Chick Webb

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For other persons named William Webb, see William Webb (disambiguation).
Chick Webb
Birth name William Henry Webb
Born February 10, 1905(1905-02-10)
Origin Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Died June 16, 1939 (aged 34)
Genre(s) Jazz
Occupation(s) Drummer
Bandleader
Instrument(s) Drums
Bock-a-da-bock
Associated acts Johnny Hodges
Sidney Bechet

William Henry Webb, usually known as Chick Webb (February 10, 1905[1][2][3]–June 16, 1939) was a jazz and swing music drummer as well as a band leader.

Contents

[edit] Life and career

Webb was born in Baltimore, Maryland to William H. and Marie Johnson Webb. Since childhood, he suffered from tuberculosis of the spine, leaving him with short stature and a badly deformed spine. He supported himself as a newspaper boy to save enough money to buy drums, and first played professionally at age 11.

At the age of 17 he moved to New York City and by the following year, 1926, he was leading his own band in Harlem. Jazz drummer Tommy Benford said he gave Webb drum lessons when he first reached New York.

He alternated between band tours and residencies at New York City clubs through the late 1920s. In 1931, his band became the house band at the Savoy Ballroom. He became one of the best-regarded bandleaders and drummers of the new "Swing" style. Drumming legend Buddy Rich cited Webb's powerful technique and virtuoso performances as heavily influential on his own drumming, and even referred to Webb as "the daddy of them all"[4]. The Savoy often featured "Battle of the Bands" where Webb's band would compete with other top bands (such as the Benny Goodman Orchestra or the Count Basie Orchestra) from opposing bandstands.

Webb married Martha Loretta Ferguson (also known as "Sallye"), and in 1935 he began featuring a teenaged Ella Fitzgerald as vocalist. Despite rumors otherwise, "Ella was not adopted by Webb, nor did she live with him and his wife, Sallye," according to Stuart Nicholson in Ella Fitzgerald; A Biography of the First Lady of Jazz (page 36). Charles Linton, who was with the Chick Webb band, told Nicholson, "He didn't adopt her. Later he said to me, 'I'll say that I adopted her, for the press people.'"

In November of 1938, Webb's health began to decline, and from then until his death he alternated time on the bandstand with time in hospitals. He died the following year in Baltimore. After his death, Ella Fitzgerald led the Chick Webb band until she left to focus on her solo career in 1942.

[edit] Disputed Year of Birth

  • It appears that both his death certificate and his grave marker give his birth year as 1909.
  • During his lifetime a book entitled "Rhythm on Record" by Hilton Schleman stated his birth year was 1907.[7]

[edit] Trivia

Webb is one of the jazz drummers whose style is imitated by street drummer Gene Palma in the film Taxi Driver (1976), suggesting his influence is pervasive down the decades.

[edit] References

Stuart Nicholson, Ella Fitzgerald; A Biography of the First Lady of Jazz (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1993), p. 36.

  1. ^ American Rag, Uhl Tidings column, November 2005.
  2. ^ Setting the Record Straight
  3. ^ Chick Webb - Internet Movie Database
  4. ^ Buddy Rich Drummerman
  5. ^ Encyclopedia Britannica
  6. ^ Chick Webb - Internet Movie Database
  7. ^ Rhythm on Record: Who's Who and Register of Recorded Dance Music, 1906/1936, Hilton Schleman, Melody Maker Limited, London, 1936, page 264.

[edit] External links

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