Drummin' Men

In 'Drummin' Men', Burt Korall presents written portraits of several drummers from the swing era of jazz. Korall writes about Gene Krupa, Dave Tough, Ray McKinley, Jo Jones, Buddy Rich, Chick Webb, and Sid Catlett, and has included shorter tributes to several other drummers at the end of the book.

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In the 1930s, swing music was everywhere - on the radio, in the great hotel ballrooms, at the theatre, and in the clubs. Perhaps at no other time were drummers more central to the sound and spirits of jazz - as Jo Jones once said, 'The drummer is the key - the heartbeat of jazz.' Drummin' Men presents written portraits of several drummers from the swing era of jazz as informed by the drummers themselves, their friends, and contemporaries. It is also Burt Korall's memoir of more than 40 years in the jazz world and a deeeply personal celebration of the men and their music. Meet chick Webb, small, fragile-looking, a hunchback from childhood, whose explosive drumming style would have made him capable, as one wit expressed it, of forcing the Guy Lombardo band to swing...Gene Krupa, the showman, with syncopating, pulsating, swing style - but above all a jazz entertainer...Dave Tough, a natural musician, soulful, subtle - who lit a fire under Woody Herman's Band...and Buddy Rich, a great technician, intense, aggressive, and ever pulsating. Based on hundreds of interviews with many of the world's greatest jazzmen, Drummin' Men will intrigue and fascinate every jazz lover.