Michael McDanial
Senior Member
I don't know if anybody else feels this way, but when I'm reading jazz books or articles in jazz magazines, there seems to be an unfair bashing of the white drummers of the swing era, especially Gene Krupa.There always tends to be this attitude of "they don't deserve the recognition they get and they're only well-known because they were white drummers playing in well-known white bands".
Did white bands get more exposure than black bands at that time due to racism? Of course they did. Does that make the musicianship of the band members any less because of it? I don't think so. Why should people like Gene Krupa have to have their musical abilities being put down because of the unfair treatment of black musicians of those times, as though they had something to do with it? Wasn't Benny Goodman the one that hired Lionel Hampton and Teddy Wilson to play with him, as well as Charlie Christian a few years later? Benny was quoted as saying "I'm selling music, not prejudice. If a guy's got it, let him give it" and Hampton in his autobiography talks about this extensively. Benny's band was no fluke either. Just because he got more recognition doesn't change the fact that he had one of the hardest swinging big bands of all-time (you also have to keep in mind that the name "the king of swing" was a name given to him by the media, not a name he bestowed upon himself).
I guess Gene is an easier target than guys like Buddy Rich or Louie Bellson. Buddy Rich's dominance on a drum set was just something that could not be argued. On top of being one of the all-time great drummers, Louie was also married to Pearl Bailey, so trying to use racism against him would just make somebody look like an absolute fool.
I just don't like it when people bash somebody like Gene Krupa, acting as though the prevalence of racism at that time was partly his fault, because not only was he a great and very influential drummer (and one of my all-time favorites, right behind Louie Bellson), but he was also one of the nicest people you would ever meet, and never called anybody a racist name in his life. Even had black musicians like Roy Eldridge in his band, and we're talking about the early 40's, when something like that was considered very risky.
Did white bands get more exposure than black bands at that time due to racism? Of course they did. Does that make the musicianship of the band members any less because of it? I don't think so. Why should people like Gene Krupa have to have their musical abilities being put down because of the unfair treatment of black musicians of those times, as though they had something to do with it? Wasn't Benny Goodman the one that hired Lionel Hampton and Teddy Wilson to play with him, as well as Charlie Christian a few years later? Benny was quoted as saying "I'm selling music, not prejudice. If a guy's got it, let him give it" and Hampton in his autobiography talks about this extensively. Benny's band was no fluke either. Just because he got more recognition doesn't change the fact that he had one of the hardest swinging big bands of all-time (you also have to keep in mind that the name "the king of swing" was a name given to him by the media, not a name he bestowed upon himself).
I guess Gene is an easier target than guys like Buddy Rich or Louie Bellson. Buddy Rich's dominance on a drum set was just something that could not be argued. On top of being one of the all-time great drummers, Louie was also married to Pearl Bailey, so trying to use racism against him would just make somebody look like an absolute fool.
I just don't like it when people bash somebody like Gene Krupa, acting as though the prevalence of racism at that time was partly his fault, because not only was he a great and very influential drummer (and one of my all-time favorites, right behind Louie Bellson), but he was also one of the nicest people you would ever meet, and never called anybody a racist name in his life. Even had black musicians like Roy Eldridge in his band, and we're talking about the early 40's, when something like that was considered very risky.
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