Gene Krupa

Biography

Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973) was an American jazz drummer, bandleader, and composer. Krupa is widely regarded as one of the most influential drummers in the history of popular music. His drum solo on Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of "Sing, Sing, Sing" elevated the role of the drummer from that of an accompanist to that of an important solo voice in the band.
In collaboration with the Slingerland drum and Zildjian cymbal manufacturers, he became a major force in defining the standard band-drummer's kit. Modern Drummer magazine regards Krupa as "the founding father of modern drumset playing".
Upon his death, The New York Times labeled Krupa a "revolutionary" known for "frenzied, flashy" drumming, with his work having generated a significant musical legacy that started "in jazz and has continued on through the rock era".

Early life

The youngest of Anna (née Oslowski) and Bartłomiej Krupa's nine children, Gene Krupa was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Bartłomiej was an immigrant from Poland born in the village of Łęki Górne, southeastern Poland. Anna was born in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, and was also of Polish descent. His parents were Roman Catholics who groomed him for the priesthood. He spent his grammar school days at parochial schools. He attended James H. Bowen High School on Chicago's southeast side. After graduation, he attended Saint Joseph's College for a year but decided the priesthood was not his vocation.
Krupa studied with Sanford A. Moeller, and began playing drums professionally in the mid-1920s with bands in Wisconsin. In 1927, he was hired by MCA to become a member of Thelma Terry and her Playboys, the first notable American jazz band to be led by a female musician (except all-female bands). The Playboys were the house band at the Golden Pumpkin nightclub in Chicago and toured throughout the eastern and central United States.

Career

Krupa made his first recordings in 1927 with a band under the leadership of Red McKenzie and guitarist Eddie Condon. Along with other recordings by musicians from the Chicago jazz scene, such as Bix Beiderbecke, these recordings are examples of Chicago-style jazz. Krupa's influences during this time included Father Ildefonse Rapp and Roy Knapp (both teachers of his), and drummers Tubby Hall, Zutty Singleton, and Baby Dodds. Press rolls (dragging one stick across the snare head while keeping the beat with the other stick) were a fairly common technique in the early stages of his development. Many other drummers (Ray Bauduc, Chick Webb, George Wettling, Dave Tough) influenced his approach to drumming, and other instrumentalists and composers such as Frederick Delius influenced his approach to music.
Krupa appeared on six recordings by the Thelma Terry band in 1928. In December 1934, he joined Benny Goodman's band, where his drum work made him a national celebrity. His tom-tom interludes on the hit "Sing, Sing, Sing" were the first extended drum solos to be recorded commercially. Conflict with Goodman, though, prompted him to leave the group and form his own orchestra shortly after the Carnegie Hall concert in January 1938. He appeared in the 1941 film Ball of Fire, in which his band and he performed an extended version of the hit "Drum Boogie×Drum BoogieAlbum · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1King Porter Stomp3:012Bugle Call Rag3:133It's Up to You2:384Drum Boogie3:085Ellington Medley7:556Man I Love4:147I'll Never Be the Same3:428Out of Nowhere3:269U.S.O.3:0610All by Myself2:4011Opus One2:55" (composed by Krupa and Roy Eldridge), sung by Martha Tilton and lip-synced by Barbara Stanwyck.
In 1943, Krupa was arrested on a falsified marijuana (cannabis) drug charge; this resulted in a short jail sentence and the breakup of his orchestra. After Krupa broke up his orchestra, he returned to Goodman's band for a few months. When Goodman wanted him to go on a West Coast tour, Krupa declined. He then joined Tommy Dorsey's band for several months and put together his next orchestra. He performed an uncredited drum riff in a montage sequence in the 1946 Oscar-winning movie The Best Years of Our Lives.
As the 1940s ended, Count Basie closed his band and Woody Herman reduced his band to an octet. In 1951, Krupa cut down the size of his band to 10 pieces for a short while. From 1952 on, he led trios then quartets, often with Charlie Ventura then Eddie Shu on tenor sax, clarinet, and harmonica. He appeared regularly in the Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts. In the 1950s, Krupa returned to Hollywood to appear in the films The Glenn Miller Story and The Benny Goodman Story. In 1959, the movie biography The Gene Krupa Story was released; Sal Mineo portrayed Krupa, and the film included cameos by Anita O'Day and Red Nichols.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Krupa often played at the Metropole near Times Square in Manhattan, and by 1956, his recordings were showcased on national radio networks by Ben Selvin within the RCA Thesaurus transcriptions library. He continued to perform in famous clubs in the 1960s, including the Showboat Lounge in northwest Washington, D.C. With peer Cozy Cole, Krupa started a music school in 1954 that carried on into the 1960s. Some of the school's students included Peter Criss of KISS and Jerry Nolan of the New York Dolls. Doug Clifford of Creedence Clearwater Revival cited Krupa as an inspiration.
Krupa was still busy in the early 1970s until shortly before his death, including several reunion concerts of the original Benny Goodman Quartette. On April 17, 1973, the Gene Krupa Quartet, composed of Eddie Shu (tenor and clarinet), John Bunch (piano), Nabil Totah (bass), and Krupa (drums), recorded a live performance at the New School featuring the Louis Prima composition "Sing, Sing, Sing".
Krupa compositions he wrote or co-wrote include "Some Like It Hot" in 1939, "Drum Boogie", "Boogie Blues", his theme song "Apurksody", "Ball of Fire×Ball of Fire1999 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 20 tracks1Rhythm Jam2:492Tutti Frutti2:253Quiet and Roll 'Em2:554Jungle Madness2:465Old Black Joe2:196Drummin' Man2:597Say Si Si2:588Love in My Hearth3:019Who?2:5110Rhumboogie2:5211Drum Boogie3:0712The Walls Keep Talking3:1413Bolero at the Savoy2:5314Thanks for the Boogie Ride3:1115Ball of Fire3:0516That's What You Think3:1217That Drummer's Band3:0118Massachusetts3:1319Let Me Off Uptown3:0520After You've Gone2:35", "Disc Jockey Jump" with Gerry Mulligan, "Wire Brush Stomp×Wire Brush Stomp2002 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 20 tracks1The Last Round-Up2:422Jazz Me Blues2:433Blues of Israel3:094Three Little Words2:455Barrelhouse2:586The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise2:567I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music3:088Mutiny in the Parlor3:059I'm Gonna Clap My Hands3:0010Swing Is Here3:0011I Know That You Know2:1212Apurksody2:5913Nagasaki2:3214Quiet and Roll 'em3:0715Wire Brush Stomp2:1616The Madam Swings It3:0417Jungle Madness2:5518Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-Der-E3:1019Blue Rhythm Fantasy5:4620Drummin' Man3:03", "Hippdeebip", "Krupa's Wail", "Swing Is Here", "Quiet and Roll 'Em" with Sam Donahue, "Bolero at the Savoy×Bolero at The SavoyAlbum · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 39 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11You’re Breaking My Heart All Over Again3:072Down Argentina Way3:043Moon Over Burma3:164High on a Windy Hill3:005I Hear Music2:556Like the Fella Once Said2:327Somewhere3:118I’d Know You Anywhere2:329How ’bout That Mess?2:4410You Danced With Dynamite3:2511When You Awake2:5912It All Comes Back to Me Now3:1013Hamtramck2:5514Yes, My Darling Daughter2:2915Full Dress Hop2:4516Sweet Georgia Brown2:5217Oh! They’re Making Me All Over in the Army2:4718Deep in the Blues3:1819You Are the One3:1420Isn’t That Just Like Love2:4321You Forgot About Me3:21Disc 21Bolero at the Savoy2:482I Know That You Know2:093Fare, Three Well, Annie Laurie2:544Wire Bush Stomp2:135Nagasaki2:286Jeppers Creepers3:017Murdy Purdy3:098Ta‐Ra‐Ra‐Boom‐Der‐E3:089Grandfather’s Clock2:4510Apurksody2:5711Never Felt Better, Never Had Less2:4612Do You Wanna Jump Children2:3313The Madam Swings It3:0214Dracula2:3815Symphony in Riffs2:5316Drummin’ Man2:5817Georgia on My Mind2:5418Fool I Am2:50", "Murdy Purdy", and "How 'Bout That Mess".

Krupa-Rich drum battles

Norman Granz hired Krupa and drummer Buddy Rich for his Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts. The two drummers performed at Carnegie Hall in September 1952, and it was issued by Verve as The Drum Battle. The two drummers faced off in a number of television broadcasts and other venues and often played similar duets with drummer Cozy Cole. Krupa and Rich recorded two studio albums together: Krupa and Rich (Verve, 1955) and Burnin' Beat (Verve, 1962).

Personal life

Krupa married Ethel Maguire twice; their first marriage lasted from 1934 to 1942 and the second from 1946 to her death in 1955. He remarried in 1959 to Patty Bowler, but they were divorced within 10 years.
In the early 1970s, Krupa's house in Yonkers, New York, was damaged by fire. He continued to live in the parts of the house that were habitable.
In 1973, Krupa died in Yonkers at age 64 from heart failure, though he also had leukemia and emphysema. He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Calumet City, Illinois.

Endorsement

In the 1930s, Krupa became the first endorser of Slingerland drums. At Krupa's urging, Slingerland developed tom-toms with tuneable top and bottom heads, which immediately became important elements of virtually every drummer's setup. Krupa developed and popularized many of the cymbal techniques that became standard. His collaboration with Avedis Zildjian developed the modern hi-hat cymbals and standardized the names and uses of the ride cymbal, crash cymbal, and splash cymbal. He is also credited with helping to formulate the modern drum set, being one of the first jazz drummers to use a bass drum in a recording session in December 1927. One of his bass drums, a Slingerland 14×26, inscribed with Benny Goodman and Krupa's initials, is preserved at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Awards and honors

In 1978, Krupa became the first drummer inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame. The 1937 recording of Louis Prima's "Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)" combined with Fats Waller's "Christopher Columbus" by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra featuring Krupa on drums, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1982.
Apollo 440's 1996 hit single "Krupa" is a tribute to Gene Krupa.

Legacy and posthumous information

Roy Knapp affirmed: "There is not a professional drummer, percussionist, or other instrumentalist who does not in some way owe something and should be grateful to Gene Krupa for his imaginative and creative contributions in the modern drum techniques and styles in performance that we are using today". Buddy Rich, who cited Krupa as one of his biggest influences, stated: "Gene Krupa was the beginning and the 'end' of all drummers". He's a great genius – a truly great genius of the drums. Gene discovered things that could be done with the drums that hadn't been done before, ever. ... Before Gene, the drums were in the background, just a part of the band. To put it in plainer terms, the drums didn't have much – meaning. Along comes Gene and the drums take on meaning and they're out of the background. The drummer becomes somebody ... Gene gets credit for making people aware of the drummer – of what he's doing and why he's doing it and he deserves every bit of that credit". Jim Chapin defined him as "a charismatic figure that made the public fully conscious of drummers".
Music critics such as Charles Waring have remarked that Krupa's methods of performing, particularly his flamboyant charisma and use of solos, evolved into the approach taken by rock drummers such as John Bonham, Bill Ward and Keith Moon. Both Ian Paice and Carl Palmer claimed they started to play the drums at an early age after listening to Krupa. Guitarist Dick Dale, who also played percussion in his early days, was a Krupa fan and said his guitar sound and rhythm came from Krupa's drumming.

As leader

1946 Drummin' With Krupa (Columbia)
1947 Gene Krupa And His Orchestra (Columbia)
1948 Gene Krupa (Columbia)
1950 Gene Krupa Plays "Fats" Waller For Dancing (Columbia)
1952 The Original Drum Battle (Verve)
1952 The Drum Battle with Buddy Rich (Verve)
1953 Timme Rosenkrantz' 1945 Concert Vol. 3 (Commodore)
1953 The Exciting Gene Krupa
1954 Sing, Sing, Sing (Verve)
1954 The Driving Gene Krupa (Verve)
1954 Gene Krupa, Vol. 1 (Clef)
1954 Gene Krupa, Vol. 2 (Clef)
1955 The Jazz Rhythms of Gene Krupa (Verve)
1955 G. Krupa-L. Hampton-T. Wilson (Verve)
1955 The Gene Krupa Quartet (Clef)
1956 Drummer Man (Verve)
1956 Krupa and Rich (Verve)
1957 Krupa Rocks (Verve)
1959 Big Noise from Winnetka (Commodore)
1959 Plays Gerry Mulligan Arrangements (Verve)
1959 Hey...Here's Gene Krupa (Verve)
1959 The Gene Krupa Story (Verve)
1961 Percussion King (Verve)
1962 Burnin' Beat with Buddy Rich (Verve)
1962 Classics in Percussion! (Verve)
1963 The Mighty Two with Louis Bellson (Roulette)
1964 The Great New Gene Krupa Quartet Featuring Charlie Ventura (Verve)
1972 Jazz at the New School (Chiaroscuro)

As sideman

With Benny Goodman

1950 Live at Carnegie Hall (1938)
1955 The Benny Goodman Story, Vols. 1-2
1956 The King of Swing, Vol. 2
1956 Trio Quartet Quintet
1997 The Complete RCA Victor Small Group Recordings (RCA Victor, 1935-39 [1997])