The Master of Drums

audiobook (Unabridged) Gene Krupa and the Music He Gave the World

By Elizabeth J. Rosenthal

cover image of The Master of Drums
Audiobook icon Visual indication that the title is an audiobook

Sign up to save your library

With an OverDrive account, you can save your favorite libraries for at-a-glance information about availability. Find out more about OverDrive accounts.

   Not today

Find this title in Libby, the library reading app by OverDrive.

Download Libby on the App Store Download Libby on Google Play

Search for a digital library with this title

Title found at these libraries:

Library Name Distance
Loading...
From the early 1930s onward, Gene Krupa was a drum-centric rarity in the jazz world. Never before had a drummer been in the forefront as a solo artist. His galvanizing, unrestrained passion for percussion demanded it. Rocking the rafters, Gene thrilled audiences in ballrooms, nightclubs, and movies.
Seemingly born jazz-drum crazy in 1909 to a Polish-immigrant working-class family in South Chicago, Gene was a professional by the age of thirteen and soon made his first recordings. By the early 1930s, he was New York City's most in-demand drummer, and in 1934, joined brilliant clarinetist Benny Goodman's band, helped inaugurate the Swing Era, and played the first-ever swing concert at Carnegie Hall. He formed his own band and shattered racial boundaries by sharing the spotlight with the African-American trumpeter Roy Eldridge. But after a skyrocketing ride to the top, Gene experienced a rollercoaster ride of good and bad luck, emotional highs, and devastating depths.
In The Master of Drums, biographer Elizabeth J. Rosenthal crafts a celebratory, honest, and exhaustively researched portrait of a twentieth-century music legend. When he died, Gene Krupa may have left behind a world of grieving friends, colleagues, fans, students, and progeny, but as The Master of Drums proves, his dynamic musical and cultural influences live on.
The Master of Drums