Ed Shaughnessy

Edwin Thomas "Ed" Shaughnessy (January 29, 1929 – May 24, 2013) was a swing music and bebop drummer best known for his long association with Doc Severinsen and The Tonight Show Band on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

Biography

Shaughnessy was born in Jersey City, New Jersey and grew up in the New York City area, working in the 1940s with George Shearing, Jack Teagarden, and Charlie Ventura. In the 1950s he worked in the Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey bands. In the 1960s he played for Count Basie prior to joining The Tonight Show Band. He was the drummer on Bashin': The Unpredictable Jimmy Smith in 1962 which featured big band arrangements by Oliver Nelson, including the pop hit "Walk on the Wild Side" which peaked at #21 on the Billboard chart. Shaughnessy recorded extensively throughout his career and was known for his drum competition with Buddy Rich.^[1]

Although best known as a big band drummer, Shaughnessy also performed small group work with Gene Ammons, Roy Eldridge, Billie Holiday, Mundell Lowe, Teo Macero, Charles Mingus, Shirley Scott, Jack Sheldon, Horace Silver, and many others. For several years Shaughnessy was a member of the house band at Birdland and other New York clubs. In the early 1970s he was doing similar work in Los Angeles and is credited with discovering Diane Schuur, whom he introduced at the 1976 Monterey Jazz Festival. Shaughnessy played in an early incarnation of the "Sesame Street" orchestra along with percussionist Danny Epstein, reed player Wally Kane, and, on occasion, guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli.

He was an endorser of Ludwig drums, Sabian cymbals and Pro-Mark drumsticks.

Shaughnessy was married to Ilene Woods, the original voice of Cinderella, who died in 2010. He died of a heart attack in Calabasas, California at the age of 84.^[2][3]

Discography

As sideman

With Trigger Alpert

• Trigger Happy! (Riverside, 1956)

With Gene Ammons

• The Soulful Moods of Gene Ammons (Moodsville, 1962)

With Bob Brookmeyer

• The Dual Role of Bob Brookmeyer (Prestige, 1954)

With Gary Burton

• The Groovy Sound of Music (RCA, 1963)

With Teddy Charles

• Collaboration West (Prestige, 1953)

With Jimmy Forrest

• Soul Street (New Jazz, 1962)

With Dizzy Gillespie

• Cornucopia (Solid State, 1969)

With Etta Jones

• From the Heart (Prestige, 1962)
• Lonely and Blue (Prestige, 1962)

With Hubert Laws

• Crying Song (CTI, 1969)

With Mundell Lowe

• The Mundell Lowe Quartet (Riverside, 1955)
• Guitar Moods (Riverside, 1956)
• New Music of Alec Wilder (Riverside, 1956)
• Porgy & Bess (RCA Camden, 1958)
• TV Action Jazz! (RCA Camden, 1959)
• Themes from Mr. Lucky, the Untouchables and Other TV Action Jazz (RCA Camden, 1960)
• Satan in High Heels (soundtrack) (Charlie Parker, 1961)

With Oliver Nelson

• Happenings with Hank Jones (Impulse!, 1966)

With Lalo Schifrin

• Between Broadway & Hollywood (MGM, 1963)

With Shirley Scott

• For Members Only (Impulse!, 1963)
• Roll 'Em: Shirley Scott Plays the Big Bands (Impulse!, 1966)

With Ed Summerlin

• Ring Out Joy (Avant-Garde, 1968)

References

External links

• Ed Shaughnessy at the Internet Movie Database
• Pictures and biography
• "Ed Shaughnessy and Buddy Rich Drum Battle (1978)" on YouTube
• Ed Shaughnessy at Find a Grave