Krupa stayed with Goodman until 1938 and played on many of the band’s best-known recordings (such as the classic drum workout “Sing, Sing, Sing”); he was also a fixture in the Benny Goodman Trio (featuring Goodman and pianist Teddy Wilson) and subsequent Quartet (adding vibraphonist Lionel Hampton).

Louie Bellson, a musician discovered during one of Krupa’s drum contests who went on to become a hugely successful act in his own right, said of Krupa, “He was a wonderful, kind man and a great player. I made the drummer high‐priced guy and I was able to project enough so that people were drawn to jazz.”. Gene Krupa would have been 64 years old at the time of death or 106 years old today. In collaboration with the Slingerland drum and Zildjian cymbal manufacturers, he was a major force in defining the standard band drummer's kit. Gene Krupa died on 16th October 1973 aged only 64. 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.

Enjoy these eight great tracks by Gene Krupa.

Concerts, St John's Harlow Audiences clamored for a Krupa solo in every number and Goodman was wary of ceding the spotlight to a sideman. The music school helped several other recognized artists to grow, some of them were Peter Criss from the band Kiss or Jerry Nolan from the band “The New York Dolls.” Several times after retiring Gene Krupa appeared in public to perform nevertheless. Inevitably, Krupa left to start his own band. Gene, ever the forward looking musician, tried to keep up. Gene’s mother was grooming him for the Priesthood and he was sent to St Joseph’s College, where an inspired Priest, Fr Rapp, encouraged the boy’s musical aspirations. After a couple of years, they married again in 1946.
Gene Krupa was married to Ethel Maguire. The band was a disappointment to most Krupa fans, but, as he cut away the strings, it got back in a swinging groove but with new accents to accommodate the new sounds that were coming into jazz in the nineteen‐forties, including arrangements by such young newcomers as Gerry Mulligan. Basin Street Blues - The Glenn Miller Story. Critics have not always been fair to him.

Amateur Radio Facts. Normally drummers used only small drums and wood blocks on records, because it was eared that the vibrations caused by a bass drum would cause the recording needle to ??ump. Shortly after the precedentsetting concert by the Goodman band at Carnegie Hall in January, 1938, Mr. Krupa left the band and formed one of his own.

?had already lost jobs at Billy ? He recanted his earlier testimony. Your browser does not support the audio element. / Lived: 64 years: Where was Gene Krupa born?

In 1951, Krupa cut down the size of his band to a ten-piece for a short while and from 1952 on he led trios, then quartets, often with Charlie Ventura then Eddie Shu on tenor sax, clarinet, and harmonica.

He formed the Krupa /Cole Drum School with Cozy Cole and appeared on a series of Timex All Star TV Jazz Shows with his partner.