The Master of Drums

The first definitive biography of Gene Krupa, the most famous drummer on the planet, whose feverish rhythms leapt across genres to change music forever. From jazz to the Swing Era, to rock and roll, Elton John’s biographer, Elizabeth J. Rosenthal, recounts the pioneering drummer’s exploits, challenges, and accomplishments, while framing him against not just his fellow musicians and peers but the music industry and general culture as a whole.

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. He always knew he would. It was in his blood.

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. It made history. So did Gene, whose celebrity spread with every ride cymbal beat and bass drum bomb drop. He formed his own band, hired such dazzlingly outsized personalities as singer Anita O’Day, and unconditionally shattered racial boundaries by sharing the spotlight with the blistering 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 whose acolytes would include such rock-era artists as Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, John Bonham, and Apollo 440. 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.Praise for The Master of Drums

“Elizabeth J. Rosenthal has done an excellent job in taking the myth and making it into a man. Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, John Bonham, and Animal from the Muppets are all happily in Gene Krupa’s debt. I know I am.” —Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats

“Gene Krupa was the swing drummer who rocked. His flair, talent, and obvious joy behind those Slingerland kits became the template for multiple generations of players who followed. He exploded the music with showmanship and dazzling technique, and dragged the drums out of the shadows and right onto the lip of the stage. Elizabeth J. Rosenthal has produced an exhaustively researched account of the man and the times. It’s the story of a famous drummer, but will surely appeal to everyone interested in the history of modern American jazz. Splendid!” —Rob Hirst, drummer/songwriter, Midnight Oil

“The worldwide jazz community has long needed a thorough, meticulously researched book about the man who made the drums a solo instrument. This is it! It’s been said that drums wouldn’t be played the way they are today had it not been for Gene Krupa. Elizabeth J. Rosenthal’s superb work tells us how . . . and why.” —Dr. Bruce Klauber, author of World of Gene Krupa and Gene Krupa: The Pictorial Life of a Jazz Legend

“No one played the drums like Gene Krupa, and no one has captured his life story as poignantly as Elizabeth J. Rosenthal does in The Master of Drums.” —Jeff Apter, author of Keith Urban and Carl Perkins: The King of RockabillyElizabeth J. Rosenthal is the author of the acclaimed biographies His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John and Birdwatcher: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson. An alumna of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications and Rutgers University law school, she served as legal liaison with the New Jersey Civil Service Commission for twenty-eight years before retiring to focus on writing about twentieth century popular culture and history. She lives in New Jersey and can be found online at ElizabethJRosenthal.com.