Bill Beason

William "Bill" Beason (* 6. March 1908 in Louisville , Kentucky ; † 15. August 1988 in New York City ) was an American jazz - drummer of Swing .

biography

Bill Beason began his career in the Booker T. Washington Center band of his hometown, in 1924 he became a member of the Collegians of Horace Henderson , as the band leader at him Wilberforce University in Ohio discovered. Beason played with Henderson until the end of the decade, then moved to New York City in the early 1930s , where he played in Bingie Madison's band. He also worked on recordings of Jelly Roll Morton (1930) and King Oliver (1931) with. In the mid-1930s he worked in Teddy Hill's band , with whom he toured Europe and stayed until 1938. In Europe he worked on record sessions with Bill Coleman , Dicky Wells and Django Reinhardt in 1937 .

In 1938/39 he played with Don Redman , briefly with Roy Eldridge , before he became the drummer in the backing band of Ella Fitzgerald after the death of Chick Webb . At the end of 1941 he left the band and became a member of Horace Hendersons re-established formation. During the 1940s, Beason was mostly a freelance musician and worked with band leaders such as John Kirby , Eddie Heywood , Ben Webster , James Moody , Sy Oliver , Earl Bostic and Mildred Bailey in 1940.

In the early 1950s, Bill Beason gave up his job as a drummer and lived in the New York area and the Bronx . Between 1930 and 1947 he participated in over 60 record sessions.

Lexical entry

• John Jörgensen, Erik Wiedemann : Jazzlexikon , Munich, Mosaik, 1967.

Web links

• Bill Beason at Allmusic (English)