Chick Webb

For other persons named William Webb, see William Webb (disambiguation).

William Henry Webb, usually known as Chick Webb (February 10, 1905–June 16, 1939) was a jazz and swing music drummer as well as a band leader.

Life and career

Webb was born in Baltimore, Maryland to William H. and Marie Johnson Webb. He suffered from childhood tuberculosis, leaving him with short height and a badly deformed spine. He supported himself as a newspaper boy and saved up money to buy drums, and first played professionally at age 11.

At twenty he moved to New York City and by the following year, 1926, he was leading his own band in Harlem. Jazz drummer Tommy Benford said he gave Webb drum lessons when he first reached New York.

He alternated between band tours and residencies at New York City clubs through the late 1920s. In 1931, his band became the house band at the Savoy Ballroom. He became one of the best-regarded bandleaders and drummers of the new "Swing" style. Drumming legend Buddy Rich cited Webb's powerful technique and virtuous performances as heavily influential on his own drumming, and even referred to Webb as "the daddy of them all". The Savoy often featured "Battle of the Bands" where Webb's band would compete with other top bands (such as the Benny Goodman Orchestra or the Count Basie Orchestra) from opposing bandstands.

Webb married a woman named Sallye, and in 1935 he began featuring a teenaged Ella Fitzgerald as vocalist. He formally adopted her.

In November of 1938, Webb's health began to decline, and from then until his death he alternated time on the bandstand with time in hospitals. He died the following year back in his original hometown of Baltimore, MD. After his death, Ella Fitzgerald led the Chick Webb band for the remainder of the swing era.

Disputed birthdate

Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, and Coleman Hawkins are among several early jazz musicians whose birthdates have been disputed. Many sources give Webb's birth year as 1909; however there is research that shows this may be incorrect.

The Encyclopædia Britannica Online gives two possible years for his birthdate, 1902 and 1909. . Still other publications claim other years. The New York Times reported in 1939 that Webb was born in 1907.

Eric B. Borgman claims that he has proven that Webb was actually born in 1905, based on the 1910 and 1920 United States censuses. The Internet Movie Database has since adopted the 1905 year.

It appears that his death certificate gives his birth year as 1909 but only after 1907 was written over. During his lifetime a book entitled "Rhythm on Record" by Hilton Schleman believed his birth year was 1907.

Trivia

Webb is one of the jazz drummers whose style is imitated by street drummer Gene Palma in the film Taxi Driver, suggesting his influence is pervasive down the decades.

External links

• Internet Movie Database
• "Setting the Record Straight" article
• Chick Webb: Baltimore's Jazz Giant
• The Life and Music of Chick Webb

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