Frank Billings

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Frank R. "Josh" Billings (born 1904 in Chicago , Illinois , † March 13, 1957 in New York City ) was an American drummer of Chicago and Dixieland jazz . Instead of playing a drum set, he also played on a suitcase.

Live and act

Billings, whose parents were doctors, was initially a fan of the Austin High School gang , which he then joined as a musician. He was nicknamed Josh after the humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw, who went under the name Josh Billings . With Mezz Mezzrow and Bud Freeman, he explored the Kansas City scene .

In 1929 Billings went to New York with Mezz Mezzrow, where he played with the Mound City Blue Blowers . Instead of a drum kit, he used a suitcase on which he had attached wrapping paper, which he recorded with the jazz broom. As a substitute for Gene Krupa , he was also involved in recordings, so in 1929 on the recording of the Tailspin Blues with the Blue Blowers (to which Jack Teagarden , Eddie Condon and Red McKenzie belonged). Together with McKenzie he wrote the piece Never Had a Reason to Believe in You (1929). He then worked as Ray Noble's assistant ( band boy ) before moving back to Chicago, where he recorded with Red McKenzie in 1931 and then worked as a lithographer . In 1946 Eddie Condon brought him to New York City, where he was part of the house band of his jazz club for many years - on normal drums . Billings also recorded Spaniards with Muggsy .

Lexical entries

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Eddie Condon (Redhotjazz)
  2. ↑ Cf. Bud Freeman / Roger Wolf Crazeology: The Autobiography of a Chicago Jazzman 1989, pp. 21f.
  3. ↑ See Mound City Blues Blowers (Redhotjazz)
personal data
SURNAME Billings, Frank
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Billings, Frank R .; Billings, Josh (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH March 13, 1957
Place of death New York City