Chick Webb

[blue lake]

Was digging Chick Webb last night. His band in 29 had it’s moments and included Louis Jordan, but after they recorded with Louis Armstrong in 1931 (“That’s My Home”) they intensified, with Edgar Sampson appearing in the sax section and trumpeter Taft Jordan on Armstrong repertoire. The Webb band, the premier dance orchestra, didn’t boast a single “star” soloist, yet the people who played in the group over the period before Ella became it’s main attraction in 1935 is an impressive concentration of talent, including cameos by Johnny Hodges and Cootie Williams.

Benny Carter’s arrangement of “Liza” is thee Webb Orchestra record. Hearing this drum feature, recorded in 1938 after Krupa’s “Sing Sing Sing” with Goodman, makes clear how Webb turned around Sid Catlett, who grew up on Zutty Singleton and Baby Dodds. Chick Webb is often credited with influencing Krupa and Rich, though his impact on Jo Jones, though short lived, is more far reaching. Right up to the now. Webb gems include “Stompin’ at the Savoy,” “When Dreams Come True,” “Don’t Be That Way,” “Blue Lou,” and “Harlem Congo.”

Stanley Dance put together members of the Ellington and Webb bands as The Gotham Stompers (with Ivie Anderson singing) in March 1937. “My Honey’s Lovin Arms” of all things (there’s a Bernard Addison sighting) on a session that swings easy and includes great drumming on “Alabamy Home.” (From The Ellington Small Bands Vol 1 on Columbia Legacy).

Was able to cobble together two sides from the Mezz Mezzrow and His Orchestra Victor session (1934), and they are incredible: “Apologies” and “35th and Calumet.” Max Kaminsky, Renauld Jones, Chelsea Qualey, trumpets; Floyd O’Brien, trombone; Mezz Mezzrow, clarinet, alto sax, arranger; Benny Carter, alto sax; Bud Freeman, tenor sax; Willie “The Lion” Smith, piano; John Kirby, bass, Chick Webb, drums.

Webb's place in the music is high atop the band.

[EKE BBB]

CHICK WEBB 1

[EKE BBB]

CHICK WEBB´S KIT CIRCA 1938

[Lazaro Vega]

EKE BBB, thanks for the pic and the diagram.

Do you have a Webb fav?

[ghost of miles]

I'm hoping to pick up the Heps--right now nearly all of my Chick is with Ella, great stuff, but I'd like to hear the instrumentals as well.

[Free For All]

Someone remind me- didn't he have some sort of physical affliction? Was it some sort of spinal problem? I'm too lazy to look it up.

Cat sure played his ass of though!

[couw]

from AMG: Chick Webb represented the triumph of the human spirit in jazz and life. Hunchbacked, small in stature, almost a dwarf with a large face and broad shoulders, Webb fought off congenital tuberculosis of the spine in order to become one of the most competitive drummers and bandleaders of the big band era.

[mikeweil]

Ha! I happen to use the same snare drum, and tom sizes. Now if I had a hunchback ...

Thanks for these great pics. I'll have to check him out a lot more.

[EKE BBB]

You can find some more good Chick Webb picks at DRUMMERWORLD.COM besides HUNDREDS OF GREAT PICTURES OF DRUMMERS.

It´s a very interesting and useful site... even for us non-drummers

[EKE BBB]

BTW you can download a ram file with a solo of Chick Webb doing "Liza"

[shawn·m]

It’s not unusual that recordings fail to capture the “excitement” of a band, but judging from the two Classics CD’s I’ve heard, I think Webb was screwed, or screwed himself when it came to documentation.

It’s not that there’s anything fatally wrong with these compilations, they are enjoyable; it’s just that they don’t come close to showing us how the band made its reputation. For instance, and probably by design, Webb’s drums were consistently buried. Technical issues probably played a part, but Webb wanted to expand his recognition and I wonder if the band’s approach changed in the studio to court a wider audience?

Does anybody know of any Webb recordings that do the band, and the man, justice?

[jazzbo]

I don't have much to add other than

WEBB RULED!

[Chrome]

That diagram was pretty cool, especially for me as a non-drummer ... is the "wheeled console" thing a structural piece that holds the kit together? Or is it some part of what actually gets played?

[jazzbo]

It looks to me like a structrual piece that compacts the space the kit would take on a small stage and allows consolidated attachment of vital equipment (also probably best allows the pedal extensions Chick needed.)

[mmilovan]

One of the most interesting moments in "Ken Burns Jazz" certainly was description of "battle" between Webb and Goodman's bands, and supported musical illustration fragments - when they played "Stompin at The Savoy".

It is interesting to hear two bands playing the same arrangement.

I always like Webb drumming. I respect him very much since I heard him playing behind Ella, fifteen years ago. The tune has that hip title: "Chew, Chew, Chew Your Bubble-gum" - you can hear how he gathered all those ensemble parts at the end of Ella vocal chorus, and later, what he did to support band as a whole.

[Chrome]

Thanks, Jazzbo.

[Lazaro Vega]

Regarding Webb being recorded -- it is too bad for jazz that he didn't get an extended feature a la Krupa on "Sing Sing Sing" put on record. Liza is as close as we can come to that (and I'm sorry but I don't know how to load mp3's or ram-ify sound clips for the net, but the recording is widely available from Webb's Decca release and in a few Decca anthologies of Big Band Swing). Given that, especially in his 1938 recordings you can hear his swing, fills and beat enough to know where Cozy Cole's sort of chugging rhythm came from. Webb was a commercial success, and maybe if he had lived longer there would have been more of an artistic interest in documenting his solo abilities, a la Baby Dodds. The 1929 Classics sides show Webb was not like earlier drummers who stuck to cow bells and wood blocks, but because of that he's harder to hear. By the mid-30's, though, he was coming through. I don't know if there's any live air shots of the Webb band in extended performance mode from the Savoy. Will look in the discography later tonight....

[shawn·m]

Thanks for the thoughts and info, Lazaro.

[Lazaro Vega]

Your welcome Shawn.

Today I went on the air and did an hour on drums because of listening to Webb the other night. Found another essay, I think by Robert Palmer, which discussed how the drum set was established as a reflection of an African, or at least African-American, parade drum ensemble or section, and that with early drummers you had a full percussive element to deal with, all those chimes and gongs and wood blocks, cow bells and paraphenalia. What Webb helped do, to paraphrase this writer, was stream line the drum set and make the rhythm more legato (as opposed to orchestral or even theatrical) in the process.

So here's the playlist:

Baby Dodds, Spooky Drums #2

Gene Krupa with Benny Goodman, Sing Sing Sing (1937 studio version).

Chick Webb Orchestra, Liza (All The Clouds Roll Away), 1938

Sidney Catlett with Lester Young, Afternoon of a Basie-ite, 1944

Sidney Catlett with Louis Armstrong, Steak Face from Satchmo at Symphony Hall, 1947

Cozy Cole, Jerico/Concerto for Cozy/Old Man River (all 1944 with either Ben Webster or Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Guarneri, etc).

Sonny Payne with Count Basie, Whirly Bird, 1950's

Elvin Jones with the John Coltrane Quartet, The Drum Thing, 1964 (?)

Of course we play Jo Jones a lot, whereas Sonny Payne.... Could have played "Cute," but Jaws on Whirly Bird kills me. And wanted to put on Blakey's "Avila & Tequila" to end, but didn't have enough time...

[mmilovan]

I think it would be interesting to add Sonny Greer to listen to when speaking of various, today almost forgotten parts of drum kit.

[Lazaro Vega]

Yes, of couse -- he came out of the pit bands of Black theater and always kept an aspect of that in his playing (and on the bandstand).

[Late]

Chick Webb & His Orchestra: Spinnin' the Webb

Listening to this one right now — a great, all instrumental, compilation with lively remastering. I missed this thread the first time around. Some good reading here!

[Late]

Well, almost all instrumental. A few vocals appear here and there.

The compilation makes you want to dance! Fun music.

[Jazz Kat]

Ah Chick Webb! I lvoe his classic kit. He was so small, but Krupa said he could of cut any drummers he wanted to.

[Late]

Chick Webb & His Orchestra: Spinnin' the Webb

Fonk.

I love this album.