Remembering Gene Krupa on his birthday - the first superstar drummer! Gene Krupa may not have been the most advanced drummer of the 1930s but he was in some ways the most significant. Prior to Krupa, drum solos were a real rarity and the drums were thought of as a merely supportive instrument. With his good looks and colorful playing, he became a matinee idol and changed the image of drummers forever. Gene Krupa made history with his first record. For a session in 1927 with the McKenzie-Condon Chicagoans, he became the first musician to use a full drum set on records. He was part of the Chicago jazz scene of the 1920s before moving to New York and worked in the studios during the early years of the Depression. In December 1934 he joined Benny Goodmans new orchestra and for the next three years he was an important part of Goodmans pacesetting big band. Krupa, whose use of the bass drum was never too subtle, starred with the Goodman Trio and Quartet, and his lengthy drum feature Sing, Sing, Sing in 1937 was historic. After he nearly stole the show at Goodmans 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert, Krupa and Goodman had a personality conflict and the former soon departed to form his own orchestra. Krupa made several film appearances during this period, including a very prominent featured spot in the opening half-hour of the Howard Hawks comedy Ball of Fire, performing an extended version of Drum Boogie (with Roy Eldridge also featured), and William Dieterles faux jazz history, Syncopation. Unfortunately, Krupa was arrested on a trumped-up drug charge in 1943, resulting in bad publicity, a short jail sentence, and the breakup of his orchestra. Krupa was one of the first swing big bandleaders to welcome the influence of bebop into his groups arrangements, some of which were written by Gerry Mulligan (most notably Disc Jockey Jump). Among the soloists in the second Krupa Orchestra were Don Fagerquist, Red Rodney, Ventura, altoist Charlie Kennedy, tenorman Buddy Wise, and in 1949 Roy Eldridge. After breaking up his band in 1951, Krupa generally worked with trios or quartets (including such sidemen as Ventura, Napoleon, Eddie Shu, Bobby Scott, Dave McKenna, Eddie Wasserman, Ronnie Ball, Dave Frishberg, and John Bunch), toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic, ran a drum school with Cozy Cole and had occasional reunions with Benny Goodman. https://youtube/watch?v=j9J5Zt2Obko
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 06:32:23 +0000
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