Charlie Parker
Modern Drummer is the world’s most widely read drum magazine, is dedicated entirely to the art of drumming and caters to the needs of amateur, semi-pro, and professional drummers.
Billy Higgins: The Shape of Jazz
Billy Higgins, who would come to play on more than five hundred albums, including three of the biggest jazz crossover hits of the 1960s (Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man,” Lee Morgan’s “The Sidewinder,” and Eddie Harris’s “Freedom Jazz Dance”), was born…
Kenny "Klook" Clarke
Kenny Clarke emerged from the swing bands of the '30s, but was actually the first important drummer of the bop era. Born in Pittsburgh in 1914, Clarke began his career with Roy Eldridge and around the Midwest with the Jeter-Pillars…
Sidney “Big Sid" Catlett: Busting Open Doors To The Modern Drumming Age
Though Big Sid Catlett came out of the swing era, he is best remembered for a drumming style that had a marked influence on the bop drummers of the ’40s. Catlett bridged the gap between the two genres, and his…
J.C. Heard: One Of The Busiest, Swingin’-est Drummers Of Classic Jazz
J.C. Heard was born in Detroit in 1917, and started out as a tap dancer. He taught himself drums at age eleven, and two years later he was working with local bands. Heard’s break into the big time came in…
William "Cozy" Cole: The Father Of Coordinated Independence
Cozy Cole, an incredibly adept player, was strongly rooted in the rudimental style, but he contributed much to jazz drumming. One of the first players to develop his own brand of hand and foot coordination, he mastered the technique thoroughly,…
