Drummin' Men The Heartbeat of Jazz The Bebop Years [Paperback]

Burt Korall is widely recognized as the most authoritative writer on jazz drumming. His first bookDrummin' Men--The Heartbeat of Jazz: The Swing Erais considered a classic. Now, in this exciting sequel, Korall offers a richly informative history of drumming in the Bebop era. Korall looks at this music through the eyes of the musicians themselves, covering a whole range of important jazz drummers, but focusing upon the most original and significant--principally Kenny Clarke, Max Roach, and Art Blakey. Korall provides a knowledgeable background about the history of bebop--and the unfortunate and almost universal heroin addiction that swept through the jazz world in the wake of Charlie Parker's habit. The book contains Korall's own memoir of nearly 50 years in the jazz world, linked by his narrative of the careers of these drummers and their place in the bebop jazz scene.

An invaluable book for musicians as well as listeners. It is not only an illumination of master drummers, including some deserving more renown, but also the interviews with a wide range of musicians add new insight into jazz history. --Nat Hentoff

If you want to know what modern drumming is all about, this is your book. Burt Korall has done a remarkable job, and I strongly recommend it. --Artie Shaw

Attention drummers, jazz lovers, bebop lovers, and students of jazz history! Run--I repeat, run--do not walk to your local bookstore and purchase this absolutely wonderful book. --Allegro Korall digs deep into the hippest period in drumming history. A fascinating must-read for any drummer of style or lover of modern jazz. --William F. Miller, Editorial Director,Modern Drummer Magazine

Nobody writes about jazz drumming like Burt Korall. He gets inside the important drummers, the jazzmen who played with them, the arrangers and the leaders, to capture the excitement, the feel, even the sound of the Bebop Era. What an achievement! --Dl“\