Mickey Roker

Mickey Roker
Left to right: Mickey Roker, Ben Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, and a hidden Rodney Jones in Buffalo, N.Y. 1977
Background information
Birth name	Granville Roker
Born	March 9, 1932 (1932-03-09) (age 79) Miami, Florida, USA
Genres	Jazz, hard bop, bebop
Occupations	Drummer
Instruments	Drums
Associated acts	Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Duke Pearson, Tommy Flanagan, Ella Fitzgerald, Zoot Sims, Horace Silver, Junior Mance, Sarah Vaughan, Milt Jackson, Herbie Hancock, Phil Woods, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Bucky Pizzarelli, Stanley Turrentine, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Hank Jones, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Locke, many more

Granville "Mickey" Roker (born March 9, 1932) is an American jazz drummer. Roker was born into extreme poverty in Miami to Granville (Sr.) and Willie Mae Roker. After his mother died (his father never lived with them), when he was only ten, he was taken by his grandmother to live in Philadelphia with his uncle Walter, who gave him his first drum kit and communicated his love of jazz to his nephew. He also introduced the young Roker to the lively jazz scene in Philadelphia, where the great Philly Joe Jones became Roker's idol.

Roker learned quickly, and he never stopped playing. In the early 1950s he started to gain recognition as a sensitive and yet hard-driving big-band drummer. Especially favored by Dizzy Gillespie, Roker was soon in demand for his supportive skills in both big-band and small-group settings.

Still active on the Philadelphia scene in the 21st century, Roker has recorded with Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Duke Pearson, Tommy Flanagan, Ella Fitzgerald, Zoot Sims, Horace Silver, Junior Mance, Sarah Vaughan, Milt Jackson, Herbie Hancock, Phil Woods, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Bucky Pizzarelli, Stanley Turrentine, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Hank Jones, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Locke, and a seemingly endless list of other jazz greats.

Discography

As sideman

With Duke Pearson

• Wahoo! (1964)
• Honeybuns (1965)
• Prairie Dog (1966)
• Sweet Honey Bee (1966)
• Introducing Duke Pearson's Big Band (1967)
• The Phantom (1968)
• Now Hear This (1968)
• How Insensitive (1969)
• It Could Only Happen with You (1970)

With Sonny Rollins

• There Will Never Be Another You (album) (Impulse!, 1965)
• Sonny Rollins on Impulse! (Impulse!, 1965)

With Blue Mitchell

• Boss Horn (1966)

With Frank Foster

• Manhattan Fever (Blue Note, 1968)

With Bobby Hutcherson

• San Francisco (1970)

With Horace Silver

• All (1972)
• In Pursuit of the 27th Man (1973)

With Milt Jackson

• Olinga (1974)

With Stanley Turrentine

• Rough 'n' Tumble (1966)
• The Spoiler (1966)

With Lee Morgan

• Standards (1967)
• Live at the Lighthouse (1970)
• Sonic Boom (released 1979)

External links

• Adler, David R. "Old-school drummer shares laughs, post-bebop classics". philly.com (12/31/2007)
• Delvecchia, Mike. "Mickey Roker: The Voltan of Ortlieb's Jazzhaus". Philadelphia Arts Writers Web site (June 2004)
• "Mickey Roker" (Drummerworld Web Site)

Persondata
Name	Roker, Mickey
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 9, 1932
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death