[Dixielandjazz] Chick Webb - The Savoy King

[Robert Ringwald]

Chick Webb: The Savoy King
by Tom Reney
JazzTimes.com, April 2, 2013
Chick Webb's early death has tended to obscure the status he enjoyed among his peers
during his lifetime. Best known for discovering Ella Fitzgerald, who recorded about
50 sides with Webb's orchestra, including "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," it was actually Webb's
drumming and the precision swing of his orchestra that made him a household name
during the Swing Era. Art Blakey, Louis Bellson, Buddy Rich and other drummers who
emerged in the early '40s spoke of him with reverence; Stan Levey, who played with
Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker in 1945, called him "my first hero." Gary Giddins
celebrated him as "an absolutely brilliant drummer," and in the documentary series,
"Ken Burns Jazz," Giddins exclaims over the force with which Webb's foot pedal work
required nailing his drum kit to the stage of the Savoy Ballroom.
Webb's accomplishments were made all the more remarkable by the spinal tuberculosis
that caused him to develop a hunchback, plagued him with pain and fatigue and led
to his premature death in 1939 at the age of 34. (Webb's birthdate was never firmly
established, but most sources cite February 10, 1905.) Webb's diminutive size only
added to his larger than life stature among musicians and the thousands of jitterbuggers
who packed the dance floor of the Savoy to hear him throughout the '30s. While Webb's
recorded legacy is muddied by the aural quality of the recordings he made for Decca,
and his band lacked for household-name soloists, he remains a compelling historical
figure largely because of his association with the Savoy.
Located at the corner of 140th Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem, the Savoy Ballroom
was ground zero for Lindy Hoppers of all races at a time when most New York venues
still clung to Jim Crow customs, and the Cotton Club, where Duke Ellington presided,
was off-limits to anyone but the rich and famous. The Savoy catered to the African
American working class, but as Norma Miller recounts in "Ken Burns Jazz," "The first
place in the world that black and white walked through the door together [was the]
Savoy. They were joined by a simple thing called Swing." In the Chick Webb documentary
"The Savoy King," Miller says, "We fought a war with music and dance and that opened
doors."
Webb's brilliant drumming was fired by a competitive zeal that served him well in
the many battles of the bands he engaged in at the Savoy. Unfazed by any challenger,
Webb's orchestra locked horns with Basie, Goodman, Lunceford, Ellington and many
others. As Louis Armstrong improvised in a lively duet with Ella Fitzgerald on "Stompin'
at the Savoy," "Chick Webb cut 'em all." In his autobiography "Good Morning Blues,"
Basie credits an encounter with Webb for opening up new doors for his outfit. The
two bands squared off on January 16, 1938, the same night that Benny Goodman presented
his historic Carnegie Hall concert. Before the Count and several other Basie-ites
went downtown to join BG, they did battle with Webb.
"The Savoy was a big sellout that night because of all the buildup, and the gig itself
brought us a lot of favorable publicity, because when it was over, it was written
up just as though my band had been battling Chick for the championship," wrote Basie.
"That made people more curious about us than ever before. It helped us get bigger
and better bookings, and didn't hurt our record sales, either." As for Webb, Basie
recalled, "The Savoy was really [his] turf... and the Little Giant took charge there.
And I mean he really took charge... If you never got a chance to hear that band live,
you really missed something."
It was Webb's face-off with Goodman several months earlier that made history. Billed
as "The Musical Battle of the Century," it was witnessed by an SRO crowd of 4,000
who packed the Savoy while another 5,000 thronged the sidewalks outside. BG was already
being promoted as the King of Swing, but for blacks especially, Webb was the uncrowned
king. And on the occasion of May 11, 1937, the verdict was in his favor. As Gene
Krupa said of his drumming counterpart, "Chick Webb had cut me to ribbons."
The battle is recounted in an episode of "Ken Burns Jazz," where there's a neat back
and forth sequence between the Webb and Goodman bands playing "Don't Be That Way."
It was the story of the Webb-Goodman contest that intrigued filmmaker Jeff Kaufman.
"It was said that Webb's band 'wiped the floor' with Goodman. Mind you, his was then
the most famous band in the land. I said, 'Wow,' there seemed to be so little information
out there. I just had to find out more." The result is the documentary "Chick Webb:
The Savoy King," which premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2011.
-30-



-Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Amateur (ham) Radio Operator K6YBV
916/ 806-9551

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