Vic Berton

Vic Berton (born May 7, 1896 in Chicago as Victor Cohen , † December 26, 1951 in Hollywood ) was an American jazz drummer .

Life

Berton was the son of a theater musician, played in various dance orchestras in the 1920s ( Paul Whiteman , Vincent Lopez ), with Roger Wolfe Kahn and then with Red Nichols . He experimented with different cymbal constructions that eventually resulted in the hi-hat , and was the first to use timpani in jazz. Berton composed the title Sobbin 'Blues with Art Kassel in 1922 . In 1924 he took on as a member of the Wolverines and was also temporarily their manager, also with Red Nichols, Jimmy Dorsey , Miff Mole and others. a. in the studio band The Charleston Chasers . In the late 1930s he worked as a studio musician in film studios (he was temporarily musical director at Paramount) and as a soloist in symphony orchestras (such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra). By Igor Stravinsky , he was for the performance of the story of the soldiers used as a drummer. Berton worked on recordings by Miff Mole, Red Nichols and Joe Venuti .

literature

• Carlo Bohländer , Karl Heinz Holler, Christian Pfarr: Reclam's Jazz Guide . 4th, revised and supplemented edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-15-010355-X .
• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide of Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
• T. Dennis Brown: Vic Berton. In: Annual Review of Jazz Studies, 2, 1983