William English (August 27, 1925 – March 4, 2007) was an American
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
drummer.
Early life
English played early in his career with
rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
musicians in the 1950s, including
Sonny Thompson
Sonny Thompson (probably August 23, 1916 – August 11, 1989), born Alfonso Thompson or Hezzie Tompson, was an American R&B bandleader and pianist, popular in the 1940s and 1950s.
Biography
There is some uncertainty over Thompson's origins, as ...
and
Amos Milburn. He then worked with
Julian Dash
Julian Dash (April 9, 1916 – February 25, 1974) was an American swing music jazz tenor saxophonist born in Charleston, South Carolina, United States, probably better known for his work with Erskine Hawkins and Buck Clayton.
Dash was a member o ...
,
Bennie Green
Bennie Green (April 16, 1923 – March 23, 1977) was an American jazz trombonist.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, Green worked in the orchestras of Earl Hines and Charlie Ventura, and recorded as bandleader through the 1950s and ...
, and
Erskine Hawkins
Erskine Ramsay Hawkins (July 26, 1914 – November 11, 1993) was an American trumpeter and big band leader from Birmingham, Alabama, dubbed "The 20th Century Gabriel". He is best remembered for composing the jazz standard "Tuxedo Junction" (1 ...
in the mid-1950s before becoming a house drummer at New York's Apollo Theatre. Late in the 1950s he worked with his own ensemble, and in the 1960s played with
Earl Hines,
Prestige Blues Swingers,
Gene Ammons,
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...
,
Joe Newman,
Stanley Turrentine
Stanley William Turrentine (April 5, 1934 – September 12, 2000) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He began his career playing R&B for Earl Bostic and later soul jazz recording for the Blue Note label from 1960, touched on jazz fusion ...
,
Kenny Burrell
Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige, Blue Note, Verve, CTI, Muse, and Concord. His collaborations with Jimmy Smith were notable, and produced the 1965 ...
, and
Eddie Jefferson
Eddie Jefferson (August 3, 1918 – May 9, 1979) was an American jazz vocalist and lyricist. He is credited as an innovator of vocalese, a musical style in which lyrics are set to an instrumental composition or solo. Jefferson himself claims t ...
. He remained active into the 1970s, working with
Eric Dixon
Eric "Big Daddy" Dixon (March 28, 1930 – October 19, 1989) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, flautist, composer, and arranger.
Dixon's professional career extended from 1950 until his death in 1989, during which time he was credited ...
among others.
References
;Footnotes
;General references
*
Barry Kernfeld, "Bill English". ''
The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz''. 2nd edition, 2004.
1925 births
2007 deaths
American jazz drummers
Jazz musicians from New York City
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