| Tony Crombie |
|
| Background information |
| Birth name |
Anthony John Crombie |
| Born |
August 27, 1925 |
| Origin |
London, England |
| Died |
October 18, 1999 |
| Genre(s) |
Bop[1]
Hard
bop [2] |
| Occupation(s) |
Drummer |
| Instrument(s) |
drums |
Anthony John "Tony" Crombie (August 27, 1925 - October
18, 1999)
was an English jazz drummer, pianist, bandleader and composer. He was
regarded as one of the finest jazz drummers and bandleaders, and
occasional but very capable pianist and vibraphonist, to emerge in
Britain, and as an energising influence on the British jazz scene
across six decades .
Career
Born in London,
England,
he took up drums in his teens. He began to work regularly in London
clubs, and joined vibes player Carlo Krahmer's band in
1943, before forming his own band for an Irish tour in 1947. In the
following year he was part of a trio which accompanied Duke
Ellington on the first official post-war tour of Britain by an American
jazz artist. In December 1948, he helped start the short-lived Club
Eleven in London, which became a crucial focal point for the emerging
bebop scene, and worked closely with Ronnie
Scott, Johnny Dankworth and
others, as well as forming his own Septet at the club. He was the
drummer in the Victor Feldman Trio in
1954-5, prior to Feldman's move to the USA.
He also led his own bands, including in 1956 a rock and roll
band he called The Rockets, which at one point
included future Shadows bassist Jet
Harris. The group was modelled after Bill
Haley's Comets. Tony Crombie and his Rockets released several singles
for Decca
Records and Columbia Records,
including "Teach You To Rock" produced by Norrie
Paramor, which is regarded as the first British rock and roll
record and which made the UK top 30 in October 1956. By 1958 The
Rockets had become a jazz group, including Scott and Tubby
Hayes.
The following year Crombie started another group, Jazz Inc.,
featuring pianist Stan Tracey. In 1960 Crombie
established a residency at a hotel in Monte
Carlo. On his return to England, he became the house drummer at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club,
where he accompanied visiting American stars like Ella
Fitzgerald, Coleman Hawkins, Ben
Webster and Jimmy Witherspoon. He also
performed in Israel and the USA, and began writing for films and
television. In 1963, Miles Davis recorded his composition 'So
Near, So Far', and several more of his tunes were taken up by major
jazz artists, including 'That Tune' and 'Restless Girl' by Stephane
Grappelli, with whom he often worked. He also toured with artists like Lena
Horne, Carmen
McRae, Tony
Bennett, and Jack Jones, and played piano on
the Annie
Ross album Skylark.
Crombie continued to lead his own bands throughout the 1960s
and 1970s, while also working with Scott, Tracey, pianist Alan
Clare, and Georgie Fame.
Crombie died in 1999, aged 74.
References
External links
This