American jazz drummer and percussionist.
Born 7 February 1917 in Chicago, Illinois, USA Died 4 November 2005 Los Angeles, California.
He is considered by many to be one of the world's greatest drummers and percussionists. He began his professional music career in 1929 in Chicago and moved to Los Angeles in 1946, recording there for more than twenty-five years. He played with some of the very best including Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn and Benny Carter to name a few. Later in his career he also recorded with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Leonard Bernstein, John Williams, and numerous others.
He can be heard on countless soundtracks, including West Side Story, To Kill A Mockingbird and The King and I. He recorded the twitch of Samantha's nose on Bewitched and the twinkle of Tinker Bell in Disney's Peter Pan. He brought exotic instruments such as the Tabla to western recordings for the very first time after his early studies at UCLA and in India. He also traveled extensively for many years in Africa which he called the Mother of all music to study drumming and rhythmic systems.