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Baby Dodds
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Warren Baby Dodds was an American jazz drummer, born in 1898 in New Orleans. He was the younger brother of the clarinettist Johnny Dodds and came from a musical family: his father and uncle played the violin and his sister the harmonica. His mother died when he was nine. In New Orleans he made a name at an early age as the best young drummer. In 1918 he left Sonny Celestin's group for the riverboat band of Fate Marable, in which the teenage Louis Armstrong also played. In summer the band sailed from New Orleans to St. Louis and sometimes further north, and played jazz, popular and classical music.
Music and breakthrough
In the 1930s Dodds played with Lil Hardin, Natty Dominique and the house band of the Three Deuces. Together with his brother he was heard in King Oliver's band and then in Chicago, where Johnny led his own group. Johnny died in 1940. Baby Dodds suffered a first stroke in 1949 and two more later. He still taught and played as much as he could, but no longer finished all his performances. He recorded the album Talking and Drum Solos in 1951, on which he also talks about his work, and retired in 1957. He died in 1959 in Chicago.
Influence
Dodds is regarded as one of the best jazz drummers of the time before the big bands. He mostly kept time with the bass drum and played buzz rolls on the snare on top of it, and he gave his patterns colour with accents and embellishments. His way of playing showed that in early jazz a drummer does not merely keep the tempo, but also has a voice of his own in the collective.