Bobby Durham (February 3, 1937 – July 6, 2008) was an American jazz drummer.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

/ref> Durham was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and learned to play drums while a child. He played with

The Orioles The Orioles were an American R&B group in the late 1940s and early 1950s. One of the first vocal groups in R&B, they were early pioneers of the doo-wop sound. Dubbing themselves after Maryland's state bird, the Orioles started the trend of b ...

at age 16, and was in a

military band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind instrument, wind and percussion instruments. The conducting, conductor of a ...

between 1956 and 1959. After his discharge, he played with King James and Stan Hunter. In 1960, he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where he played with

Lloyd Price Lloyd Price (March 9, 1933May 3, 2021) was an American R&B and rock 'n' roll singer, known as "Mr. Personality", after his 1959 million-selling hit, "Personality (Lloyd Price song), Personality". His first recording, "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", was a ...

, Wild Bill Davis,

Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and bandleader. He worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, an ...

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

Slide Hampton Locksley Wellington Hampton (April 21, 1932 – November 18, 2021) was an American jazz trombone, jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. As his nickname implies, Hampton's main instrument was slide trombone, but he also occasionally played tub ...

Grant Green Grant Green (June 6, 1935 – January 31, 1979) was an American jazz guitarist and composer. Green has been called one of the "most sampled guitarists." Biography Grant Green was born on June 6, 1935, in St. Louis, Missouri, to John and ...

, Sweets Edison, Tommy Flanagan,

Jimmy Rowles James George Hunter (August 19, 1918 – May 28, 1996), known professionally as Jimmy Rowles (sometimes spelled Jimmie Rowles), was an American jazz pianist, vocalist, and composer. As a bandleader and accompanist, he explored multiple styles in ...

, and the

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

Orchestra, in which he played for five months. While working with Basie, he met Al Grey, and was a member of several of Grey's small ensembles. He accompanied

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 ...

for more than a decade, and worked with

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. As a virtuoso who is considered to be one of the greatest Jazz piano, jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordin ...

in a trio setting. Durham also played in trios with organists such as

Charles Earland Charles Earland (May 24, 1941 – December 11, 1999) was an American jazz organist. Biography Earland was born in Philadelphia and learned to play the saxophone in high school. He played tenor with Jimmy McGriff at the age of 17 and in 1960 fo ...

and

Shirley Scott Shirley Scott (March 14, 1934 – March 10, 2002) was an American jazz organist. Her music was noted for its mixture of bebop, blues, and gospel elements. She was known by the nickname "Queen of the Organ". Life and career Scott was born in P ...

, and there was a resurgence in interest in Durham's work during the

acid jazz Acid jazz (also known as club jazz, psychedelic jazz, or groove jazz) is a music genre that combines elements of funk, soul music, soul, and hip hop music, hip hop, as well as jazz and disco. Acid jazz originated in clubs in London during the 1 ...

upswing in the 1990s.

/ref> Many of Durham's projects, both as sideman and as leader, came about because of his association with producer

Norman Granz Norman Granz (August 6, 1918 – November 22, 2001) was an American jazz record producer and concert promoter. He founded the record labels Clef, Norgran, Down Home, Verve, and Pablo and the Jazz at the Philharmonic concert series. Gra ...

, who used him in performances with Ella Fitzgerald,

Harry Edison Harry "Sweets" Edison (October 10, 1915 – July 27, 1999) was an American jazz trumpeter and a member of the Count Basie Orchestra. His most important contribution was as a Hollywood studio musician, whose muted trumpet can be heard back ...

, Tommy Flanagan, and

Joe Pass Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalacqua; January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. Although Pass recorded and performed live with pianist Oscar Peterson, composer Duke Ellington, and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, he ...

. Durham led his own combos as well; he is noted for

scat singing Originating in vocal jazz, scat singing or scatting is vocal Musical improvisation, improvisation with Non-lexical vocables in music, wordless vocables, Pseudoword#Nonsense syllables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, t ...

along with his drum solos. Durham has also performed often with pop and

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

musicians such as

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

, and

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player an ...

. He died of lung cancer in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, Italy, aged 71.

Discography

As leader

* ''Bobby Durham Trio/Gerald Price'' 1979 * ''For Lovers Only'', 2001 * ''We Three Plus Friends'', featuring Massimo Faraò and Paolo Benedettini, 2001 * ''Domani's Blues'', 2004 * ''Christmas Jazz'', 2006

As sideman

With

Monty Alexander Montgomery Bernard "Monty" Alexander OJ CD (born 6 June 1944) is a Jamaican American jazz pianist. His playing has a Caribbean influence and bright swinging feeling, with a strong vocabulary of bebop jazz and blues rooted melodies. He was in ...

* ''We've Only Just Begun'' (

BASF BASF SE (), an initialism of its original name , is a European Multinational corporation, multinational company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters are located in Ludwigshafen, Ge ...

) ;With Wild Bill Davis and

Johnny Hodges Johnny Hodges (July 25, 1907 – May 11, 1970) was an American alto saxophone, alto saxophonist, best known for solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years. Hodges was also featured on sop ...

*'' Wild Bill Davis & Johnny Hodges in Atlantic City'' (RCA Victor, 1966) With

*'' Boss Organ'' (Choice, 1966 969 *'' Smokin''' (Muse, 1969/77

977 Year 977 ( CMLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * May – Boris II, dethroned emperor (''tsar'') of Bulgaria, and his brother Roman manage to escape from captivity in Const ...

*'' Mama Roots'' (Muse, 1969/77

With Tommy Flanagan *'' The Tommy Flanagan Tokyo Recital'' (Pablo, 1975) *'' Straight Ahead'' (Pablo, 1976) with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis With Al Grey *'' Grey's Mood'' (Black and Blue, 1973–75

979 Year 979 (Roman numerals, CMLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. It was the 979th year of the Common Era and the Anno Domini designation, the 979th year of the 1st millennium, the 79th year of the 10th century, ...

*'' Struttin' and Shoutin''' (Columbia, 1976

983 Year 983 ( CMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Diet of Verona: Emperor Otto II (the Red) declares war against the Byzantine Empire and the Emirate of Sicily ...

*'' The New Al Grey Quintet'' (Chiaroscuro, 1988) With Red Holloway * '' The Burner'' (

Prestige Prestige may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films *Prestige (film), ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnett: woman travels to French Indochina to meet up with husband *The Prestige (film), ''The Prestige'' (fi ...

, 1963) With

Milt Jackson Milton Jackson (January 1, 1923 – October 9, 1999), nicknamed "Bags", was an American jazz vibraphonist. He is especially remembered for his cool swinging solos as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet and his penchant for collaborating with ...

* ''Loose Walk'' ( Palcoscenico) With

Clifford Jordan Clifford Laconia Jordan (September 2, 1931 – March 27, 1993) was an American jazz tenor saxophone player and composer. Originally from Chicago, Jordan later moved to New York City, where he recorded extensively in addition to touring across ...

* '' Soul Fountain'' (

Vortex In fluid dynamics, a vortex (: vortices or vortexes) is a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis line, which may be straight or curved. Vortices form in stirred fluids, and may be observed in smoke rings, whirlpools in th ...

, 1966 970 With

Jay McShann James Columbus "Jay" McShann (January 12, 1916 – December 7, 2006) was an American jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, and bandleader. He led bands in Kansas City, Missouri, that included Charlie Parker, Bernard Anderson, Walter Brown, and B ...

*'' Some Blues'' (Chiaroscuro, 1993) With

* '' Mystical Lady'' (

Cadet A cadet is a student or trainee within various organisations, primarily in military contexts where individuals undergo training to become commissioned officers. However, several civilian organisations, including civil aviation groups, maritime ...

, 1971) * ''Queen Talk: Live at the Left Bank'' (Cellar Live, 2023) With

* ''The Way I Really Play'' (

Pausa In linguistics, pausa (Latin for 'break', from Greek παῦσις, ''pâusis'' 'stopping, ceasing') is the hiatus between prosodic declination units. The concept is somewhat broad, as it is primarily used to refer to allophones that occur in ...

, 1968) * ''The Great Oscar Peterson on Prestige'' (Prestige, 1968) * ''Live at the Blue Note'' (Telarc, 1990) * ''Saturday Night At The Blue Note'' (Telarc, 1991) * ''Last Call at the Blue Note'' (Telarc 1992) * ''Encore at the Blue Note'' (Telarc, 1993) With

*'' Portraits of Duke Ellington'' (Pablo, 1974) With Al Grey * ''The New Al Grey Quintet'' (

Chiaroscuro In art, chiaroscuro ( , ; ) is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to ach ...

, 1988) * ''Live at the Floating Jazz Festival'' (Chiaroscuro, 1990) With Jesse Green * ''Lift Off'' (Chiaroscuro, 1990) With Shawnn Monteiro and Massimo Faraò Trio * ''Never Let Me Go'' (Azzurra Music, March 2001) With Waymon Reed * '' 46th and 8th'' ( Artists House, 1977

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Durham, Bobby 1937 births 2008 deaths American jazz drummers Jazz musicians from Philadelphia Duke Ellington Orchestra members 20th-century American drummers American male drummers American male jazz musicians Black & Blue Records artists Chiaroscuro Records artists 20th-century American male musicians Oscar Peterson Trio members Drummers from Philadelphia