys downtown could hardlymake two beats t o the bar ; the y were into the Chicago styleDixieland.

Chick se t a n example . He wa s hip , sharp , swinging . Youknow, only about a half-dozen o f the top drummers since then,

20 CHIC K WEBB (1907-1939)

including today's so-called "great" drummers, have anything re-sembling what he had. If he were alive now, I think most drum-mers woul d b e runnin g aroun d tryin g t o figur e ou t wh y the ydecided t o play drums. That' s how good he was!

As a soloist, Chick had no equal at that time. He would playfour- an d eight-bar break s tha t mad e grea t sense . And he couldstretch out , too, and say things that remained with you. It's dif-ficult to describe hi s style and exactly what he did. One thing iscertain, though; he was a marvelous, big-band, swing drummer.Gene [Krupa] got to the heart o f the matter whe n he said, afte rthe Goodman-Webb band battle a t th e Savoy in '37, "I've neverbeen cut by a better man. "

But Chick wasn't perfect . Though fast and terribly talented ,he didn' t hav e a stable, well-rounded technique . He was like apitcher who can throw a ball 10 0 miles an hour but doesn't havethe disciplin e t o win al l th e time . Chick' s dexterity and spee ddidn't wor k fo r hi m a s wel l a s the y migh t have . They didn' talways take him where he wanted to go.

A drummer as natural an d gifte d a s Chick should have beenable to exercise a bit more contro l ove r what he played.

Webb began to diversify hi s music in the mid and late 1930s . Hebought arrangements fro m a variety of key writers and traded chart swith other bands . It was a struggle; he had to take money out of hismeager salary . First he used th e arrangements of Benny Carter an dDon Redman ; late r h e hire d Charli e Dixon , Va n Alexander , Dic kVance, Kennet h Anderson , and othe r arranger s t o giv e hi s band asense of distinction.

Composer-arranger Edga r Sampso n wa s crucial t o creating animage fo r the band. Hi s riffy concoctions , well-suited t o the band' srhythmic focus, blended the written with the improvised in a natural,often provocativ e manner . Hi s melodiou s originals , notabl y"Stompin' at th e Savoy " an d "Don' t B e That Way," brought Web bspecial recognition, but only became Swing Era anthems after BennyGoodman recorded them (in 193 6 and 1938 , respectively) .

Although Webb arrangers enhance d the band's musica l impact,they generally faile d t o generate mas s interes t i n the organization .But th e drummer , wh o was a har d worke r an d a grea t showman ,reached ou t to people while playing compositions and arrangementsthat he found satisfyin g and that featured him to advantage .

MARIO SAUZA : Chic k wa s th e musician' s ban d leaderno t exactl y aleader who was that concerned about the public. He cared moreabout how he thought the music should be played. I don't think

CHICK WEBB (1907-1939) 2 1

there has been anyone who had a better idea how to put togetheran orchestra and how to play arrangements tha n Chick. He hada conception o f his own about rhyth m and interpretin g charts .

He kept saying, "I want the best band . I've got to go to thetop!" And he did everything he could to make it. Sometimes hedidn't have room rent because he had to pay arrangersthe topguysto write for him. He was hurt, too, because every time hedeveloped a player, the other leaders would take him away. Theywere able to pay more money.12

BILLY TAYLOR : Chic k and Si d Catlett and J o Jones had somethin g im-portant in common. They all were great showmen . These guyscame up when the drummer and everybody, for that matter, hadto hold his own spot. If you had a spot in a show in a theater orclub and you didn't get as much applause as the juggler, singer,or shake dancer, then you lost that feature. Somebody else got it.It was a fight for survival.

That's why drummers threw sticks and did all kinds of showbiz things, while they tried to play in a marvelous musical man-ner. What you have to understand i s that musicians had certainproblems durin g th e '20 s and '30s . They wanted to really play.But they had to do it in a way that attracted attention . Chick wasin the forefron t becaus e he knew exactly how to deal with tha tsituation.

Webb in action mad e quite a picture . When swinging hard, hebrought th e entire dru m se t into play as he proceeded, movin g hissticks or brushes across, around, up, and down the hills and valleys ofthe set . He choked cymbals , teased soun d ou t o f them, or hi t the mfull; h e played time and variation s on the pulse on his snare , high-hat, cymbals, tom-toms, cowbell, temple blocks (often behind pianosolos), and, of course, on the bass drum. He had facilit y to burn; fas tstrokes, with diversified accents , most often wer e played to forwardthe cause of the beat .

His set was interesting and unusua l in some ways. Built specif -ically fo r him b y Gretsch-Gladstone , i t wa s a console-typ e ki t tha tmoved on wheels, which made it easy to handle. A trap table, includ-ing temple blocks, was set right in the center, across a large twenty-eight-inch bas s drum . Surroundin g th e tabl e wer e hi s snar e wit hwooden rims, made by Billy Gladstone, the great concert drummer,a nine-by-thirteen-inch tom-tom on the bass drum, and another tom-tomsixteen-by-sixteen-inchon the floor. His Zildjian cymbals alarge one on the right, a smaller one on the leftwere hung on hoophangers from gooseneck stands attached to the bass drum. On the far

22 CHIC K WEBB (1907-1939)

right, h e had a large Chines e cymbal on a stand o n the floor or at-tached to the bass drum, depending on what set he used. His high-hatcymbals weren' t to o largetwelve inches a t most . Most drummersdidn't us e big high-hats back then.

SAM WOODING: Chic k was the last of a line of drummers who developedafter World War I. People wanted excitement. Drummers had tothrill people with something. So they got all kinds of new thingsto beat on and came up with new ideas. The more sensational theywere, the better. Chick was in a good position. He had the freedomto do what he wanted on drums because it was his band!

Webb provided flashes of color and created a well-defined rhyth-mic concept. Hi s breaks an d solo s flowed; they exploded like smallarms fire and cannons . What they lacked i n diversity and subtlety,they made up fo r with thunderous, force-of-nature creativity.

At the heart of every Webb performance was his work on the bassdrum. It tied everything together, giving the band a strong time feel -ing, a sense of character, an d solidity . Webb brought into play sup-portive bass drum accents to uplift th e band; it s individual sectionsand soloist s a t crucia l spots in each score. He also filled holes in hisarrangements wit h ideas that paire d bas s drum patterns with whathe played with his hands. Generally, Webb made more advantageoususe of the bas s drum , and all his drums an d cymbals , than his con-temporaries. H e pushed drums ahead to new functions .

Webb established outline s fo r more highl y coordinated perfor-mances, combinin g bass dru m idea s wit h what wa s played by th eright an d lef t hands . Ninetee n fortie s modernists , suc h a s Kenn yClarkea prim e moveran d Ma x Roach , furthe r develope d wha tWebb and a few others suggested in their work. They changed think-ing regarding drums . I n the process, the drummer becam e a mor ewide-ranging player . An d i t al l stemmed , a t leas t partially , fro mChick Webb' s increasingly flexible approach t o the bas s dru m an ddrums a s a whole.

ROY ELDRiDGE : Chic k an d mos t o f th e reall y good drummers i n th e1930s used to tune their bass drum to a G on the bass fiddle. Theycontrolled the bass drum and what they played blended with thebass. The guitarist playe d "four, " too . Right ? Everything wasgoing in the same direction. It was a good, swinging feeling. Hey,did yo u kno w tha t Chic k was th e firs t gu y I eve r hear d wh odropped bombs, the way the boppers did later on?

Webb played assertively, loudly, filling ballrooms, clubs, and the-aters with his sound. Secur e in the realization tha t big band swin g

CHICK WEBB (1907-1939) 2 3

was a drummer's music, he performed with great drive . While mostother stick-wielder s lacked th e confidence and capacity t o inspire aband, Webb knew what had t o be done.

But being a great black musician wit h a fine band did not add upto a whole lot. Unti l he discovered Ell a Fitzgerald durin g an ApolloTheater amateur-nigh t contes t i n 1934 , Chick Web b was merel y amoderately successfu l attraction . No t too many people outsid e th einner circl e o f the musi c business kne w who h e was . Onl y afte r hetook the orphan singer into his home, became her legal guardian, andmade her a key part of his presentations i n person and on record, didhis situation begin to change.

However, some people close to Webb felt a singer was inappro -priate fo r Webb's band , particularl y a t a tim e whe n instrumenta ljazz was beginning to enjoy suc h succes s wit h the adven t of BennyGoodman and his band.

HELEN OAKLE Y DANCE : Chic k had bee n totally immersed i n th e band.And the guys stood behind him 100% . But after he got Ella, it wasdifferent, because his point-of-view had changed. He began to seethere could be a commercial futur e fo r the band .

No doubt he adored the way she sang. Pre-Ella, there was noone on that level . Chick knew exactly what he had. But I regret-ted the change because i t meant tha t the band and Chick had totake a back seat. I hated fo r that t o happen.

Others also had reservations abou t wha t Webb was doing.

JOHN HAMMOND . I n 1931 , Chic k had a ban d wit h Jimm y Harrison ,Benny Carter , Benn y Morton , John Trueheart , an d othe r rea ltop-notchers. It was one of the great bands of its day. And I thinkChick would admit tha t i t would have given his presen t [1937 ]bunch more than a run for its money. All I hope is that Chick doessome soul-searching and gives to himself and to his public a bandthat wil l conform to his own standards and one that make s nocompromises fo r expediency's sake.13

There were, however, plusses for Webb in featuring Ella. Her hitswith Webb, particularly " A Tisket, A Tasket," which was on the Hi tParade for eighteen weeks in 1938, opened many a door. The band gotmore radio exposure and received bookings it couldn't have had with-out Ella' s nationwide success.

Webb now worked in New York at the Park Central downtown (areal break-throug h fo r a blac k band) , th e Loew' s Stat e an d Para -mount theater s downtown, Levaggi's in Boston, which never befor e

24 CHICK WEBB (1907-1939)

had booked a black band, and other venues previously closed to him.The hiring of Ella Fitzgerald was quite justified. Without her, it

is unlikely the Webb band would have become so widely known andsuccessful. Ell a was the link that Webb had needed to make contactwith the mass audience. Had he lived longer, Webb could have had itboth ways. Because his singer was so well-liked and had establishe dcommon groun d wit h audience s aroun d th e country , Webb wouldhave had the freedom to experiment with the band, having a crowd-pleasing singe r a s insurance . With Ella, he had tha t kin d of accep-tance.

Webb never really gave up the dream of having a truly top band.Down Beat, in its February 193 8 issue, noted:

Chick is now definitely reaping the fruits of success. His popularity ha sbecome so great on Broadway, tha t he was brought bac k recentl y t orepeat his engagement a t Loew' s State Theatre withi n three week s ofthe tim e o f the origina l booking . He is drawing record crowds o n th eroad and breaking records in theaters. It is common knowledge that inviewing hi s success , Duk e Ellington an d Ca b Galloway ar e force d t otake notice. Chick is planning o n spending al l his tim e and effort s o nthe band until he can fee l i t i s one of the finest dance organization s i nthe country . He returned t o the Savo y Ballroom th e early par t of De-cember, and i s relinquishing lucrativ e booking s on the road simply inorder tha t h e may have th e opportunity t o improve th e band t o th egreatest possible extent.14

DAVE DEXTER : I caught u p wit h Chick an d Ell a an d th e ban d whenthey were just starting t o make itin the summer of 1937. Theycame out to play at Fairyland Par k in Kansas City.

I wa s workin g wit h th e ol d Kansas City Journal an d ha dreviewed severa l o f Chick's Decca records, som e featuring Ella ,like "A Little Bit Later On." He had a good, clean band that drewcrowds. Ell a was well on her way to becoming an "attraction."She helped fill the places where the band played.

Funny thing , though: the Webb band neve r sounded reall yblack. Here was one of the greatest drummer s of all time, a blackartist leadin g a blac k ban d featurin g a blac k singer . And themusic lacked the black characteristics foun d i n the bands of El-lington, Basic, Lunceford, Ear l Hines . It was the charts, mostly.And the kind of playing Chick demandedthe precision, the in -tune ensembles and section work.

As a player , Chic k was a bitch. No question abou t it . I re-member hi m mostl y fo r his cymbal work . The way he whackedthose cymbals. No one could play them better. He knew how touse them for a variety of effects and for sheer swing. The man ha dundeniable power .

CHICK WEBB (1907-1939) 2 5

His power at the drum s stemmed fro m a variety of things. Notthe least of these was the kind of man he was.

He deal t courageousl y with chronic illnes s an d pai n resultin gfrom tuberculosi s o f th e spin e an d othe r ailments , developin g a nattitude tha t allowe d hi m t o mov e easily fro m da y t o day . Webbaccepted his problems, but never the limitations that went with them.

His motivation t o perform at th e to p leve l and hi s need t o besomebodyboth wer e a direc t respons e t o an innate sense of ambi-tion. But down deep, hi s approach to lif e stemme d fro m th e thing sthat dogged him: illness, pain, and blackness . He had t o overcome!

While he could control his adjustment to illness and pain, he hadno contro l ove r bein g black , an d society' s attitude s t o blackness .Black artists in the 1920 s and 1930 s had n o options; they had t o goalong with policy. Black musicians and entertainers didn' t take anykind of major stand or overtly revolt about anything. If the "nigger "decided to make his feelings known, destruction of a career followed.The white man was in the driver's seat.

Webb made the best of a bad situation. He did whatever he couldto progress, but betwee n his illness and the trials of the music busi-ness, the burden was heavy. You wouldn't have known it if you werein his company, though.

VAN ALEXANDER: Chic k was a kind, sweet man wh o went out of his wa yto b e good t o people . Hi s musicians love d him an d wer e veryprotective of him.

RICHARD GEHMAN : Everyon e remembers his all but saintl y disposition;he never spoke sharply and always appeared cheerful, even whenthe pain was blazing away inside him.15

HELEN OAKLE Y DANCE : Self-pit y was completel y foreign t o him, and h ewas endowed with a zest for life an d a sharp wi t tha t compen-sated fo r much that natur e had neglected to provide.16

STANLEY DANCE: Everyon e loved Chick. I remember when I first visitedNew York in 1937 , he took Helen and m e out one night after h egot through at the Savoy. We went to the Brittwood, a club whereguys went to jam. It wa s a smal l place . I think Lips Page wasplaying there. I do remember there were three trombonists blow-ing that night : Dick y Wells, Sandy Williams, and Fernand o Ar-bello. Suddenly an argument arose involving these three guys. Idon't know what i t was about, bu t Arbell o drew a knife . Chickthrust himself in the midst of the thing and stopped the quarrel .He was a go-between, a man of respect, particularly in Harlem.If that wasn' t convincin g enough, a small incident , following a

26 CHIC K WEBB (1907-1939)

stop at Smalls' Paradise for drinks and more talk, made the point.On the way home in Chick's chauffeur-driven car , we stopped fora ligh t a t a main Harlem intersection . The policeman immedi-ately recognize d Chic k an d cam e ove r fo r a chat . The cop wasvery warm . Chic k enjoye d enormous popularity . You know, hewas sor t of Mayor of Harlem.

MILT MINION: Chic k was a nice little cat, so absorbed in the music, sohappy to have a band. He constantly talked about the things theband played and how it went about playing them. I remember hestopped m e so many times a t 40t h Stree t an d Broadway . He'dgenerally say, "Hey Milt, we just got a new arrangement!" As wewalked up the street , he' d sing the whole chart t o me. He'd ex-plain: "The trumpets and trombones do this: the saxes play that.Taft (Jordan ) an d Sand y (Williams ) have solos . Th e rhyth msounds lik e this. And then I come in." He' d the n go into detai labout wha t he played and hav e a bunch of compliments for theguys. That's what Chick Webb was like. Real friendly and enthu-siastic. An d how he loved that band !

CLIFF LEHMAN: I knew Chick quite well for a four-to-five-month perio din 1938 . Th e Arti e Sha w ban d wa s base d i n Boston , ou rheadquartersthe Roselan d Stat e Ballroo m i n town . We wereplaying there an d other places i n New England; Cy and CharlieShribman booke d th e dates . Billi e Holiday was with us . Chickand his band were working at Levaggi's , a posh dine-and-dancespot no t too far away.

Ella Fitzgerald, who was tight with Billie, used to come overand liste n t o us perform. And we returned th e compliment andjumped ove r t o di g Chic k an d Ella . Arti e wa s ver y impresse dwith Chic k and wha t h e did . He really like d th e way he estab-lished th e rhythmic fee l o f a tune, playing time on this big ridecymbal righ t a t th e start , befor e th e ban d cam e in . Arti e sug-gested i t would be a good idea fo r me. And we got it on record .Remember "Back Bay Shuffle?" I played time on a Chinese cym-bal fo r four bars , a t th e beginning, before th e band stormed in .

Chick was a lovely, dedicated person. Drums were his wholelife. After Ella and Artie asked him to spend some time with me,he did. The guy never stinted; he gave me his full attention. Ofte nhe go t s o involved explaining and makin g suggestions tha t h ehad t o be pulled back to his own job.

I was a kid, twenty-one or twenty-two. Chick seemed so mucholder and wiser than most people. I guess I felt that way becauseI admire d hi m so . Because I didn' t wan t t o be to o much o f abother and barrage him with questions, I tried to figure out a lot

CHICK WEBB (1907-1939) 2 7

on my own. I made a point of watching everything he did on thebandstand an d tried to analyze what he played and why.

Chick wa s ver y specifi c abou t certai n things . "Whe n th ebrass i s bright, you step it right up there; stay on top of the beatand pla y lou d wit h the section," he said. "When the saxes ar ecool and laid back, you come down and play with them." He fel tthe tim e shoul d b e firm, but a t th e sam e time , a bi t flexible."Move with the sections," he suggested.

He emphasized, by example, the importance of dynamics ina bi g band. Moving fro m lou d t o very sof t an d vice-versa , he'dalways be authoritative whil e supporting th e band. N o matterwhat the level of volume, Chick kept things swinging. He estab-lished a lively pulse and a variety of feelings. But he always letthe music guide him. I'll never forget how effective he was whenhe made the change from explosive loudness to triple pianissimo.The extreme change o f color wa s something*.

Tuning drums was another thing he talked about a lot. Chickworked on his drums all the time. Like most of the great player sof the time, he tuned his drums in a highly intelligent manner, soas to get different sonoritie s fro m variou s parts o f the set.

His bass drum work set an example for all other drummers .He played the big drum open. By that I mean he didn't resort t opadding t o muffl e i t an d mak e i t easie r t o control . T o furthe renhance it s full , war m sound , he used tympan i heads o n bothsides of the drum. He allowed the drum to naturally resonate . Hehad grea t contro l o f his righ t foot , whic h was very strong an dflexible. Chick could perfor m miracle s wit h hi s foot , achievin ggreat spee d and variou s levels of sound.

What do I remember most distinctly about Chick? His solos.When he got going, he often wa s just a blur. His hands and foo twent a mile a minute. Jesus Christ, it was amazing what he'd doin a solo.

He played the shucks out of a show as well. I saw him so manytimes at the Apollo. Without being able to read music, he managedto catch everything the comics did and underline all the key spotsin dance routines. His instincts were almost infallible .

Some nights when sleep doesn' t com e easily, I think aboutChick. I can see him on the bandstand, playing for all he's worth.I can hear him talking to me. He had a great impac t on my life .He was so helpful whe n I needed guidance .

jo JONES: Ther e are a lot of things that he told me to do and told meI must do that I have never forgotten.

He said, "Don' t los e your naturalness ; b e yourself.... You

2 8 CHIC K WEBB (1907-1939)

don't hav e to do this because somebody' s doing something likethat. You just go on and you develop what you develop."

When everybody else would be going to after-hours spots, Iwould be with Mr. Webb. He would be talking, but I would belistening. He'd sho w me and the n come . . . and chec k me out.

This man taught me something that I had almost forgotten.He taught me how important the drum was.17

The last five years o f Webb's dramatic lif e wer e the mos t vivi dand important of all. He achieved a number of his goals. As an artist ,he became far more influential . His band was among the most pop-ular in America. His singer shot to the top .

His studio records fo r Decca and liv e recordings during this pe-riod were the most revealing of his career. Though not well recordedby today' s standards , the y do indicate his capabilities and a t leas tpartially clarify what the people who heard him in person talk about.

Webb wa s a n innovato r in reshaping bi g band drummin g and

Chick Webb sits in with the Bob Crosby band durin g a stage show at a NewYork presentation theater in the late 1930s. That's guitarist Nappy Lamare onthe left and Bob Crosby On the right. Phot o provided by The Avedis Zildjian Company .

CHICK WEBB (1907-1939) 29

reordering prioritie s for drummers. His recordings show that he wasresponsible for a variety of techniques and an approach to music thatothers, lik e Buddy Rich, Kenny Clarke, and Ma x Roach ultimatelyrefined and worked out completely. More than that, Webb's creativ-ity altered the general view of the fellow behind the drums and cym-bals in the back of the bandstand. Webb was crucial to making thedrummer more of a factor in music .

DICK VANCE : Drummer s today play so many things that Chick intro-duced. He was the firs t gu y I ever heard us e the "pus h beat. "What I mean is he played connective fills in certain open spacesin a n arrangemen t an d brough t th e ban d i n strongly . He alsopioneered whe n it came to backing important sectional and en-semble passages .

DOC CHEATHAM : Chic k was a marvelou s player of breaks and figure swith the trumpets. I was in his section; I know how great it felt .He adde d impac t t o ensembles , too , b y backin g them i n cor espots in an arrangement. Nobody did that until he came on thescene. Before Chick , drummers wer e essentially time-keepersfrom Ne w Orleans days all the way into the late 1920 s when hebegan to be noticed. He was the first one to get away from the oldconcept and mov e into a more expressive way of playing.

With Webb's recordings, adjectives like "ferocious," "imperious,""hot an d swinging, " "fast," an d "authoritative " kee p cropping up.This was not a shy, retiring player. A thundering, enveloping qualitypermeates his Decca (now MCA) an d live-broadcas t recordings.

The latter reveal a Webb who plays exactly as he feels. Free of thestrictures o f the recording studio, he performs loudly, strongly, withgreat energy and lack of inhibition. The buoyant feel of the band andhis strong bass drum rhythmWebb' s prime source of timemakemany of the numbers on these recorded broadcasts rhythmically fas-cinating.

On "Wild Irish Rose" (First Time Records, 1939), we get an ex-cellent idea o f his sol o style. The time is hammered into your con-sciousness. During solos, his ideas roll out, unimpeded; patterns buildand reinforce one another. Single and double strokes mingle, creatinga barrage of colors.

Only Webb's ability to create shapes and statements with a bit ofbreathing space seem s undeveloped . Using th e entir e drum set , hespews out one comment after anothermany of which overlap. He isalmost encumbere d b y the enormity of his own talent an d al l tha toccurs to him during a solo. Various meters, other than the one he is

30 CHICK WEBB (1907-1939)

working within, suggest themselves. He plays little figures with andagainst th e band. Different bu t consistentl y interesting kinds of ten-sion result.

Why the tendenc y t o clutter? Hi s solos were so full-to-burstingbecause h e literall y coul d no t sto p creating . What drummers lik eGene Krupa , Alle n Paley , Budd y Rich , Johnny Blowers , an d Ji mChapin, among others, heard a t th e Savoy is best described as "oth-erworldly." "Even on records," Chapin says, "you're not sure what heplayed. The accents are so various; there's so much."

But the solos were only a part of it. There was Webb, the show-man, who brought th e audienc e to him b y engaging in a variety ofmaneuvers, including raising his hands and arms while performingto get attention. Sometimes it all could be quite puzzling.

BILLY TAYLOR : A t a plac e i n Washington , D.C., I ha d a Chic k Webb"experience" worth passing on. During a number, all this mar-velous stuff wa s coming from th e drums. But his hands were upin the air, far from the drums, most of the time. Yet I heard solid,musical playing. It didn't see m possible.

BEVERLY PEER: On e night in Lincoln, Nebraska, proves a point. It wa sChick the people out there in the middle of the country wanted tosee and hear . They dug Ella and sh e had a whole lot of fans. ButChick was the one who broke it up. He held audiences spellboundwith hi s dru m solo s an d littl e tricks . I t wa s hel l whe n Chic kstarted t o perform.

At th e Savoy , ther e woul d b e crowd s o f white an d blac kpeople looking up at him. If he was feeling good, man, he'd reallywhip things up. Everybody would stop dancing, even at the farend of the ballroom, and watch this cat go crazy.

Sometimes he'd get int o breaks o r solos and g o so far out,you'd wonder, "How is he going to get out of this?" But no matterhow complicated it got, or how long the solo was, he'd come ful lcircle and brin g th e band i n a t th e righ t time . The cats i n theband were as thrilled by him as the audience.

And Chic k didn' t ho g th e spotlight . He'd let a gu y go if hewas wailing. This made the band a very personal thing; everyonecould live. Woody Herman wa