Tough, Dave [Dav(e)y; David Jaffray]
- J. Bradford Robinson
Extract
[Dav(e)y; David Jaffray]
(b Oak Park, IL, April 26, 1907; d Newark, NJ, Dec 9, 1948). American jazz drummer. As a member of the Austin High School Gang in the mid-1920s he had a formative influence on Chicago-style jazz. In the late 1920s he toured Europe, where he made his first recordings in Berlin (1927), and took part in numerous recording sessions with Eddie Condon, Red Nichols, and others in New York. Incapacitated, mainly by alcoholism, from 1929 to 1935, he then joined Tommy Dorsey’s big band (1936–7), replaced Gene Krupa in the Benny Goodman Orchestra (1938), then rejoined Dorsey (1939). He was a leading drummer of the swing period. Two prominent features of his playing with Dorsey—his ride patterns on Chinese cymbal (and later on large Turkish cymbal) and his irregular bass drum figures—were far in advance of their time, becoming widespread only in the bop style of the 1940s. He also adapted to the progressive big band style as a member of Woody Herman’s first “Herd” (...
