Spider Webb (born Kenneth Ronald Rice; June 15, 1944) is an American jazz drummer and session musician.

Biography

Spider Webb, aka Kenneth Rice, began playing drums at an early age in his home town of Detroit. Before leaving the motor city, he recorded with United Artists and Holland-Dozier-Holland. He moved to New York in 1967 where he quickly gained prominence as a studio drummer. Webb was hired on the spot by

King Curtis Curtis Montgomery (February 7, 1934 – August 13, 1971), known professionally as King Curtis, was an American saxophonist who played rhythm and blues, jazz, and rock and roll. A bandleader, band member, and session musician, he was also a musi ...

and became the drummer for

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte ...

, from 1969 through 1972. In 1972, he played in a band backing

David Clayton-Thomas David Clayton-Thomas (born David Henry Thomsett, 13 September 1941) is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the American band Blood, Sweat & Tears. Clayton-Thomas began his musi ...

, with Smitty Smith,

Chuck Rainey Charles Walter Rainey III (born June 17, 1940) is an American bass guitarist who has performed and recorded with many well-known acts, including Aretha Franklin, Steely Dan, and Quincy Jones. Rainey is credited for playing bass on more than 1,00 ...

, and

Danny Kortchmar Daniel Kortchmar (born April 6, 1946), also known as Danny Kootch, is an American guitarist, session musician, producer and songwriter. His work with singer-songwriters such as Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, David Crosby, Carole King, David Cassi ...

. He has also recorded with

Freddie Hubbard Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives fo ...

Robert Palmer Robert Allen Palmer (19 January 1949 – 26 September 2003) was an English singer and songwriter. He was known for his powerful and soulful voice, sartorial elegance and stylistic explorations, combining soul, funk, jazz, rock, pop, regga ...

The Temptations The Temptations is an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1961 as The Elgins, known for their string of successful singles and albums with Motown from the 1960s to the mid-1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield ...

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

Grover Washington, Jr Grover Washington Jr. (December 12, 1943 – December 17, 1999) was an American jazz-funk and soul-jazz saxophonist and Grammy Award winner. Along with Wes Montgomery and George Benson, he is considered by many to be one of the founders and ...

Labelle Labelle was an American funk rock band that originated out of the Blue Belles, a girl group who were a popular vocal group of the 1960s and 1970s. The original group was formed after the disbanding of two rival girl groups in the area around ...

Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter, pianist, singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, conductor, painter, sculptor and theatre producer, who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (sometimes called "Herb Alpe ...

and

Hugh Masekela Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and f ...

, among others. Webb was once married to

Carol Kaye Carol Kaye (née Smith; born March 24, 1935) is an American musician. She is one of the most prolific recorded bass guitarists in rock and pop music, playing on an estimated 10,000 recordings in a career spanning over 65 years. Kaye began play ...

, with whom he founded the soul-jazz group Spiders Webb.

Selected discography

As sideman

*1972: '' Moon Shadow'' –

(Warner Bros., BS 2618) *1974: '' Northern Windows'' –

Hampton Hawes Hampton Barnett Hawes Jr. (November 13, 1928 – May 22, 1977) was an American jazz pianist. He was the author of the memoir ''Raise Up Off Me'', which won the Deems-Taylor Award for music writing in 1975. Early life Hampton Hawes was born on No ...

(

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 ...

) *1975: '' Feels So Good'' – Grover Washington, Jr. ( Kudu Records) *1976: '' Some People Can Do What They Like'' –

(Island Records, ILPS 9420) *1978: '' Herb Alpert / Hugh Masekela'' (Horizon, 1978)

As leader

*1976: ''I Don’t Know What’s On Your Mind'' - Spiders Webb (

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, ...

- F 9517)

Bibliography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Spider 1944 births Living people Jazz musicians from Detroit American jazz drummers 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Drummers from Detroit