You would think that Gene Krupa would have an FBI file that measures three feet in thickness, if only because of the unfortunate drug incident of 1943 and the reams of press surrounding it. Surprisingly, that is not the case. Some months ago, under the Freedom of Information Act, I petitioned the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice to release any records in their files related to Gene.

There are 14 pages in Gene Krupa’s file. Twelve were released to me. The two pages not released had to do with medical records which would constitute an invasion of privacy, and some info that may or may not have disclosed a confidential FBI source.

The majority of the papers carry a date of February, 1949, specifically February 12, 14, 16, 18, 21 and 23. These records are pretty difficult for the lay person to decipher, but it appears that on or about February 12, 1949, the office of Canadian Immigration contacted the FBI for a background check on Gene. The “FBI Radiogram” from that date reads, “Gena (sic) Krupa…please advise by radio if any criminal record at Bureau. Subject described as well-known dance band leader, age 39, native of Chicago, present residence 10 Ritchie Drive, Yonkers. Report received subject possibly was charged in California with contributing to delinquency of a minor. No further particulars available.”

(In all probability, Gene was playing at a venue called the “Armories” in Brockville, Ontario, which opened for business in 1948 The “rat” could have been someone at the Liquor Control Board there, in that liquor laws had been substantially relaxed in that year and there could have been concerned about having a wild-eyed “hophead,” i.e. Krupa–performing in a liquor-serving establishment. Just speculation.)

The rest of the documents relating to this incident, which must have had to do with a gig in Canada with or without the whole band, detail the sad events of Gene’s January 19, 1943, the actual charges against him, his time in jail, fines paid, and just what charges were overturned.

For those interested in such things, the actual fine for the misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor was $500. On May 18, he was sentenced to 90 days in jail but got out a few days early because of good behavior. However, on June 30, a jury found him guilty of a felony charge, “hiring and employing a minor to transport narcotics; marihuana cigarettes (sic).” He was sentenced to an unspecified term in San Quentin prison. Out on $5,000 during the appeal process, the felony charge was reversed by the California District Court of Appeals on June 30, 1944, because of double jeopardy.

On September 24, 1953, it again appears that Canada was suspicious of Gene, as a “Liaison Representative” from Ottawa, Ontario, seems to have asked the FBI for up-to-date dirt on the drummer. The reply, from none other than Ms. J. Edgar Hoover, reads, “Records of the FBI Identification Division reflect no reported arrests for Krupa since 1943.” Someone in Ottawa must have really had it in for Gene, as almost two years to the day later, the “Liaison Representative” asked about the dates and availability of fingerprint files within the FBI offices. The Bureau replied that there were no fingerprints taken after the 1943 incident.

Maybe this Canadian guy didn’t like be-bop. Or drum solos.

More interesting than the files themselves is what is not included. After all, in 1952, Krupa was the first American jazz performer to visit Japan, and during his during his Jazz at the Philharmonic days, he was all over Europe and points north and south. In the late 1950s, under Norman Granz’ aegis, he again toured Europe, and in the 1960s, went to South America and Israel, among other locations. And presumably, he was an annual visitor to the Frankfurt Music Fair, representing the Slingerland Drum Company, until he was too ill to travel around 1972.

Of all the cities and countries Gene visited in the world, only Canada caused a problem. Maybe someone knows the reason why.

There have been a few stories written in recent years, notably in Gene Lees’ “Jazzletter,” that suggest Gene was hounded by law enforcement officials, particularly during his Las Vegas tenures in the 1950s at the Frontier Hotel. Let the record finally show, that at least according to the FBI, he was not.

When I first went through all this paperwork and saw most of it dated 1949, my first thought was that some or all of this may have had to do with a messy drug situation that occurred within Gene’s big band in that year.

However, that incident happened in late July, five months after the Canadian nonsense. Although it was widely reported in the press at the time, and Gene was said to be very, very angry about it, what happened in Detroit on or about July 26, 1949, hasn’t been discussed for years. Since we’re on the subject of file openings, here’s what happened, courtesy of a Chicago Tribune article dated July 27, 1949.

It seems that three members of the Krupa band–guitarist Ralph Blaze, trombonist Herb Randel and trumpet John Bellow–were accused of possessing marijuana and later arrested at a downtown Detroit hotel. Presumably, the band was playing a theater or club in Detroit at the time. Police found Blaze in possession of two reefers and a pipe. The two members of the brass section were in for bigger trouble. They were found with cocaine, in addition to the pot, and ultimately pleaded guilty to violating federal narcotics regulations and were released on $1,000 bail pending sentencing. I don’t think Bellow or Randel did any actual time.

In addition to the drugs, Detroit police found three, 18-year-old girls in the hotel room. Two were from out of town and said they flew in to visit Randel and Bellow. The third was a home town girl who said she met Ralph Blaze “a week ago.” Blaze and the ladies were not charged with anything.

After leaving Krupa, Ralph Blaze had a long and successful career with Stan Kenton and many other west coast groups, and also established himself as a respected sculptor. He was active in the recording studio and in live performance into the early 1990s.

Herb Randel, a reliable section man, spent some seasons in Woody Herman’s 1950 to 1951 “Third Herd” after being relieved of duty by Gene (Woody had more tolerance for bad boys back then). Randel seems to have fallen off the radar screen after 1951,

John Bellow showed up in the trumpet section of a 1958 Charlie Barnet band and in a Quincy Jones-led studio group that backed Billy Eckstine in 1961. Tom Lord’s incisive discography, which lists Bellow as “Bello,” says he participated in 63 recording sessions from 1946 to 1964. After that, nothing.

Some good things happened in 1949, including some nice recordings for Columbia and Roy Eldridge’s happy return to the band, which lasted from February to October. I get the idea, however, that the Detroit incident, coupled with sad state of the band business in 1949, really helped sour Gene on the idea of keeping the large group together much longer.

The decision was almost made for him. In 1950, he lost his long-time Columbia Records contract and his switch to the RCA label was brief and not very productive. In the beginning of 1951, he cut down to a 12-piece crew. They sounded awful. Check out the JazzLegends.com CD entitled “Gene Krupa: London House 1964 and Cavalcade of Bands 1951” for an example.

In retrospect, it is simply incredible that Gene Krupa was able to keep a big band of any kind together until almost 1952. Benny, Woody, Les Brown, Dorsey and Basie gave up in 1950 (although all but Benny would ultimately re-form) and Ellington was barely hanging in there.

Gene would play, and play very well, in big bands again, on record and in person, but only for record sessions, special concerts or television shows. From 1952 until his death in 1973–21 years–this big band icon was a small group drummer.

Update and correction:

Our good colleague Mike Berkowitz, the marvelous drummer, conductor and leader of the wonderful “New” Gene Krupa Orchestra, has been kind enough to update us as to the whereabouts of trumpeter John Bello, who played on the 1949 Krupa band. Earlier in this column, I said I could find nothing on Bello beyond a 1964 record date.

This demonstrates the current limitations of the web as a research tool–and in this case, the current limitations of the researcher as well–especially when it applies to jazz.

As incredible as Tom Lord’s “Jazz Discography” is, how can researchers track a musician who played and recorded a whole lot of music that might have not been jazz?

Bello, by the way, is the correct spelling of his name, which has sometimes been listed as “Bellow.” He lived, according to Mike Berkowitz, in the Philadelphia/Atlantic City area for many years, and Mike actually used him on some band dates there. In earlier years, he also worked extensively with Maynard, Quincy Jones, in a number of Broadway pit bands, etc.

What is particularly astounding is that Bello was, for some years, Judy Garland’s lead trumpeter, having appeared on dates under the baton of Mort Lindsey, Bill LaVorgna and Howard Hirsch. Every Garland fan certainly has a copy of the famed, Carnegie Hall concert recordings. Lead trumpet player on that date: John Bello.

Our apologies to Bello, who lives in Florida and still plays with rehearsal bands here. And our thanks to Mike Berkowitz, who is, indeed, “extraordinaire.”

If Lenny Bruce was the first “jazz comedian,” George Carlin may have been the last.

Bruce, who died in 1966, and Carlin, who passed away on June 22, did not play musical instruments, but they both riffed, improvised, innovated, took risks and chances, and composed spontaneously like the best of the jazz greats.

Both were closely associated with jazz musicians throughout their careers. Bruce appeared in clubs with dozens of jazz legends, and on his one and only television special aired locally in New York city in 1959, available only from JazzLegends.com, he had Buddy Rich, Cannonball Adderley and the jazz singing group of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, as guests. In the late 1960s, Carlin co-starred with Buddy Rich on “Away We Go,” a summer replacement television show. And, like too many jazz musicians of yore, Bruce and Carlin both had drug problems.

Bruce and Carlin worked most of the jazz joints when there were such things, and both were busted for obscenity. Bruce was first arrested in 1961 at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco for uttering a 10-letter word that referred to a sex act, Carlin’s run-in with the law occurred in 1972 at the Milwaukee Summerfest for his “Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV” routine. One of the words in Carlin’s act, by the way, was the very same word Lenny was busted for 11 years earlier.

Bruce first came to fame when the ruling comics were folks like Milton Berle and Jerry Lewis, whose vaudeville roots were at the core of their outlandish physical comedy. In terms of their verbiage, it was pretty much “take my wife, please,” and “a rabbai and a priest were standing on the corner.”

The old-guard comics who labeled Bruce “sick” at the time –like Lewis, Berle, Henny Youngman and the rest, continued to base their humor on physical shortcomings and crass caricatures of women, the Japanese and other ethnic groups, and put down humor in general.

Sample lines? “I’ll take my wife on a vacation to somewhere she’s never been,,,The kitchen!” Or, even better than that, “Why don’t you walk into a parking meter and violate yourself?” These could only be topped by Bob “Peace Corps” Hope’s famed, You’re looking well. What do you hear from your embalmer?”

Hoo boy.

Bruce was simply offended by the hypocrisy of it all, including what he viewed as the hypocrisy of language.

Like it or not, he changed the course of comedy, and virtually everything we hear today is an extension or modification of what Lenny Bruce did over 40 years ago.

Pushing the comedic, linguistic and verbal envelope, Lenny Bruce was revolutionary, much like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie were when they knocked the jazz world on its rear end as pioneering be-boppers. In the staid 1950s, no one–especially a comic–dared publicly mock things like organized religion, sex, and revered icons like Billy Graham and Eleanor Roosevelt.

And his use of obscenities in his act? Lenny Bruce said over and over again that he only wanted to demonstrate that they were just words. When he repeated one or more of them over, over and over again, you got the point. It was just a word or words.

There was a price to be paid for being revolutionary. Lenny Bruce was arrested on obscenity charges seven times from 1961 to 1964. He was found guilty on two of the charges, with one being reversed after Bruce’s death. On December 23, 2003, 37 years after his death, New York Governor George Pataki posthumously pardoned him.

Like Lenny, George Carlin “worked clean,” for the first several years of his professional career, and was quite successful at it on television, in Vegas and on the club circuit. Coincidently, when Carlin and Jack Burns worked as a comedy team and arrived in Hollywood from Fort Worth in the early 1960s, it was none other then Lenny Bruce who helped them get a booking on the Jack Paar television show. This could have been a result of that fact that, at Bruce’s “Gate of Horn” nightclub obscenity bust in 1962 in Chicago, Carlin was one of two audience members/protestors who was locked up.

In the early 1970s, George Carlin changed his comedic voice and seemingly lifted a good portion of Lenny Bruce’s act and attitude. Showbiz nay sayers thought it was strictly a career move back then. In other words, maybe Carlin saw the handwriting on the wall, dropped the coat and tie and “turned hippie,” strictly for reasons of commerce, much like Bobby Darin did when he lost the toupee, starting singing folk songs and suddenly became “Bob” Darin.

Though it may have been a career move or appeared to be that way in the beginning–the “Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV” bit was eerily similar to several of Bruce’s routines and it was common knowledge that Carlin idolized Lenny–I fervently believe that George Carlin ultimately found his own voice.

Bruce always claimed that his mission was to “hold a mirror up to society.” He didn’t live long enough to do that effectively. I think Carlin did, and in the process, influenced generations of younger, socially aware comics.

If historians chose to write about such things, they might say that the jazz equivalent of George Carlin would be Miles Davis, in that Miles was amongst the very, very few who not only moved along with the times, but was at the forefront of inventing the future.

The ultimate difference between Bruce and Carlin? The times dictated that George Carlin was able to live by a credo that Lenny Bruce could not: That the job of a comic is, by and large, to be funny. Lenny Bruce was hounded and persecuted for his innovations. George Carlin was applauded.

George Carlin was 12 years younger than Lenny Bruce.

Twelve years is a generation, and a generation makes a difference in public perception.

Is there another “jazz comic,” i.e., a pioneer, revolutionary, risk-taking, improvising, riffing innovator and heir to the “jazz comic throne” out there?

Some of the “older guard” are still out there in business. Veteran Pete Barbutti continues to wail on “jazz whisk broom” and play to the band. Mort Sahl, a politicial and moral firebrand of the late 1950s and rival of Lenny Bruce’s, is pitching at the age of 80, though history has long passed him by. Likewise another 1950s icon named Shelly Berman, who pretty much sticks to acting these days.

If there is any worthy successor to the Lenny Bruce/George Carlin seat, that would be Jon Stewart. Stewart embodies the literacy, the intelligence, wit and irreverence of guys like Lenny, Carlin, Richard Pryor and Sam Kinison, coupled with a respect for the tradition of those who maintain that the job of a comic is, as Dean Martin once said, “to be funny.” Stewart is satirist and an irreverent, political pundit among other things, and he consistently holds a mirror up to society. Sound familiar?

Tune in his program on “The Comedy Channel.” Jon Stewart has it all. George and Lenny would be proud.

And maybe Stewart even likes jazz…

Final Goodman Quartet Reunions
This unbelievable CD combines a previous release–The Benny Goodman Quartet at Saratoga on August 18, 1973–with an unbelievable new discovery: Almost 20 minutes of another Goodman Quartet reunion concert, in much better fidelity, that took place on July 15, 1973. Here are Gene, Benny, Hamp, Teddy and Slam in all their swinging glory playing “Avalon,” “Moonglow,” “Ding Dong Daddy” and more. Any performances from this group in the 1970s are scarce and invaluable. Price: $20

London House Rarities Volume One: 1958/1959
We knew these were floating around somewhere and we have finally found them. Here’s the great Krupa Quartet with Gene, Eddie Wasserman, Ronnie Ball and Jimmy Gannon in two, never-before-heard sessions from Chicago’s London House. Dates are December 15 and December 25, 1958 and January 1, 1959. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Jazz Quartet with more than an hours’ worth of rare, Krupa gems. Price: $20

London House Rarities Volume Two: 1953, 1956, 1958, 1959
More scarce Jazz Quartet performances from Chicago’s London House. Included are more sessions from December 15, 1958 and January 1, 1959, plus additional performances from December 18, 1958. As a bonus, there’s a “Dark Eyes” and “Flyin’ Home” from 1956 (!). The remainder of this essential collection is comprised of an already-available JazzLegends release, the famed Krupa Trio Bandbox sessions of January, 1953, out on our title “The Last and Greatest Live Recordings of the Original Gene Krupa Jazz Trio.” Price: $20

The International Association of Jazz Educators, the voice of jazz education in more than 42 countries since 1968, has declared bankruptcy. With over 10,000 members, a thriving annual convention, plenty of local chapters and a number of still-impressive publications, this news was shocking.

The term I’m hearing used most often by those in IAJE is “blind sided,” meaning that even many close to the organization did not realize that massive amount of debt amassed. There are, of course, allegations of IAJE Board mismanagement and other accusations and instances of finger-pointing. Those things go with any Chapter Seven territory.

I have little knowledge of the IAJE management skills past and present. I resigned as an active member a few years ago, as I became frustrated and insulted by the fact that IAJE never mentioned word one about any of our videos, books, DVDs, CDs, or anything else, for that matter

Perhaps this was a part of their problem. It seemed to me that IAJE had the same advertisers, sponsors and supporters year after year after year, and nothing was seemingly ever done to court newer companies, which would include outfits like Hudson Music, Alfred Publishing, EJazzLines, and yes, JazzLegends.com. IAJE chose to believe we just didn’t exist.

Then there is the issue of just how many music-themed conferences can be supported annually, as a big part of the IAJE revenue picture was its big, annual get-together. There are two NAMM (Music Merchandiser) confabs, the Frankfurt Music Fair, the Percussive Arts Convention, and Lord knows what else during the course of 12 months. Just how many of these can be viable in today’s economy? Jazz Improv Magazine has also entered the fray with a convention, and they reportedly did very, very well with it this year in New York city. There is even talk that Jazz Improv may take up some of the IAJE slack in terms of publishing and a convention. Just how that would work or if it would work are questions.

Jazz Improv, as everyone in the industry knows, is almost totally advertising driven, meaning that anything mentioned editorially, by and large, is directly connected to paid ads. This concept has been a mainstay of weekly “shopper”-type newspapers across the country for years. The fact that it’s being applied to jazz, presumably successfully at that, really says something for the publisher. Editorially, though, outside of a column or two, the publication is barely readable, rife with inaccuracies and laughably amateurish.

Everything, seemingly, is for sale at Jazz Improv. Can you imagine a large and lengthy issue devoted to Buddy Rich without even mentioning any of the Buddy Rich DVDs on the market…including the only official DVD of his life story? The point is, if a publication has little or no credibility, how seriously can any of its endeavors be taken?

*****

The coming months are going to revitalize and revolutionize the worldwide percussion community. Both Hudson Music and Drum Workshop are launching two, separate, 24-hour, internet drum channels. Hudson’s is DrumTV.net. DW’s is TheDrumChannel.com. Exact details will not be forthcoming until the formal launching of these projects–Hudson’s is set to start in June–but both will feature interviews, lessons, blogs, vintage and contemporary clips, interactive features, etc.

With DW, I will be involved in producing some of their impressive, stand alone DVD product, including the commercial release of the Gene Krupa/Dukes of Dixieland project “Championship Jazz” coupled with the famed Harry James/Buddy Rich outing from Chicago in 1965. I am also looking forward to writing narration for a most significant DW discovery, that being the “thought to be long lost” television specials filmed by Buddy Rich in 1982. Filmed live at the Statler Hiton Hotel in New York city in February of 1982, these three, never-aired television specials featured BR and the band, along with guests such as Anita O’Day, Lionel Hampton, Mel Torme’, Ray Charles, Stan Getz, Woody Herman and Cathy Rich. Throught the years, especially when I was heavilly involved in Buddy Rich material, someone came to me almost every six months with the claim that they had these tapes. They never did. Leave it to Don Lombardi at DW. He’s got them.

By way of TheDrumTV.net, I will be contributing weekly blogs, clips, commentary, etc., most of the vintage variety. I am looking forward to truly having an international forum, much like I do in this space, that will grant exposure to the unsung giants of the drums–new and old–as well as rare material of those we know and love.

These internet drum channels are coming at a good time. WIth sites like YouTube and MySpace running rampant with unauthorized and unorganized material, anyone interested in percussion or drum history can now log on to TheDrumChannel.com or DrumTV.net to find out absolutely everything they wanted to know about drums…all in one (rather, two) places.

*****

SHORT NEWS:

Our German colleague, Arthor Von Blomberg, has reported that several appearances by his Krupa orchestra did very, very well at some dates in London, including the prestigious Ronnie Scott’s club. Arthor is still angling for some U.S. festival dates…

Though we haven’t yet seen it, bassist Milt Hinton’s new book, chock full of his great photos, of course, is now on the market…

On the maket is a new CD by Naples, Florida’s finest–a guy you’ve read about in this space many times–trumpeter Bob Zottola. In two words? “Buy it.” For more info, log on to Bob’s great site at www.NaplesJazzLovers.com, where you can also sign up for his great newsletter that lets fans know everything happening, jazz-wise, in Naples…

More Krupa discoveries are on the way, courtesy, once again, of the hard work of our man in Las Vegas, Paul Testa. All we can say at this juncture is that part of this DVD will feature every network obituary ever aired about Gene’s death…

If those of you who run into me personally within the coming weeks seem to think I look like Claude Rains in “The Invisible Man” (all bandages), don’t think I’m auditioning for a film part. On May 5th, two days after my birthday, I had a “larger-than-a-silver-dollar” sized malignant melonoma removed from under my right eye. It was caught–all of it–very early in quite in time, but do to the size involved, a number of skin grafts had to be performed. This will take some time, but the experts who know about such things claim I’ll be looking just like Frank Jr. again in no time at all. Guess my days of using no sunscreen are over…

Drummers, by nature, are not political animals, maybe because most of them are just animals. I’m no different, but I will answer finally answer the question that all wanted to know, in line with who I’m endorsing for president. Answer: I was, am and always will be a confirmed supporter of Harold Stassen.

Keep swingin and God bless,

Bruce Klauber
May, 2008

Naples, Florida, enjoys the healthiest of jazz scenes. Indeed, there is more happening here–where Joy Adams and I will be until April–than in most major cities. Locally-oriented examples include jazz trumpet virtuoso Bob Zottola’s Expandable Jazz Band, currently working seven nights a week (!) and the always-wonderful vocalist, Jebry, aka Judy Branch, as busy as ever in a number of locales.

The Joy Adams/Bruce Klauber engagement celebrating Fat Tuesday here at Remy’s Bistro was, in fact, a sellout. And this is the first perfomance we’ve done under our own leadership since first coming to Naples eight years ago. Management told us that all 160 seats indoors were filled, with another 50 eating and drinking outside, waiting for an inside vacancy. Joy and I owe a debt of gratitude for the superb, swinging and flexible backing by three wonderful friends and artists: Pianist Jean Packard, bassists Richard Lytton and reedman Lou Califano. We have basically been offered an “open door” at Remy’s Bistro, meaning that we can appear there whenever we want. We are returning on Tuesday, March 11. For any of our JazzLegends.com visitors who may be in the Southwest Florida area at that time, please come and see us. Call 239-403-9222 for reservations, or email me personally at DrumAlive@aol.com

On the national level, the Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts has booked a great number of jazz and jazz-oriented attractions for the 2008 season, including appearances by Tony Bennett, Steve and Edyie, Bill Cosby, Frank Sinatra, Jr., a number of shows by pianist Dick Hyman (featuring players like Harry Allen, Randy Sandke and Eddie Metz, Jr.), singer Freda Payne paying tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, Steve Tyrell, Anne Hampton Calloway, 23-year old Russian singing sensation Sophie Milman, Branford Marsalis and Chris Botti.

This is, without question, a very healthy scene. The majority of these events, by the way, were, are and will be sold out.

A surprise, last-minute booking was none other than The Ramsey Lewis Trio. Those who remember the Chicagoan’s famed, funk-based trio featuring Red Holt and Eldee Young on million sellers like “Wade in the Water” and “Hang on Sloopy” were very, very pleasantly surprised at what they heard. Here is an detailed review of the show, which took place on February 6th: ******

Jazz musicians who have sold a million records and reached the top of the music sales charts are a very rare breed, though there have been some notable exceptions through the years. Louis Armstrong’s “Hello Dolly” actually knocked The Beatles off the hit parade in 1964. And there were others, including Stan Getz’ “Girl from Ipanema,” Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five,” Eddie Harris’ “Exodus,” and “The In Crowd” and “Wade in the Water” by a young pianist out of Chicago named Ramsey Lewis.

Lewis, who performed with his trio before a sold-out and wildly appreciative, three-encore audience at The Phil on Wednesday, could have easily rested on his laurels and play a medley of his seven gold records and three Grammy winners. He did not, and the result was one of the most refreshing and entertaining evenings of music–of any kind–presented during this or any other season. Accompanied by virtuoso bassist Larry Gray, and the amazingly versatile drummer Leon Joyce, Jr., Lewis has moved into a modern and impressionistic pianistic area, often invoking the lyricism of the late Bill Evans and the modal explorations of McCoy Tyner. He has combined this with a tremendous flair for gospel music, a good amount of crowd-pleasing humor and arrangements for the trio that often had it sounding like an orchestra Still, the famed, Ramsey Lewis funk remains very much in evidence, so while he has evolved stylistically, the Lewis sound continues to be instantly recognizable.

Other than a short rendition of “The In Crowd,” done as one of the encores, the repertoire of The Ramsey Lewis Trio is an electic one, ranging from the touching John Coltrane ballad “Dear Lord” to a rousing “Oh Happy Day.” Lewis has strong classical roots as well–he studied the classical concert repertoire as a youth with the legendary Dorothy Mendelsohn in Chicago–and that influence was quite clear on The Beatles “In My Life” and several Lewis compositions written for a suite of dances entitled “To Know Her,” which united the trio with the Goffrey Ballet.

Not enough can be said about Lewis’ accompanists. After hearing the superb, arco work and always inventive soloing by bassist Larry Gray, it is no surprise that his classical background is extensive. He was the featured bassist with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and principal bassist of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He has also worked with a number of jazz greats, including Joe Williams, Clark Terry McCoy Tyner and Jack DeJohnette.

Like Gray, drummer Leon Joyce, Jr. transcends categorization. He is fluent in the New Orleans drumming style via his work with New Orleans legends like Pete Fountain and Ellis Marsalis; but he is equally at home with funk, gospel and even rock. Though his technique is astounding, is it always musical.

Ramsey Lewis is more visible and more popular these days–and not only as a pianist–than he was during his hit-making Chicago days. He hosts a popular, syndicated radio show, entitled “The Ramsey Lewis Morning Show.” And in 2006, he filmed a series of half-hour television shows for PBS called “Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis.” Now widely available on DVD, “Legends of Jazz” represented the first time in 40 years that jazz was regularly broadcast on television.

He has often been described, quite accurately, as a legend. And just how does that feel? “It’s a high honor when someone says so,” Lewis has recently said, “but I don’t see myself that way. What keeps me enthusiastic and energizes me is the realization that the more I learn, the more I find there is to know.”

And though he is constantly learning, evolving and growing, Ramsey Lewis has never forgotten the audience. Above all, he is a dignified communicator, who, by the way, still swings like no other. This concert stands as one of the highlights of a great, jazz-oriented season at The Phil.
******JazzLegends.com appreciates the continued support of our thousands of international visitors, especially during this difficult economic period. Things are tough here and everywhere, but we continue to go to the ends of the earth to find product of interest that simply cannot be found elsewhere. Please note our new Tony Williams DVDs, including the famed “Zildjian Day 1985,” two outstanding VSOP concerts from 1982 and 1982 and a “Tony Williams Superstar Band” concert from 1983. Additionally, Dean Pratt, collector and annotator extraordinaire and former Buddy Rich big band member, has come up with two CDs that are as close to the “Krupa Holy Grail” as one can get. First is an extended, backstage conversation at Mr. Kelly’s in Chicago, between Gene and B.R., recorded in July of 1973, just about 90 days before Gene’s death. This is touching and often hilarious. You will hear and feel sides of these giants that you just won’t believe. On the same CD are the legendary out takes from “Burnin’ Beat.” The second CD, “Where’s Benny?” is an ultra-ultra rare concert from May of 1953, when Gene took over leadership of the Benny Goodman band that was to tour with Louis Armstrong. Pops stayed, Benny dropped out due to alleged illness, Gene took over and Benny, by and large, was not missed. You will hear some unreal Krupa drumming, on an 11-minute partial version of “Sing Sing Sing” coupled with a Willie Smith/Teddy Wilson/Krupa Trio verson of “Drum Boogie,” and a Krupa/Cozy Cole battle on “The Saints” with Pops and The All-Stars. The finale of this CD is an in-depth interview with Mr. Personality himself, “The King of Swing.” These two items, like a lot of our other material, were thought not to exist. These are must-haves.

Finally, we are told that our good colleague, drummer/producer Arthor Von Blomberg, has lined up several dates at Harrah’s in New Orleans for his all-star Krupa Tribute band that includes star alto saxophonist Richie Cole. Stay tuned, keep swingin’ and God bless.

Bruce Klauber February, 2008

The death of Oscar Peterson is a major blow to the jazz world. Like Buddy Rich, OP was so professionally and personally powerful that you got the sense he would always be around.

Like others who have received the rarity of popular success in this business — think Dave Brubeck, Ramsey Lewis, Maynard Fergusion, Eddie Harris, Louis Armstrong and many more– Peterson got more than his share of criticism in the press. For his time, he was likely second only to Art Tatum in terms of technique, and negative comments usually had to do with his over-abundance of chops. The critics said the same thing about Buddy Rich, so the important factors in jazz, according to the scribes are: Don’t be too popular and don’t have too much technique. And, darn it, don’t swing too much.

The various Oscar Peterson trios were legendary and super-charged, and no one could out-swing them. Many of learned the vocabulary of jazz from Oscar, Ray Brown and Herb Ellis, and many of us learned taste from the drumming of Ed Thigpen. It has been said more than once that, if there is anything close to a “perfect” piano/bass/drums recording, it would have to be the Oscar Peterson Trio’s version of “West Side Story.” There were more classics as well, including the original “Very Tall” with Milt Jackson and the exquisite solo sides he made for the BASF/Saba labels in Europe.

The late Norman Granz, who brought Peterson to the United States from Canada and served as his personal manager from the early 1950s, loved the man and his playing and just could not record enough of him on his Clef, Norgran and Verve labels in the 1950s and early 1960s, and on his Pablo label in the 1970s and 1980s. There were those who also said Peterson was over-recorded. Bet they’re not saying it now.

There were jazz pianists and there were jazz pianists, and perhaps some of them had Oscar’s technique, most notably the late and troubled Phineas Newborn, Jr. But they were not Oscar Peterson.

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While we’re on the subject of the jazz press, it is important to remember that there are three monthly publications devoted to covering jazz in this country. They are, of course, Jazz Times, Down Beat, and a rather under-rated publication called Jazziz. My brother, the musicologist Joel Klauber, along with yours truly, were regular contributors to Jazziz when the publication was relatively new (it is now close to 25 years old, I believe). Like the others, Jazziz has its areas of specialization, mainly in the area of what is known as “smooth jazz.” Maybe Jazziz has not been taken seriously enough because smooth jazz has not been taken seriously enough. No matter. Things are changing, and the early results are impressive. New Executive Editor Fernando Gonzalez has a great piece devoted to Nat Cole in the December issue, and I urge all of you to check it out, and/or visit them on the web at Jazziz.com. I have recently contacted my old colleague there, founder/editor/publisher Michael Fagien, about returning to the Jazziz fold as columnist. Stay tuned.

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Super-drummer Steve Smith has just finished work on another Hudson Music DVD, entitled “Steve Smith’s Jazz Legacy.” That’s also the name of Steve’s band, which is an outgrowth of his Buddy Rich tribute group, “Buddy’s Buddies.” The Legacy grouping gives Smith and his band the flexibility to highlight compositions by other great drummers, and songs that great drummers made famous. This upcoming Hudson release features the Jazz Legacy in performance, paying tribute to artists like Max Roach, Joe Dukes, Elvin Jones, Art Blakey and Philly Joe Jones, breaking down the elements of their drumming technique, explaining his own philosophy about just how he is paying tribute to these percussive giants, and much, much more. I cannot say enough about this project, or about Steve Smith. As a drummer and as a tireless and incisive educator, there is no better. Currently in release and just as essential is Hudson’s “The Art of Playing Brushes,” presented by Steve and Adam Nussbaum and featuring Charli Persip, Joe Morello, Eddie Locke, Billy Hart and Ben Riley. This project represents essential viewing for anyone who ever picked up a pair of brushes…or wanted to. The amount of work that goes into these productions is absolutely staggering, and believe me, I know. What is so wonderful about these titles is that the “work,” if you want to call it that, is evident on the screen. Both projects, by the way, have plenty of clips and photos of the vintage variety, including newly-discovered film of Philly Joe Jones. My good friends Rob Wallis, Paul Siegel and editor Phil Fallo deserve all the kudos all of us can muster for these titles. For more information, visit HudsonMusic.com.

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For reasons of time and scheduling, I have had to drop out of consulting for the proposed Gene Krupa “Broadway” show and possible band tour. Watch this space for updates, which will be printed as we get them from Arthor Von Blomberg and his very talented group of associates. As previously mentioned, if anyone can get something like this off the ground, it would be Arthor.

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We are getting some great, great comments and feedback on the new design of the JazzLegends.com site. Keep the comments and suggestions coming in, and watch for more web site evolution.

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Writer Burt Korall, author of the definitive books on drummers of the swing and bop era and good friend of Gene, Buddy and many others, passed away not too long ago. On a topic detailed here previously, Korall was among several writers and critics who, for whatever reason, refused to acknowledge my work and my existence. To this day, I have never figured this out. Believe me, I am not in this business–if this is a business at all–for credit, money or good reviews. I only continue to try to contribute something to jazz scholarship and education. But for a guy like Korall to go out of his way to NOT include any mention of the existence of “Gene Krupa: Jazz Legend,” “Buddy Rich: Jazz Legend,” “Legends of Jazz Drumming,” etc., in books that COVERED these things, was and is an absolute disgrace. That’s why there are supposed to be editors, but the editors missed the boat on this as well. I often wonder what someone like Korall got — or John McDonough gets — out of behavior like this. Is it jealousy? A sense of power? The jazz community is small enough as it is for us to be criticizing or panning or ignoring our fellow artists. Saxophonist Sam Butera, long-time leader of Louis Prima’s back-up group, The Witnesses, used to end his own shows with the following: “Remember,” he would say to the audience, it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”

Corny? Maybe, but how about resolving to live that, and live up to it, for the year 2008 and beyond.

Bruce Klauber, January, 2008.

Major, major improvements and renovations have come to the JazzLegends.com site, courtesy of our resident, genius of a webmaster, Terry McKyton. Improvement highlights include a wider design to match the standard users’ screen, a cleaner and less cluttered design, better layout of DVDs and CDs that will allow for track lists and a download/preview area, and banners that will point to new products on the site, holiday specials, etc.

Yes, I did mention “downloads,” and that feature will be instituted shortly. We are going to start with three of our most popular CDs, “Gene Krupa: The Great Concert,” “Gene Krupa Quartet at JATP: 1955,” and the famed “Benny Goodman/Gene Krupa Performance Recordings: 1937-1938.” Rest assured that the download process will be easy to use (there will even be short previews of songs that will help you to decide whether or not to buy) and at more-than-reasonable prices. If the response to this is positive, as it should be, we will be adding more CDs available for download each week.

One of the most obvious changes to the site in terms of visuals is the absence of the Google ads. Terry and I agree that, for whatever the minimal dollar value to JazzLegends.com, the ads were not attractive . They didn’t add much in terms of information, and they just took away from what we try to do on the site.

We have been rushing to come up with a real “special” in time for the holiday season, and along with the Jazzlegends.com gift certificate, we think we have it. This is a boxed set of four CDs, chosen by yours truly–“The Great Concert,” “Gene Krupa: 1943,” “Rare and Live: 1941-1942,” and “Steve Allen Tonight Shows 1954 and 1955”–plus a copy of the increasingly rare book, “World of Gene Krupa: That Legendary Drummin’ Man.” This $75 value is yours, in a gift box with free shipping worldwide, for $69.95. Ho, ho, and another ho.

I have not mentioned the name of Buddy Rich in this space for some time. However, if the name of our site is “JazzLegends,” then the world’s greatest drummer cannot be ignored. I want to go on record as saying that Buddy’s daughter, Cathy, continues to be tirelessly devoted to perpetuating all that was and is good about Buddy. Most of you have heard about the “Buddy Rich Drum Company,” which has been garnering nice notices in and out of the industry and is a part of some really neat promotions, including one in Modern Drummer’s special publication, Drum Gods, in the trades. For more information on these fine drums, visit BuddyRichDrumCompany.com. There is also a new Buddy CD out, culled from the famed, mid-1970s live tapes recorded by bandsman Alan Gauvin, with Buddy’s blessings. The CD is entitled “Time Out,” and it’s one of the best Buddy Rich recordings, from any decade, to be released in years. One listen to any cut at all will make us all realize why he was and is Buddy Rich, and why there will never, ever, ever be another. Products like these are not easy to get out to the marketplace, whether one is related to Buddy Rich or not. Cathy Rich deserves recognition and our thanks for getting these fabulous items out there properly.

In terms of other gift items, don’t forget the Bopworks, Gene Krupa model drum sticks, or the great new DVD from Hudson Music, “Classic Rock Drum Solos.” Set aside the labels of jazz and rock for a moment. This DVD is for drum fans, no matter what the style of music. I guarantee that you will be astounded by the technical virtuosity of Carl Palmer. Michael Shrieve, host Carmine Appice, Clive Bunker, Ginger Baker, Steve Smith, Cozy Powell, Neil Peart and various others. Additionally, there is an entire section devoted to the origin of rock solo drumming that features Krupa (with Carmine Appice doing a great impression of him), Louis Prima’s Jimmy Vincent, Louis Jordan’s Shadow Wilson. the Lionel Hampton band, Bill Haley’s Ralph Jones, The Ventures’ Mel Taylor, and the only film in existence of the first rock drum star, Sandy “Let There Be Drums” Nelson. We will probably be making this available on our site shortly, but right now, log on to HudsonMusic.com for further information.

Joy Adams and I are in Naples, Florida, until the early spring, enjoying the kids and the grand kids. As mentioned in this site several times over the years, the music scene is fabulous in Naples, and we are playing and singing–individually and collectively–at least twice a week. After hearing the new Buddy CD, I may have to cut it down to once a week!

God bless, keep swingin’, and all good wishes for the holiday and beyond,

Bruce Klauber November, 2007.

Those of us who are concerned about such things continue to be confused and disappointed about what the Gibson guitar company has done to the name of Slingerland and to the Slingerland line. To think that the drums– endorsed by Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and dozens of other drum stars through the years–has virtually disappeared, is simply a disgrace. The situation is beyond understanding, especially given the news that Yamaha is bringing out a Rogers drum line, even though the drums are nothing like the original or classic Rogers line. What counts in that case is the name.

A number of us– including Arthor Von Blomberg, the mastermind behind the upcoming 100th birthday celebration for Gene and the future Broadway musical play based on Gene’s life and music–have contacted Gibson about buying the Slingerland name. Our point is that Gibson is doing nothing with it and at the very least, our consortium would keep the name alive. After contacting the Gibson offices in the United States, Europe, Asia, Japan and China about this, we have not heard word one about any of this, which is hardly unexpected. There is no information on whether any Slingerland inventory exists, and Slingerland drums are not offered in any national catalog or the Modern Drummer Drum Buyer’s Guide.

Slingerland might not have been the General Motors of the drum industry, but they were among the “big four” of drum manufacturers, with the other three being Gretsch, Ludwig and Rogers. All but Slingerland are still with us, and that is a disgrace to the industry and to America.

The big question, and feel free to address this in the JazzLegends.com forum, is: “If Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich were alive today, what brand of drums would they be playing?”

From what little I know, I am pretty sure that these giants would have played drums made in America, and I’m pretty sure the brand would have been Drum Workshop, a.k.a. DW. Indeed, DW did offer a Buddy kit at one time.,

The last time I spoke to anyone within the company, I was told that they cannot manufacture their fine product quickly enough to supply retailers and players. Their story, indeed, is a singular one. Herewith is some background info, courtesy of DW founder Don Lombardi and the DW web site:

Their slogan is, “The Drummer’s Choice® ” and Lombardi maintains that it’s more than a slogan, “it’s a fact.” Shades of Buddy Rich!

“It’s remarkable that in our 31st year, the excitement level of coming to work is every bit as much now as when we started,” he says.

It all began in 1972 when Don, at age 26, opened a small teaching studio in Santa Monica, Calif. He called the studio Drum Workshop, offering both private lessons and monthly workshops.

“My fascination with drums started at 12 with a neighborhood teacher at a local music store,” Don recalls. “Over the years, I had such great experiences with renowned teachers that as my love for playing drums grew, so did my love for learning and teaching about drums. The day I got my driver’s license, I started driving to teach at a local music store where I had taken lessons.”

Seeing an ad for Drum Workshop in the Yellow Pages, John Good, now DW’s Vice President, signed up for lessons at age 17 to improve his drumming and reverse what he refers to as “bad drumming habits.”

“After three months of lessons, Don approached me and said, ‘You know, I’ve had lots of successful students. I don’t think you’re going to be one of them’,” John says laughing. “So I said, ‘Great…now what are we going to do?’”

The two ultimately hooked up to market the first DW product: Don’s new design for a height-adjustable trap-case seat. Selling about a dozen seats a month, John quit his day job and went to work full-time for Don.

When DW received a purchase order for 100 seats from Camco Drum Company, Don and John realized that they had an innovative product that would sell. Thirty years later, DW is now offering a new version of the trap-case adjustable seat, made out of a lighter weight material, called the 6100 Adjustable Trap-Case Seat.

However, when DW created the original trap case seat, they had the capacity and personnel to create only a dozen seats a month, not 100. Don was still teaching and playing a nightly gig while John built the products. Shortly thereafter, Camco Drum Company owner Tom Beckman approached Don in 1977 with an offer to sell him Camco’s machinery, dies and molds, everything it took to make Camco drums and hardware-everything except the Camco name itself. This gave Don the opportunity to expand his capacity for creating the seats and to expand his product line.

At that point, Don made the decision to accept the offer and change the direction of Drum Workshop from teaching and selling to manufacturing.

(For those who do not remember, the Camco outfit offered a fine and most individual looking line of drums–their round lugs, still a DW design feature today–really made them stand out. Camco was never as big as the “big four,” but they did have some endorsers, including the drummer of The Beach Boys.)

“The idea of failing never really occurred to me,” Don remarks. “Based on our mini-success with the seat, we had learned that if we could offer drummers products that would improve their drumming, we could be successful. Of course, having a desire to go into manufacturing and having the money to do so are two different things.”

Borrowing most of the money from his parents and some from outside investors, Don purchased Camco’s tooling and reintroduced the Camco 5000 nylon strap bass drum pedal under the DW name. The pedal was refined to improve consistency, quietness, smoothness and adjustability of its mechanical operation. As the pedal was rapidly becoming “the drummer’s choice,” Don continued to search for ways to further improve it.

The rest is history. The ever-expanding line of DW drums, kits and hardware is the drum industry standard. Specifically, with their “Classics Series,” “Jazz Series” and 6000 Series of ultra-light stands, DW has successfully brought a legacy of percussion tradition to the year 2007. Call them “traditionally innovative,” if you will, or as they deservedly say, “The Drummer’s Choice.”

Would Gene and Buddy be DW artists? You bet.

I urge each and every JazzLegends.com visitor from around the world to visit DW on the web at www.DWDrums.com

We look forward, at some time in the not-too-distant future, to contact the fine DW folks about becoming involved with JazzLegends.com, as well as with the Gene Krupa upcoming 100th Birthday celebration and subsequent show based on Gene’s life and music.

It’s not only because I have a vested interest in these titles, but two, brand new DVD projects from Hudson Music constitute essential viewing and study. “The Art of Playing with Brushes,” presented by Adam Nussbaum and Steve Smith, presents the drum and brush masters–Billy Hart, Eddie Locke, Joe Morello, Charli Persip and Ben Riley–in performance and in instructional segments. This incredible, three -DVD set is, as the copy accurately says, “an educational and inspirational resource that will never go out of date and is certainly one that belongs in every drummer’s library.” JazzLegends.com visitors will also enjoy the vintage clips by the likes of Kenny Clarke, Denzil Best and many more.

And finally, “Classic Rock Drum Solos” is here. Despite the fact that helping to write and produce this incredible DVD took a year off my life–these vintage rock drummers were a handfull–the result is incredible. JazzLegends visitors and guests, though not rock-oriented, will love the clips by Louis Prima’s Jimmy Vincent, Billy Haley’s Ralph Jones, Louis Jordan’s Shadow Wilson, The Ventures’ Mel Taylor, Lionel Hampton, Gene Krupa, host Carmine Appice, and the many clips where the influence of Buddy and Gene are quite obvious. For ordering info, log on to www.HudsonMusic.com

Finally, our Krupa drumsticks are getting great reviews and seem to be very much in demand. For ordering info, log on to www.Bopworks.net.

Keep swingin’

Bruce Klauber

At long last, Chris Bennett of the Bopworks drum stick company, the Gene Krupa Estate and yours truly are able to announce the pending availability of the first, officially sanctioned Krupa stick to hit the market since 1972. Those of you who follow this column and have asked about the sticks’ release are well aware of the time it’s taken to get this deal together. There were times, quite frankly, when Chris Bennett and I were about to throw in the towel, and it is a testament to his patience and dedication that this has finally happened. I can tell you that the stick is well worth waiting for. Bopworks puts out, in my estimation, the finest product on the market, and their Mel Lewis and Shelly Manne models are prime examples of the company’s integrity and dedication to quality and authenticity. JazzLegends.com expects to have the sticks available in the coming weeks, though the first ones to likely have them will be www.Bopworks.net and the retailers they currently service. It is my goal to, at some point, have the Krupa model stick available everywhere drum sticks are available, including mega retailers like Guitar Center, Sam Ash and maybe even Target, to say nothing of web giants like Musicians Friend, Interstate Music, etc. If any of the JazzLegends.com visitors and supporters are retailers–or know of one–get in touch with Chris Bennett directly at: Info@bopworks.net or visit the Bopworks web site. We may have mentioned that our good friend Michael Berkowitz, who leads the “New Gene Krupa Orchestra” (officially sanctioned by the Estate), is our first endorser, and it’s an honor to have him. There are none better and make sure you get his CDs. In many of the recreations I’ve heard through the years, either the band has been great and the drummer mediocre, or vice versa. In this case, both Berkowitz and the group are fabulous.

Because of our constant shuttling back and forth from Philadelphia to Florida, we are changing our mailing address in order to better serve our long-standing mail-order customers. Though the thought did occur to do away with mail order totally, it is certainly understandable that there are some supporters out there who would prefer not to order via the web and/or may not have web capability. The new mail-order address is: JazzLegends.com c/o Bruce Klauber, 450 Domino Lane #D-5, Philadelphia, PA 19128. Don’t forget to include the “D-5.” From time to time, we still get phone calls asking if we accept credit cards by telephone. No, credit card orders are strictly done on the web site with PayPal.

We are still discussing –with the greatest webmaster who ever webmastered –the possibility of making downloads available on some of our CDs and DVDs. I’m told that it’s quite an involved and possibly costly process, and we are thinking seriously about the pros and the cons. Bear in mind that such things would be available on a tune-by-tune basis for a cost of around $5.00, perhaps less. One idea that someone floated was to make “preview” downloads available, i.e., 30-to-50 second samples that would help a buyer decide what to buy. When JazzLegends.com first started back in the prehistoric days, we had Real Audio samples on the site, but there was really no way to track just how many folks took advantage of that feature. Feel free to mull this over in the Forum. JazzLegends.com will abide by your decision.

We are again urging you to support the Fresh Sound record label out of Barcelona. As the company who released our JATP in Hamburg package, Fresh Sound is doing things that absolutely no one else in the industry is doing. If this release does well, there is always the possibility that the company would release other JATP programs, with and without Gene. Remember that their product is available via WorldsRecords.com, Ejazzlines.com, and the Fresh Sound web site.

Also in the “urging” arena, we are constantly attempting to broaden our scope and our variety of selections. The name of the site, after all, is “Jazz Legends.” so we’re happy to have added artists like Count Basie, Gerry Mulligan, Ella Fitzgerald, Art Blakey, Coleman Hawkins, Boots Randolph, Kenny Clarke and many others during the past several months. Take advantage of what we have, and ask for the artists and/or CD or DVDs you seek. We’ll do our best to make them available. There is life beyond Gene!

We have reached the serious negotiating phase for the wide, commercial release of our “Jazz Legends on Television” DVD, a 90-minute, “best-of” compilation of the great, jazz-oriented TV specials of 1957 to 1962. Though we offer it on our site, this is one of those projects, like the JATP in Hamburg concert, that cries out for worldwide retail and international web release. For some reason, it’s been a tough sell, but something is up in the marketplace. The good folks at Jazz Icons did so well with their first spate of DVD releases, that a half-dozen more new discoveries are now set for release. These include titles by Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Dexter Gordon and something that we cannot wait to view: John Coltrane and Stan Getz in concert, together! Though these giants were poles apart stylistically, they did have a great, great deal of respect for each other. When a jazz writer once asked Trane his thoughts about Stan Getz, Coltrane replied, “Let’s face it…wouldn’t we all want to sound like Stan?”

Now in the final editing stage is the long-in-preparation “Classic Rock Drum Solos” DVD from Hudson Music. This has taken all of us over two years to put together, and we all eagerly anticipate the final result. Whatever your feeling about rock and rock drumming, there is no question that all of these players are technically astounding in their own way. Just to refresh your memory about the stellar line up of soloists, they include Louis Prima’s Jimmy Vincent, Louis Jordan’s Shadow Wilson, tributes to Lionel Hampton and Krupa, Bill Haley’s Ralph Jones, The Ventures’ Mel Taylor, Sandy Nelson, Ginger Baker, Carl Palmer, Ron Bushey, Ian Paice, Michael Shrieve, Clive Bunker, Carmine Appice (who also hosts) Cozy Powell, Don Brewer, Keith Moon, Neil Peart and Steve Smith. We only await permission from the family of John Bonham in order to complete this DVD. Watch this space and HudsonMusic.com for release dates.

Finally, Joy Adams joins me in thanking all of you who attended our recent show in the Philadelphia area. As they say in the vernacular, “the joint was mobbed,” and we hope to do something like this several times per year.

God bless and keep swingin… Bruce Klauber, July, 2007

After six months of living in the relative paradise of Naples, FL, adjustment to being in big city Philadelphia has been rather difficult. The good news is that just as I have almost adjusted to Philadelphia, Joy Adams and I will be returning to Naples on July 15th. No, we won’t be there for six months, but will be taking advantage of the inexpensive air fares from Philadelphia to Fort Myers, and spending, perhaps, a month here and a month there. If playing opportunities existed for me in Philadelphia, my attitude might have been different. However, there are no playing opportunities for me in Philadelphia and there are several in Naples, FL. Don’t ask me why.

Some seasons back, we were asked to remove one of our most popular and important CD titles from the JazzLegends.com catalog. This was and is called “The Drums by Jo Jones.” For those of you who did not obtain it, this historic document was actually a two-LP set cut in Europe in the mid-1970s. Papa Jo spoke of the drumming legends he knew, demonstrated percussion styles, tributes, rudiments, how to use the drum set’s components, and much more.

After a few months of offering this for sale—and by the way, the original LP was given to me as a gift by the great organist/pianist/arranger Milt Buckner—we started receiving calls from various record labels, manufacturers and distributors from France and England who claimed they owned the rights to this project and that they were looking for a proper and wide distribution deal in the states. We almost had a distribution deal with Hudson Music in New York, but the people supposedly in charge of the Jones project were asking for far too much money (that we wish we had). The deal fell through, and shortly after, we were sent a cease and desist letter, saying that if we didn’t remove “The Drums by Jo Jones” from our catalog, there would be legal ramifications.

Despite the fact that other outfits were selling this, we removed it. We’re in the music education business here, not the legal ramifications business. The saddest thing of all is that, even though “The Drums by Jo Jones” is supposedly available in a deluxe, CD edition via the French people who first produced it, the project is almost impossible to find anywhere. That’s sad, as all we ever wanted to do was make this available.

The good news is that we have acquired a series of ultra-rare and quite unbelievable European footage of the one and only “Papa” Jo Jones, in mini-concerts with Illinois Jacquet and Milt Bucker. “Jo Jones in Europe,” which we offer on DVD (and VHS for those who want it that way) is top-quality audio and color film from the early 1970s that features almost an hour of Jo Jones as the superb soloist and accompanist he was. Footage of Jo, as you’re aware, is very, very rare, so this is a must have. Bonus footage on this DVD is a mini-concert, featuring another great drummer (and this may be the only film footage that exists of him) by the name of J.C. Heard. J.C. backs a great little band that features Doc Cheatham and Sammy Price, among others.

When “The World of Gene Krupa” book was first published some 17 years ago, most of the other jazz books on the market were, mainly, the same titles that had been on the library shelves under “jazz” for the past 20 years. Things have thankfully changed since then and these days, it seems that almost every jazz player of note has an autobiography on the market, to say nothing of histories, compendiums of a writers’ works (Dan Morgenstern, Stanley Crouch, Andre Hodier, Gary Giddins, and Frances Davis among them) and works on vintage instruments. Most are well worth reading, and some of the newer titles include bios of Wayne Shorter, Al Haig, Lee Konitz, Warne Marsh, Paul Desmond, Lennie Tristano, Tommy Dorsey, and a bunch of titles on Miles Davis (pass by the one written by his son); a big band history from Hal Leonard Publishing written by Dr. William F. Lee; a history, believe it or not, of the Coon-Sanders Nighthawks; a book on vintage metal/engraved snare drums also published by Leonard, histories of Impulse Records and The Village Vanguard; photo books from Lee Tanner and others; and auto bios by Horace Silver , Arturo Sandoval, and George Shearing. The list is by no means all-inclusive. What the jazz book market needs, in one opinion, is an unbiased, detailed history of the life and music of Buddy Rich. The book written by Mel Torme’, rest his soul, was more of a personal remembrance as was the odd duck of a work called “The Torment of Buddy Rich.” Doug Meriwether has no equal as a Buddy discographer, but a discography is only a small part of the Buddy Rich story. Steve Peck has dozens of one-of-a-kind Buddy photos, and dozens of those who new and loved BR are still around. I will say it here and on the record that if Cathy Rich and family will allow me to bury the hatchet where Buddy is concerned, I will do everything in my power to help get a book off the ground.

We recently told you about the wonderful the new drum magazine, “Traps.” There is another jazz magazine that’s hit the stores recently, and it’s a good one. “Jazzed,” published six times per year, is devoted to the large, and most significant area of jazz education. To our knowledge, only the IAJE Journal has been solely devoted to the education area. “Jazzed” is most welcome, and for subscription information, log onto www.jazzedmagazine.com

Our Krupa “The Great Concert” CD, recorded in 1966, is one of the best we’ve heard in terms of music and sound quality. In addition to being available on JazzLegends.com, it is also out there on CDBaby.com It’s so good, we want everyone to know about it.

Michael Berkowitz and the New Gene Krupa Orchestra have a new CD coming out shortly. This is the best Krupa tribute band (and one of the best big bands, period) that we’ve heard. Watch this space for more news.

We’ve had many, many requests and queries about the status of the new Krupa model drum stick. We do have, after long months of negotiations and waiting, an agreement from the Estate, but we are just waiting on the acceptance of a few modifications of said agreement. Believe us, this is going to happen.

You may recall that I was pretty knocked out by the performance of Steve March Torme’, Mel’s son, at The Philharmonic in Naples, FL, earlier this year. Steve’s management has posted my review on the home page of his web site. For those who missed it, check it out, especially those who are booking theatres and arts centers around the country. Steve gives one of the best performances of any kind…and he sells out.

Keep swingin’

Bruce Klauber

June, 2007