Gene Krupa

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Gene Krupa at a concert, ca.1946

Eugene Bertram "Gene" Krupa (* 15. January 1909 in Chicago , Illinois ; † 16th October 1973 in Yonkers , New York ) was a famous for his energetic playing American jazz - and big band - drummer and bandleader ( Gene Krupa and His Orchestra ). It is thanks to him that long drum solos became popular. He is considered the first big star of the drums.

Life

Gene Krupa was the youngest of the nine children of Bartłomiej Krupa (1863–1916) and his wife Anna, b. Oslowski (1865-1928). The father had immigrated from Poland, the mother was of Polish descent. Both were Catholic and their son Gene was supposed to be a priest .

Krupa started playing drums at the age of eleven. As early as 1921 he was temporarily playing in a band that performed in Wisconsin during the summer months . In high school, he befriended members of the Austin High School gang , Jimmy McPartland , Frank Teschemacher , Bud Freeman, and Jim Lanigan , who later also starred on his first recording. In 1924/25 he attended St. Joseph's Seminary in Rensselaer, Indiana , but returned to Wisconsin early. From 1925 he took drum lessons with Roy Knapp, Al Silverman and Ed Straight. In 1927 he became a member of Thelma Terry and Her Playboys ; In the same year he made his debut with recordings with the Chicago Rhythm Kings and Eddie Condon / Red McKenzie Chicagoans , where he stood in for Dave Tough and was the first jazz drummer to use a bass drum in recordings (which had previously caused recording problems).

After further positions with Joe Kayser , Leo Shukin and in the Benson Orchestra , he moved to New York in 1929 , where he played first in the band of Red Nichols and then popular music on Broadway. During this time Krupa made recordings with Bud Freeman, Red Norvo , Miff Mole , Fats Waller , Adrian Rollini , Bix Beiderbecke and Red Nichols. From 1934 he played in Benny Goodman's band and soon became a national celebrity due to his excellent playing; On the recording of Sing, Sing, Sing from 1937, Gene Krupa played the first longer drum solo recorded on record. As early as 1935 Krupa began to publish records under his own name. With soloists like Nate Kazebier , Israel Crosby , Roy Eldridge and Chu Berry , titles like Blues of Israel , Three Little Words and I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music were created .

After the success at the Carnegie Hall concert and in Goodman's Trio , Krupa left his band in 1938 and founded his own orchestra ( Gene Krupa and His Orchestra ) in November with musicians such as Vido Musso and Milt Raskin , which debuted in Atlantic City . In May 1938 he had his first hit in the national charts with Grandfather's Clock , which was followed by 26 more by 1950.

He directed his orchestra until 1943, when he was jailed for three months for a drug law violation. This did not detract from its immense popularity in the United States; in 1944 he was voted the best drummer in the country again. The most important musicians in his orchestra at this time were Roy Eldridge, Nate Kazebier and Floyd O'Brien , Anita O'Day and Leo Watson were the soloists, and the arranger was George Dale Williams . Krupa's successful titles of those years were After You've Gone , Rockin 'Chair (1941) and the O'Day / Eldridge duet Let me Off Uptown , in which Roy's famous appeal “Anita, oh Anita! … Say, I Feel somethin '! ”, Followed by his trumpet passage.

In 1943, Krupas reunited with Goodman. In 1943/44 Krupa played with Tommy Dorsey before founding one of the biggest big bands up to that point in early 1945 , with over 40 musicians at times; there were u. a. Charlie Ventura , Teddy Napoleon and again Anita O'Day as well as young bebop musicians like Don Fagerquist , Lennie Hambro and Frank Rehak and Buddy Hughes as band vocalist, successful titles were Leave Us Leap , Lover and How High the Moon . During this phase Krupa briefly flirted with the sounds of modern jazz (in titles such as Disc Jockey Jump or Callin Dr Gillespie ); However, his drum style did not match the music that Fagerquist, Red Rodney , Buddy Wise or Charlie Kennedy played in his band. Eddie Finckel , Gerry Mulligan (who wrote for the band "Disc Jockey Jump") and George Williams worked for him as arrangers during that time. Until they broke up in 1951, he gradually reduced the size of the band and then played again in trio or quartet formations with Ventura and Teddy Napoleon, in which he played swinging new versions of titles such as Dark Eyes or Body and Soul .

Krupa (4th from left) with Benny Goodman (3rd from left) 1952

Krupa appeared regularly in the Jazz-at-the-Philharmonic concerts and then directed his own trio again with Charlie Ventura, Flip Phillips and Eddie Shu . In 1956, his Verve album Drummer Man reunited with Roy Eldridge and Anita O'Day, and he also recorded duets with Buddy Rich , who Krupa later described as his first idol and his greatest source of inspiration. During this time he worked on some jazz films such as The Benny Goodman Story and the Glenn Miller Story . For The Gene Krupa Story (1959) he not only provided the soundtrack, but also appeared in it himself.

In the early 1960s, Krupa was a guest on numerous television shows and in 1963 even briefly had his own big band again for an appearance at Disneyland . In the late 1960s, however, he ended his regular public appearances. During this time he taught, but also trained in timpani and ethnic drumming. Before he died of leukemia in 1973 , it was rare; for example in November 1972 with Eddie Condon and Wild Bill Davison at Jazz at the New School .

Developed by Gene Krupa and His Orchestra

For the band history see Gene Krupa and His Orchestra .

effect

Krupa, who was arrested in the heart of Dixieland , but also brought the achievements of bebop to swing since the late 1940s , “became a key figure in swing with his hard beat and constantly improved technique, which explains his talent for show was not involved ”. Krupa's early experiments with African percussion influenced modern jazz drummers like Max Roach . Krupa said of his style in an interview with George T. Simon :

“Drum solos have to have substance and continuity. Before starting one, I try to get a good idea of ​​what I want to play. During the game, I hum something like "boom-di-di, boom-di-di, boom" - and then continue with another phrasing that is related to the one I just played. At the same time, I keep humming to myself so that not only does each syllable have its own separate beat, but also its separate sound. This is very important because if a drum kit is to be musical, it has to produce a sound, not just a noise. "

- Gene Krupa

The British band Apollo 440 paid tribute to the musician in 1996 with the song Krupa . In 2003, Michael Berkowitz launched his Gene Krupa Orchestra memorial big band project . In 2016, Rolling Stone listed Krupa as seventh of the 100 best drummers of all time .

Discographic notes

Gene Krupa 78 Shellac from Brunswick Records

Fonts

  • Gene Krupa: Drum Method (edited by Rollo Laylan ). Robbins Music Corporation, New York 1938.

literature

Web links

Commons : Gene Krupa  - collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. Ulfert Goeman in: W. Kampmann Reclams Jazzlexikon. Stuttgart 2003.
  2. cf. Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz music. 1700 artists and bands from the beginning until today. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 1999, ISBN 3-476-01584-X , p. 365.
  3. Quoted from George T. Simon, p. 271.
  4. Michael Berkowitz & The Gene Krupa Orchestra: Thinking of Gene , JazzTimes February 2008, accessed March 22, 2016
  5. 100 Greatest Drummers of All Time. Rolling Stone , March 31, 2016, accessed August 6, 2017 .
  6. The selection of the remaining albums is based on Ian Carr's Jazz Rough Guide and Richard Cook , Brian Morton's The Penguin Guide to Jazz . 2nd and 6th edition.