Full Circle
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Sunday, 18 December 2005 09:45 |
The Street Beat
for James Charles Heard (October 8, 1917 September 27, 1988)
Street Beat. . . The beat of the street!
Have you heard the way the beat really came from the street with Papa J.C. Heard?
He brought the beat to the stage first with tap-dancing feet then his drums were the rage
He got the beat of the street & his drums spread the word: Papa J.C. Heard
We heard him with Bird before Koko , & Dizzy Gillespie & Dexter Gordon, in 1945
out of Detroit & the Cozy Corner Club with Teddy Wilson's band
in 1939, before the war & then with Benny Carter & Cab Calloway, Coleman Hawkins,
Duke, Count Basie, Woody Herman, Louis Armstrong, Jazz At The Philharmonic,
J.C. Heard helped set the pace for the second half
of the 20th century, he created the guideline for drummers
who have come after him, Dizzy said, he was a member of the drum triumvirate
along with Kenny Clarke, who in- vented bebop drumming, & Max Roach. He was the most
prolific of drummers. He set such high standards. His loss is like losing Charlie Parker,
or Kenny [Clarke]. He made thousands of records, thousands. J.C. Heard
traveled the world, lived five years in Japan, married Hiroko & came back
to stay in Las Vegas & L.A., then returned to Detroit
to play starting in 1966 he came to play after his contribution
had been forgotten, he came to play & made the whole world listen,
Papa J.C. Heard brought us the word & the beat of the street,
for 20 years we got it all, especially the sound of his Detroit bebop big band
& the way he made it swing, that was the thing
about J.C. Heard, he made it swing, he gave us everything
& now he's gone, but like they say he went out swinging, Papa J.C., swinging all the way
Harmonie Park, Detroit October 18, 1988
3.1.670 |