Irv Kluger (July 9, 1921 – February 28, 2006) 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.

Career

He was born in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States. Kluger played violin early in life before settling on drums; his first professional gigs came at age 15. He played with

Georgie Auld Georgie Auld (May 19, 1919 – January 8, 1990) was a jazz tenor saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader. Early years Auld was born John Altwerger in Toronto, Canada, and moved to Brooklyn, New York, in 1929. Before the family left Canada, Auld ...

in 1942-43, then with

Bob Chester Bob Chester (March 20, 1908 – October 29, 1966) was an American jazz and pop music bandleader and tenor saxophonist. Chester was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. His stepfather ran General Motors's Fisher Body Works. He began his care ...

Freddie Slack Frederick Charles Slack (August 7, 1910 – August 10, 1965) was an American swing and boogie-woogie pianist and bandleader. Life and career Slack was born in Westby, Wisconsin, United States. He learned to play drums as a boy. Later he took ...

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

(1945),

Boyd Raeburn Boyd Albert Raeburn (October 27, 1913 – August 2, 1966) was an American jazz bandleader and bass saxophone, bass saxophonist. Career He was born in Faith, South Dakota, United States. Raeburn attended the University of Chicago, where he led a ...

(1945–47), Bobby Byrne and

Herbie Fields Herbie Fields (Herbert Bernfeld, May 24, 1919 – September 17, 1958) was an American jazz musician. He attended New York's famed Juilliard School of Music (1936–38) and served in the U.S. Army from 1941 to 1943. Career Membership in the Raym ...

(1947). Following this he played with

Stan Kenton Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though ...

(1947–48),

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

(1949–50), then for a short time in 1950 with

Tex Beneke Gordon Lee "Tex" Beneke ( ; February 12, 1914 – May 30, 2000) was an American saxophonist, singer, and bandleader. His career is a history of associations with bandleader Glenn Miller and former musicians and singers who worked with Miller. Hi ...

. He played less jazz after 1950, working in the

pit orchestra A pit orchestra is a type of orchestra that accompanies performers in Musical theatre, musicals, operas, ballets, and other shows involving music. The term was also used for orchestras accompanying silent movies when more than a piano was used. ...

s of Broadway shows such as ''

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Run ...

'' (1950–53). He returned to play with Artie Shaw again in 1953–54 as a member of the Gramercy Five. In the middle of the 1950s he moved to California and played at the Moulin Rouge in Hollywood as the house drummer. He played with

Dave Pell David Pell (February 26, 1925 – May 7, 2017) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and record producer. He was best known for leading a cool jazz octet in the 1950s. Biography Pell played in his teens with the big bands of Tony Pastor, ...

in 1956, and with

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

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) 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 roo ...

later in life, doing much freelance work through the 1960s and 1970s. As a studio musician he played with

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

. Kluger never led his own recording session.

Discography

As sideman

, ''Handicap'' (Musicraft, 1990) *

Milt Bernhart Milt Bernhart (May 25, 1926 – January 22, 2004) was a West Coast jazz trombonist who worked with Stan Kenton, Frank Sinatra, and others. He supplied the solo in the middle of Sinatra's 1956 recording of ''I've Got You Under My Skin'' conducted b ...

, ''Modern Brass'' (RCA Victor, 1955) *

, ''

The Kenton Era ''The Kenton Era'' is a compilation album by pianist and bandleader Stan Kenton featuring recordings from 1940 to 1954 which was originally released in two limited edition box sets, as fifteen 7 inch 45 rpm discs and four 12 inch LPs, on Capitol ...

'' (Capitol, 1955) *

, ''Love Story'' (Atlantic, 1956) * Dave Pell, ''Campus Hop Jazz Goes Dancing'' (RCA Victor, 1958) *

, ''On the Air Vol. 2'' (Hep, 1974) * Boyd Raeburn, ''Boyd Meets Stravinski'' (Savoy, 1955) *

, ''1949 Previously Unreleased'' (MusicMasters, 1990) *

Pete Rugolo Pietro Rugolo (December 25, 1915 – October 16, 2011), known professionally as Pete Rugolo, was an American jazz composer, arranger, and record producer. Life and career Rugolo was born in San Piero Patti, Sicily. His family emigrated to the ...

, '' The Music from Richard Diamond'' (EmArcy, 1959) *

Lennie Tristano Leonard Joseph Tristano (March 19, 1919 – November 18, 1978) was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and teacher of jazz improvisation. Tristano studied for bachelor's and master's degrees in music in Chicago before moving to New Yo ...

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. ...

, ''Crosscurrents'' (Capitol, 1972)

References

;Footnotes ;General references *

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Life and career Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...

, Irv Klugerat

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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kluger, Irv 1921 births 2006 deaths American jazz drummers 20th-century American drummers 20th-century American male musicians American male drummers American male jazz musicians Drummers from New York City