About two decades ago, as a curious teenaged jazz drummer, like many listeners keen to explore the earlier forms of the music I first alighted on Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven records. I started there partly because I already knew some of Louis’s later work, and because I’d read about these early records’ … Continue reading Instruments #4: The ‘Bock-A-Da-Bock’ or Hand Cymbal, 1927-9
Kaiser Marshall
Heroes #11: Stan King, 1900-1949
"Come on, I want you to meet the world's greatest drummer, Stan King!" - Fud Livingston, as quoted by Timme Rosenkrantz KEY RECORDINGS: With THE CALIFORNIA RAMBLERS (VAGABONDS / LITTLE RAMBLERS / GOOFUS FIVE / UNIVERSITY SIX / VARSITY EIGHT / GOLDEN GATE ORCH. / etc. etc. etc.) 1923-6; 1927-9 With THE DORSEY BROTHERS ORCHESTRA, … Continue reading Heroes #11: Stan King, 1900-1949
Heroes #10: Joseph ‘Kaiser’ Marshall, 1899-1948
“One of the great drummers of the early days of jazz” – Leonard Feather KEY RECORDINGS: With LUCILLE HEGAMIN, 1920-22 With FLETCHER HENDERSON & HIS ORCHESTRA, 1923-29 With McKINNEY’S COTTON PICKERS, 1929 With LOUIS ARMSTRONG, 1929 A select number of individuals in jazz history were awarded honorific ‘noble’ nicknames by their peers; some of these … Continue reading Heroes #10: Joseph ‘Kaiser’ Marshall, 1899-1948
Drums In The Twenties 