Kwasi "Rocky" Dzidzornu, also known as Rocky Dijon, was a Ghanaian-born

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

known for his 1960s and 1970s work with rock and R&B artists.

Biography

Dzidzornu was born in the British Gold Coast colony (later

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

), on 28 February 1932. In the 1960s and 1970s, he played with acts such as

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

, Nick Drake,

Ginger Baker Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and Music of Africa, Africa ...

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

Billy Preston William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer, and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, backing Little Richa ...

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born Joseph Woodward Fidler; November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Best known as a member of the rock band Eagles (band), Eagles, his five-decade career includes solo work and stints in other ...

. In 1968, producer Jimmy Miller enlisted Dzidzornu to record with the Rolling Stones. He played on the albums '' Beggars Banquet'' (1968) and ''

Let It Bleed ''Let It Bleed'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 28 November 1969 by London Records in the United States and on 5 December 1969 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom. Released during the ba ...

'' (1969). He also appeared in ''

The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus ''The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus'' is a British concert film hosted by and featuring the Rolling Stones, filmed on 11–12 December 1968. It was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who proposed the idea of a "rock and roll circus" to Jag ...

'' concert and film. In 1971, he appeared on " Can't You Hear Me Knocking" from '' Sticky Fingers''.

Bill Wyman William George Wyman ( né Perks; born 24 October 1936) is an English musician who was the bass guitarist with the rock band the Rolling Stones from 1962 to 1993. Wyman was part of the band's first stable lineup and performed on their first 19 ...

also enlisted him on his 1976 solo album '' Stone Alone''. War's drummer Harold Brown has named him as an important influence, and also credits him with teaching

. Critic Ned Sublette has written that the addition of his

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...

drumming on " Sympathy for the Devil" transformed the song from "a dirge, and a dull one at that...making it come alive".See also Stephen Davis, ''Old Gods Almost Dead: The 40-Year Odyssey of the Rolling Stones'' (

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

Digital, Inc., 2001), .
Excerpts available
at

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

. Dzidzornu died in California on 13 March 1993.

Selected discography

* 1968: '' Beggars Banquet'' (

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

) * 1969: '' Five Leaves Left'' ( Nick Drake) * 1969: ''

'' (

) * 1970: '' The Road to Ruin'' ( John and Beverley Martyn) * 1970: '' Ginger Baker's Air Force 2'' ( Ginger Baker's Air Force) * 1970: ''The Answer'' (

Peter Bardens Peter Bardens (19 June 1945 – 22 January 2002) was an English keyboardist and a founding member of the progressive rock group Camel. He played keyboards, sang, and wrote songs with Andrew Latimer. During his career, Bardens worked alongside ...

' Village) * 1971: '' Sticky Fingers'' (

) * 1971: '' The Real Thing'' (

) * 1971: '' Happy Just to Be Like I Am'' (

) * 1974: '' Fulfillingness' First Finale'' (

) * 1974: '' Perfect Angel'' (

Minnie Riperton Minnie Julia Riperton (November 8, 1947 – July 12, 1979) was an American soul singer and songwriter best known for her 1974 single " Lovin' You", her five-octave vocal range, and her use of the whistle register. Born in 1947, Riperton grew ...

) * 1974: '' Mo' Roots'' (

) * 1975: '' Music Keeps Me Together'' (

) * 1975: '' It's My Pleasure'' (

) * 1975: ''The Boys Don't Do It'' ( Hugh Masekela) * 1976: ''Stone Alone'' (

) * 1976: '' You Can't Argue with a Sick Mind'' (

) * 1976: '' Music Fuh Ya' (Musica Para Tu)'' (

) * 1977: ''

Brothers A brother (: brothers or brethren) is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingl ...

'' (

) * 1981: '' Magic Windows'' (

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

) * 1998: ''Do What You Like'' (

) * 2009: '' Valleys of Neptune'' (

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

)

References

External links

Rocky Dzidzornu at Discogs.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dzidzornu, Rocky 1932 births 1993 deaths Conga players 20th-century drummers