William Douglass (February 28, 1923 – December 19, 1994) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

drummer born in

Sherman Sherman most commonly refers to: *Sherman (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname ** William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891), American Civil War General *M4 Sherman, a World War II American tank S ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. Douglass relocated to Los Angeles when he was six months old,Bryant, 233. becoming in his adulthood a popular Los Angeles musician who worked shows and sessions. Douglass provided drums for notable instrumentalists such as

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

and

Ben Webster Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an American jazz tenor Saxophone, saxophonist. He performed in the United States and Europe and made many recordings with Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Johnny Hodges, a ...

, as well as providing backing for vocalists such as

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years and covered film, television and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the C ...

and

June Christy June Christy (born Shirley Luster; November 20, 1925 – June 21, 1990) was an American singer, known for her work in the cool jazz genre and for her silky smooth vocals. Her success as a singer began with The Stan Kenton Orchestra. She pursued ...

. He was also known for his work in the

American Federation of Musicians The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM/AFofM) is a 501(c)(5) trade union, labor union representing professional instrumental musicians in the United States and Canada. The AFM, which has its headquarters in N ...

, where he was an active proponent of

desegregation Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation), leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws ...

. He held offices in local unions both before and after their racial integration.

Early childhood

Six months after Douglass was born in Sherman, Texas, his extended family relocated to Los Angeles in an effort to escape

Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were U.S. state, state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, "Jim Crow (character), Ji ...

. A member of a musical family, Douglass took an early interest in music. He cited as a pivotal moment in his life when he first heard Benny Goodman's drummer

Gene Krupa Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973) was an American jazz drummer, bandleader, and composer. Krupa is widely regarded as one of the most influential drummers in the history of popular music. His drum solo on Benny Goodman ...

performing "

Sing, Sing, Sing "Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)" is a 1936 song, with music and lyrics by Louis Prima, who first recorded it with his New Orleans Gang. Brunswick Records released it on February 28, 1936 on the 78rpm record format, with "It's Been So Long" a ...

" on the radio, when he realized, "That's what I had to do. That's all there was to it."Bryant, 234. Douglass met and befriended

Dexter Gordon Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians. Gordon's height was , so he was also known as "Long Tall Dexter" an ...

while attending McKinley Junior High School in Los Angeles, at which point he first began playing drums. At

Jefferson High School This is a list of memorials to Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father and third president of the United States and the author of the United States Declaration of Independence. Buildings Elementary schools *Jefferson Elementary School, in Cammack Villa ...

, both Douglass and Gordon began taking band under teacher Lloyd Reese, who encouraged the rudiments and private instruction.Bryant, 235. Though a drummer, Douglass took private keyboard instructions, which he credited with helping him to understand how the various instruments in an ensemble relate.Bryant, 236. Douglass never took private drum lessons, but eventually made the acquaintance of

Cab Calloway Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the Swing music, swing era. His niche ...

drummer

Cozy Cole William Randolph "Cozy" Cole (October 17, 1909 – January 9, 1981) was an American jazz drummer who worked with Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong among others and led his own groups. Life and career William Randolph Cole was born in East Ora ...

, who used to allow Douglass to watch him practice.Bryant, 237. Douglass learned a lot watching Cole and other drummers, who gradually helped him evolve a style of his own. Along with Gordon and Lammar Wright, Jr., Douglass began playing night clubs while still in school and frequently haunted Central Avenue, an important nexus of African-American jazz music at the time.Bryant, 239. Douglass eventually began playing drums for

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

Gerald Wiggins Gerald Foster Wiggins (May 12, 1922 – July 13, 2008) was an American jazz pianist and organist. Early life Wiggins was born in New York City on May 12, 1922.Vacher, Pete"Wiggins, Gerry" ''The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz'' (2nd edition). G ...

, along with

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

and

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

player

Red Callender George Sylvester "Red" Callender (March 6, 1916 – March 8, 1992) was an American string bass and tuba player. He is perhaps best known as a jazz musician, but worked with an array of pop, rock and vocal acts as a member of The Wrecking Cre ...

, until he and Callender left to form a trio with blind pianist

Art Tatum Arthur Tatum Jr. (, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever. From early in his career, fellow musicians acclaimed Tatum's technical ability as extraordinary. Tatum a ...

.Bryant, 243.

Military service

In 1941, Douglass graduated high school.Bryant, 245. He enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

and was assigned to the African-American

10th Cavalry Regiment The 10th Cavalry Regiment is a unit of the United States Army. Formed as a segregated African-American unit, the 10th Cavalry was one of the original " Buffalo Soldier" regiments in the post–Civil War Regular Army. It served in combat during ...

Camp Lockett file:Camp_Lockett_map.jpg, World War II map of Camp Lockett Camp Lockett was a United States Army military post in Campo, California, east of San Diego, and north of the Mexico – United States border, Mexican border. Camp Lockett has historica ...

Campo, California Campo ( Spanish for "Field") is an unincorporated community in the Mountain Empire area of southeastern San Diego County, California, United States. The population was 2,955 at the 2020 United States census. The United States Census Bureau def ...

, where he served along with his high-school band teacher as a member of the band. Fifteen months after enlisting, he was shipped overseas, serving in such diverse locations as

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

Oran Oran () is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is w ...

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Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. During these travels, Douglass became drum major of his 28-piece ensemble, a position he attributed to his "great height".

Music and political career

After leaving the service, in about 1949, Douglass began a three-year stint with Benny Goodman, where he was at the time the only black member of the band.Bryant, 248. During that period, Goodman often complained of the need to deal with a separate local chapter of the American Federation of Musicians for Douglass, as the chapters of the union were segregated. Lloyd Reese encouraged Douglass, along with fellow musicians

Buddy Collette William Marcel "Buddy" Collette (August 6, 1921 – September 19, 2010) was an American jazz flutist, saxophonist, and clarinetist. He was a founding member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet. Early life William Marcel Collette was born in ...

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz Double bass, upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author. A major proponent of collective Musical improvisation, improvisation, he is considered one of ...

and

Chico Hamilton Foreststorn "Chico" Hamilton (September 20, 1921 – November 25, 2013) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He came to prominence as sideman for Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan, Count Basie, and Lena Horne. Hamilton became a bandleader, f ...

, to work against the discrimination in the unions, which they did along with

Marl Young Marl Young (January 29, 1917 – April 29 2009) was an American musician and arranger who helped with the merger of the all-black and all-white musicians unions in Los Angeles in the early 1950s. He later became the first black music director of a m ...

and

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

. Not allowed to voice opinions at their local union from the floor, the group ran for office, succeeding well enough to take the majority position on the board of directors, though only Douglass took a high position, the vice presidency. At the same time, white members of the American Federation of Musicians were applying pressure within their local. In spite of significant opposition, a majority vote of both of the unions eventually led to their joining into one in 1953. The amalgamation of the unions was not without some difficulty.

Horace Tapscott Horace Elva Tapscott (April 6, 1934 – February 27, 1999) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He formed the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra (also known as P.A.P.A., or The Ark) in 1961 and led the ensemble through the 1990s. Early lif ...

, who was a 15-year-old member of the union at the time and remembered Douglass as among the "vanguard of the movement," indicated in his 2001 autobiography that after the amalgamation, the union was separated by

clique A clique (AusE, CanE, or ; ), in the social sciences, is a small group of individuals who interact with one another and share similar interests rather than include others. Interacting with cliques is part of normative social development regardles ...

s, where a "particular, small, black group of guys would work all the time, because they were in that particular clique with these particular guys who ran the studios." Though he said that the work seemed to get better "for certain people", he also said that many of the older musicians "didn't have anyplace to go" after the closing of the black union.

Music education

Even as a working musician, Douglass expanded into teaching drums at Drum City. Among his students, Douglass taught Ray Brown, Jr. (the adopted son of bassist Ray Brown),

Karen Carpenter Karen Anne Carpenter (March 2, 1950 – February 4, 1983) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and early drummer of the highly successful duo the Carpenters, formed with her older brother Richard Carpenter (musician), Richard. Wi ...

, and

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phra ...

Select discography

*''The Gerald Wiggins Trio'',

, 1953. *''Cal Tjader Quartet'',

Cal Tjader Callen Radcliffe Tjader Jr. ( ; July 16, 1925 – May 5, 1982) was an American Latin Jazz musician, often described as the most successful non-Latino Latin music (genre), Latin musician. He explored other jazz idioms, especially small group mod ...

(

Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

, 1956) *''The Gerald Wiggins Trio'',

The King and I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the childr ...

, 1957. *

, ''

The Lowest ''The Lowest'' is an album by bassist and tubist Red Callender, recorded for the MetroJazz label in 1958.

'' (MetroJazz, 1958) *

, '' Jazz Loves Paris'' (Speciality, 1958) *''The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Volume Seven'',

with

Buddy DeFranco Boniface Ferdinand Leonard "Buddy" DeFranco (February 17, 1923 – December 24, 2014) was an American jazz clarinetist. In addition to his work as a bandleader, DeFranco led the Glenn Miller Orchestra for almost a decade in the 1960s and 1970s. ...

, 1975. *'' The Art Tatum - Ben Webster Quartet'', Art Tatum with

(Verve, 1956

958 Year 958 (Roman numerals, CMLVIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * October / November – Battle of Raban: The Byzantine Empire, Byzantines under John I Tzimiskes, Jo ...

*''Honor Thy Fatha'',

Earl Hines Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983), was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, " ...

, 1978. *''The Complete Aladdin Recordings of Amos Milburn'',

Amos Milburn Joseph Amos Milburn (April 1, 1927 – January 3, 1980) was an American R&B singer and pianist, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. One commentator noted, "Milburn excelled at good-natured, upbeat romps about booze and partying, imbued with a ...

, 1994. *''Naturally'', The Red Norvo Quintet, 2005.

Notes

References

External links

Interview at Central for Oral History Research, UCLA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Bill American jazz drummers African-American drummers Activists for African-American civil rights 1923 births 1994 deaths People from Sherman, Texas Drummers from Los Angeles United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army soldiers 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Activists from Texas Activists from California Jazz musicians from California Jazz musicians from Texas 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Jefferson High School (Los Angeles) alumni 20th-century African-American musicians Drummers from Texas