Search Results

[Columbo, “Crazy” Chris; Morris, Joe; Morris, Joseph Christopher Columbus]

(b Greenville, NC, June 17, 1902; d Atlantic City, NJ, Aug 20 2002). American drummer and bandleader, father of Sonny Payne. His first job was in Atlantic City with Fletcher Henderson in 1921. He was active as a leader from the 1930s into the 1950s and his band was resident for a time at the Savoy Ballroom, New York. In 1943 he was a member of Al Sears’s band and from 1946 to 1952 he played regularly with Louis Jordan; he may be seen with Jordan’s group in the films Reet, Petite and Gone (1947) and Look Out, Sister (1948). Concurrently from around 1944 he began leading bands at the Club Harlem in Atlantic City, a job that continued intermittently until the club closed in 1978. In the 1950s and early 1960s he worked mainly in Wild Bill Davis’s trio; he then accompanied the singer Damita Jo and was briefly with Duke Ellington (...

(b Joppa, nr Edinburgh, Aug 12, 1930; d Stevenage, England, Nov 17, 2012). Scottish pianist, drummer, and bandleader. The son of a drummer and piano-tuner, he played with Sandy Brown’s first Jazz Band while in high school (1945), and later performed on piano and drums with Brown (1948–54). After moving to London he played drums with Ken Colyer (summer 1954–1955), Humphrey Lyttelton (spring 1955 – summer 1956, late 1956 – spring 1957, with an interruption for service in the Royal Engineers in Egypt), Bruce Turner (doubling on piano), Brown again (summer 1957), and the Fairweather–Brown All Stars, led by Brown and Al Fairweather (1958–9). He re-joined Turner as a pianist before becoming a member of Acker Bilk’s Paramount Jazz Band (July 1960 – July 1968). From 1969 Greig concentrated on piano and led his own trio and quintet, which played mainly swinging boogie-woogie and blues. He also worked as a sideman with Dave Shepherd and the double bass player Johnny Hawksworth. In ...

[Foreststorn]

(b Los Angeles, Sept 21, 1921; d New York, Nov 25, 2013). American jazz drummer, bandleader, and commercial composer. He toured with Lionel Hampton and Lester Young, among others (1940–41), before serving in the US Army. From 1948 to 1955 he regularly accompanied Lena Horne and in 1952 he played in Gerry Mulligan’s original pianoless quartet. In 1955 Hamilton founded the first of a series of quintets which introduced such emerging jazz musicians as Eric Dolphy, Ron Carter, Jim Hall, and Charles Lloyd. The groups’ innovative instrumentation—winds, cello, guitar, double bass, and drums—and soft, controlled sounds became, by jazz standards, extremely popular; their performances were captured on film in The Sweet Smell of Success (1957) and Jazz on a Summer’s Day (1958). From 1960 Hamilton’s quintet adopted a gutsy blues and swing style, and Hamilton subsequently replaced the cello with a trumpet and then a trombone. In ...

(b Chicago, IL, June 22, 1903; d Palm Springs, CA, June 7, 1971). American jazz drummer and bandleader. Born into a wealthy family, he began playing drums and was hired by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, with whom he played and recorded in 1923. While with this band he became known as perhaps the best white drummer in the style and influenced the next generation of players, including Dave Tough and Gene Krupa.

After a year on the West Coast with the Harry Bastin band, he took over Bastin’s group in 1925. For the next 15 years Pollack led big bands, primarily in Chicago and New York, before settling in Los Angeles in the late 1930s. His first band included such later jazz worthies as Benny Goodman, Bud Freeman, and Glenn Miller.

By the early 1930s Pollack had replaced his early stars with younger musicians. His affair with singer Doris Robbins caused friction in the new band and most of the musicians left to form a cooperative group later fronted by Bob Crosby. Pollack again reformed, using other young musicians including Harry James and Irving Fazola....