Buzzy Drootin

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Benjamin "Buzzy" Drootin (* 22. April 1920 in Kiev , Ukraine ; † 21st May 2000 in Englewood , USA ) was an American jazz - drummer and band leader of Dixieland jazz .

Buzzy Drootin's parents immigrated to the United States when Benjamin was five years old. His father played the clarinet ; two of his brothers were also musicians. As a teenager he began to play professionally; when he was 20 he toured with Jess Stacy's All-Stars, where Lee Wiley sang. After World War II, he worked as the house drummer in Eddie Condon 's Club in New York City from 1947 to 1951 . In the 1950s and 1960s he played in various New York clubs, including Chicago and Boston. As a band leader, he performed in New York's El Morocco Club . During this time he played with musicians such as Bobby Hackett , Jimmy McPartland , Doc Cheatham , Vic Dickenson , Pee Wee Russell and Wingy Manone . He has also been involved in recordings by Tommy Dorsey , Bobby Hackett, Jack Teagarden , Eddie Condon, Ruby Braff , Anita O'Day , George Wein , the Newport All-Stars , Lee Konitz , Sidney Bechet and Dukes of Dixieland . In 1968/69 he toured with Wild Bill Davison's Jazz Giants , then formed the "Buzzy's Jazz Family" with Wild Bill's musicians such as Herb Hall and Benny Morton , as well as with trumpeter Herman Autrey and his nephew Sonny Drootin on the piano.

In 1973 after a European tour he returned to his hometown of Boston, where he and his brother Al (saxophonist and clarinetist) and his nephew Sonny formed the band Drootin Brothers and a. performed at the Newport Jazz Festival . Buzzy played at the very first Newport Festival and many other festivals thereafter. In the 1980s, he also performed at the Los Angeles Classic Jazz Festival. Throughout his career, Drootin has accompanied Wild Bill Davison, Maxine Sullivan , Teddi King , Roy Eldridge , Joe Venuti and Zoot Sims .

At eighty he died of cancer in Englewood, New Jersey .

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personal data
SURNAME Drootin, Buzzy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Drootin, Benjamin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz drummer
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Kiev , Ukraine
DATE OF DEATH May 21, 2000
Place of death Englewood (New Jersey) , USA