Cozy Cole - Swinging Drums (2016)

He was born William Randolph Cole in East Orange, New Jersey in 1909. Cozy had studied music from childhood and his career spanned the entire history of jazz with debut records made with Jelly Roll Morton between 1927-1930 continuing to play until the week of his death. Primarily known as a swing drummer, Cozy Cole worked with some of the best big bands including Benny Carter, Stuff Smith, Cab Calloway, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, Earl Hines, Jelly Roll Morton, Teddy Wilson, Bunny Berigan, Bud Freeman, Lionel Hampton, and Coleman Hawkins.

Between 1938 and 1942 Cozy was featured with the dynamic Cab Calloway band, on three drum pieces which may be the earliest drum feature recordings. They were Paradiddle, Ratamacue, and Crescendo In Drums. Cole was featured in two Broadway musicals, Carmen Jones (1954) and Seven Lively Arts (1946). He was also the first black musician to work as a CBS Studio staffman. His drumming bridged the swing to bebop gap when he recorded with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie between 1945-1946. In fact, in a 1960 issue of Down Beat, Don DeMicheal noted that Cozy’s “major addition to the jazz drummer’s frame of reference was a technical one: hand and foot independence. He was one of the first—if not the first—to develop and master this coordination, which is such a necessity for today’s drummer.” ~Scott Fish