Bobby Durham (jazz musician)
Introduction


**Bobby Durham** (February 3, 1937 – July 6, 2008\) was an American [jazz drummer](/wiki/Jazz_drummer "Jazz drummer").\[ Allmusic]

Durham was born in [Philadelphia](/wiki/Philadelphia "Philadelphia") and learned to play drums while a child. He played with [The Orioles](/wiki/The_Orioles "The Orioles") at age 16, and was in a [military band](/wiki/Military_band "Military band") between 1956 and 1959\. After his discharge, he played with [King James](/wiki/King_James_%28musician%29 "King James (musician)") and [Stan Hunter](/wiki/Stan_Hunter "Stan Hunter"). In 1960, he moved to [New York City](/wiki/New_York_City "New York City"), where he played with [Lloyd Price](/wiki/Lloyd_Price "Lloyd Price"), [Wild Bill Davis](/wiki/Wild_Bill_Davis "Wild Bill Davis"), [Lionel Hampton](/wiki/Lionel_Hampton "Lionel Hampton"), [Count Basie](/wiki/Count_Basie "Count Basie"), [Slide Hampton](/wiki/Slide_Hampton "Slide Hampton"), [Grant Green](/wiki/Grant_Green "Grant Green"), [Sweets Edison](/wiki/Sweets_Edison "Sweets Edison"), [Tommy Flanagan](/wiki/Tommy_Flanagan "Tommy Flanagan"), [Jimmy Rowles](/wiki/Jimmy_Rowles "Jimmy Rowles"), and the [Duke Ellington](/wiki/Duke_Ellington "Duke Ellington") Orchestra, in which he played for five months. While working with Basie, he met [Al Grey](/wiki/Al_Grey "Al Grey"), and was a member of several of Grey's small ensembles. He accompanied [Ella Fitzgerald](/wiki/Ella_Fitzgerald "Ella Fitzgerald") for more than a decade, and worked with [Oscar Peterson](/wiki/Oscar_Peterson "Oscar Peterson") in a trio setting.

Durham also played in trios with organists such as [Charles Earland](/wiki/Charles_Earland "Charles Earland") and [Shirley Scott](/wiki/Shirley_Scott "Shirley Scott"), and there was a resurgence in interest in Durham's work during the [acid jazz](/wiki/Acid_jazz "Acid jazz") upswing in the 1990s.\[ Allmusic] Many of Durham's projects, both as sideman and as leader, came about because of his association with producer [Norman Granz](/wiki/Norman_Granz "Norman Granz"), who used him in performances with Ella Fitzgerald, [Count Basie](/wiki/Count_Basie "Count Basie"), [Harry Edison](/wiki/Harry_Edison "Harry Edison"), Tommy Flanagan, and [Joe Pass](/wiki/Joe_Pass "Joe Pass"). Durham led his own combos as well; he is noted for [scat singing](/wiki/Scat_singing "Scat singing") along with his drum solos. Durham has also performed often with [pop](/wiki/Pop_music "Pop music") and [soul](/wiki/Soul_music "Soul music") musicians such as [Frank Sinatra](/wiki/Frank_Sinatra "Frank Sinatra"), [James Brown](/wiki/James_Brown "James Brown"), [Ray Charles](/wiki/Ray_Charles "Ray Charles"), and [Marvin Gaye](/wiki/Marvin_Gaye "Marvin Gaye").

He died of lung cancer in [Genoa](/wiki/Genoa "Genoa"), Italy, aged 71\.


What was Bobby Durham's profession?