Isaac Day Jr. (1925 – 1958), better known as Ike Day, was a Chicago-based

hard bop Hard bop is a subgenre of jazz that is an extension of bebop (or "bop") music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz that incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospe ...

and

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo (usually exceeding 200 bpm), complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerou ...

jazz drummer.

Life

Referred to as “legendary” by many jazz musicians, including Andrew Hill, very little is known about Day except for a few specific dates when he played with Tom Archia and his All Stars, with Gail Brockman, Andrew "Goon" Gardner or John "Flaps" Dungee,

Gene Ammons Eugene "Jug" Ammons (April 14, 1925 – August 6, 1974), also known as "The Boss", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. The son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons, Gene Ammons is remembered for his accessible music, steeped in soul and R ...

, Claude McLin (possibly), Junior Mance, George Freeman and Jo Jo Adams, a line-up that recorded at the Pershing Ballroom, Chicago in early 1948, and with Fats Navarro, LeRoy Jackson, Clarence "Sleepy" Anderson, Gene Ammons and Tom Archia at

Leonard Chess Leonard Samuel Chess (born Lejzor Szmuel Czyż; March 12, 1917 – October 16, 1969) was a Polish-American record company executive and the founder of Chess Records alongside his brother Phil. He was influential in the development of the recor ...

's club, the Macomba Lounge, in 1948, where both

Kenny Dorham McKinley Howard "Kenny" Dorham (August 30, 1924 – December 5, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and occasional singer. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention ...

and

Max Roach Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He wo ...

went to see him,Campbell, Robert L. and Leonard J. Bukowski, and Armin Büttner "The Tom Archia Discography"
Retrieved July 3, 2013. as did, according to Duke Groner, Buddy Rich and

Louie Bellson Louie Bellson (born Luigi Paolino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni, July 6, 1924 – February 14, 2009), often seen in sources as Louis Bellson, although he himself preferred the spelling Louie, was an American jazz drummer. He was a composer ...

. Ike Day started playing professionally in April 1943, at around the age of 17, when he filed a contract with the Musicians Union for a 12-week contract at the Bar o' Music. After a month, however, he was suspended by the Commissioner of Police for bad behaviour.Campbell, Robert L. and Robert Pruter, George R. White, Tom Kelly, George Paulus “The Aristocrat Label”
Retrieved July 5, 2013. In April 1944, he was in a band led by Jesse Miller performing at Joe's Deluxe Club, with Albert Atkinson (sax), Kermit Scott (tenor sax), Argonne Thornton (piano), Walter Buchanan (bass). He also recorded a Gene Ammons/Christine Chatman session for

Aristocrat The aristocracy (''from Greek'' ''ἀριστοκρατία'' ''aristokratía'', "rule of the best"; ''Latin: aristocratia'') is historically associated with a "hereditary" or a "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the ...

on February 28, 1949, released as ''Jug and Sonny'' (Chess LP 1445), ''The Soulful Saxophone of Gene Ammons'' (Chess LP 1442) and ''Gene Ammons – Early Visions'' (Cadet 2CA 60038).) In 1950 he led a trio featuring

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded over sixt ...

and Vernon Bivel just before Rollins was convicted on a drugs charge and sentenced to eight months.

Johnny Griffin John Arnold Griffin III (April 24, 1928 – July 25, 2008) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Nicknamed "the Little Giant" for his short stature and forceful playing, Griffin's career began in the mid-1940s and continued until the month of ...

recalls that Buddy Rich hired Day to join his big band and that Slim Gaillard took him to New York in the late 1940s, where he played at Minton's. Griffin also called on him to substitute

Philly Joe Jones Joseph Rudolph "Philly Joe" Jones (July 15, 1923 – August 30, 1985) was an American Jazz drumming, jazz drummer. Biography Early career As a child, Jones appeared as a featured tap dancer on ''The Kiddie Show'' on the Philadelphia radio stat ...

in the Joe Morris-Johnny Griffin band. and refers to Day playing as a duo with Wilbur Ware, double bassist Richard Davis recalls jamming with Ware and Day and

Ahmad Jamal Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones; July 2, 1930 – April 16, 2023) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, and educator. For six decades, he was one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz. He was a NEA Jazz Ma ...

mentions having played with him at the Palm Tavern. Day died in his early 30s, of tuberculosis brought on by drug abuse. According to Roy Haynes, he was living but hospitalized with tuberculosis in the late 1950s.Burt Korall, ''Drummin' Men: The Heartbeat of Jazz, The Bebop Years'', Oxford University Press, 2004, p.254
/ref>

Legacy

Ike Day was admired by many other drummers, including Tommy Hunter (Sun Ra Arkestra), Roy Haynes and Vernel Fournier, Feather, Leonard, Gitler, Ira (1999
''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz''. Oxford University Press
At Google Books. Retrieved July 3, 2013. and, according to Wilbur Campbell, both

and

Art Blakey Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the 1 ...

had expressed their admiration for Day, as did Joe Segal in his liner notes to Johnny Griffin's debut solo album on

Blue Note Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue no ...

, '' Introducing Johnny Griffin''.

Jo Jones Jonathan David Samuel Jones (October 7, 1911 – September 3, 1985) was an American jazz drummer. A band leader and pioneer in jazz percussion, Jones anchored the Count Basie Orchestra rhythm section from 1934 to 1948. He was sometimes k ...

described him as "one of the greatest drummers who ever lived". Likewise, Sonny Rollins also refers to Day as one of the finest musicians he ever worked with.

Discography

; As sideman *1948: ''Cabbage Head'' – Tom Archia"Tom Archia – ''Cabbage Head''"

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

. Retrieved July 3, 2013. :1949: Gene Ammons/Christine Chatman session for

released as ''Jug and Sonny'' (Chess LP 1445), ''The Soulful Saxophone of Gene Ammons'' (Chess LP 1442) and ''Gene Ammons – Early Visions'' (Cadet 2CA 60038).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Ike Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown American jazz drummers 1925 births 1950s deaths American male drummers