Clem DeRosa ''(né'' Clement Richard De Rosa; May 20, 1925 – December 20, 2011,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

)''Obituary: Clem DeRosa,'' by Richard DeRosa, University of North Texas College of Music
was an American

jazz drummer Jazz drumming is the art of playing percussion (predominantly the drum kit, which includes a variety of drums and cymbals) in jazz styles ranging from 1910s-style Dixieland jazz to 1970s-era jazz fusion and 1980s-era Latin jazz. The techniques a ...

, composer, arranger, band leader, and influential music educator.

Career highlights

Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, DeRosa performed in the New York City area. He was drafted in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

and performed with Glenn Miller Air Corps band. After being discharged, he worked as a professional drummer in 1950s, performing with Charles Mingus ('' Jazzical Moods'', 1954),

Marian McPartland Margaret Marian McPartland OBE ( Turner;Hasson, Claire"Marian McPartland: Jazz Pianist: An Overview of a Career" PhD Thesis. Retrieved 12 August 2008. 20 March 1918 – 20 August 2013), was an English–American jazz pianist, composer, and wri ...

Teo Macero Attilio Joseph "Teo" Macero (October 30, 1925 – February 19, 2008) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and record producer. He was a producer at Columbia Records for twenty years. Macero produced Miles Davis' '' Bitches Brew'', and ...

Teddy Wilson Theodore Shaw Wilson (November 24, 1912 – July 31, 1986) was an American jazz pianist. Described by critic Scott Yanow as "the definitive swing pianist", Wilson had a sophisticated, elegant style. His work was featured on the records of many ...

Thad Jones Thaddeus Joseph Jones (March 28, 1923 – August 20, 1986) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader who has been called "one of the all-time greatest jazz trumpet soloists". Biography Thad Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan, U ...

Ben Webster Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Career Early life and career A native of Kansas City, Missouri, he studied violin, learned how to play blues on the piano from ...

, Clark Terry,

Phil Woods Philip Wells Woods (November 2, 1931 – September 29, 2015) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer. Biography Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. After inheriting a saxophone at age 12, he began ...

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...

, Dennis Sandole, Wally Cirillo (1927–1977), John LaPorta (''Conceptions'', 1957),

Kenyon Hopkins Kenyon Hopkins (January 15, 1912 – April 7, 1983) was an American composer who composed many film scores in a jazz idiom. He was once called "one of jazz's great composers and arrangers." Biography Early life and education Hopkins was ...

, and

Bobby Hackett Robert Leo Hackett (January 31, 1915 – June 7, 1976) was an American jazz musician who played trumpet, cornet, and guitar with the bands of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Hackett was a featured soloist o ...

. He studied composition at

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

. DeRosa earned a Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting from the Manhattan School of Music. He went on to teach music. In the 1960s, DeRosa was influential in formalizing jazz music education. DeRosa was co-founder and chairman of the National Association of Jazz Educators, the forerunner of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE). Through the NAJE, DeRosa taught with the Stan Kenton Clinics where he collaborated with Kenton and other jazz education pioneers, including Gene Hall, and Leon Breeden. He taught at the

Teachers College, Columbia University Teachers College, Columbia University (TC), is the graduate school of education, health, and psychology of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, it has served as one of the official faculties and ...

. His student ensembles performed on the television shows of Johnny Carson and

Merv Griffin Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television show host and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer, later appearing in film and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 he hosted his own t ...

. DeRosa received an honorary doctorate from the Five Towns College in 1990 and was inducted into the IAJE Hall of Fame. During the 1960s, DeRosa's high school jazz band performed in Hecksher Park, Huntington, N.Y. with leading jazz musicians, including Angelo DiPippo, Zoot Sims, Ruth Brown, Marian McPartland, Eddie Daniels, Bobby Rosengarden, Billy Taylor, Jimmy Nottingham, Clark Terry, Jimmy Rushing, and many others. The band also performed at Leonard Bernstein's home in Fairfield Connecticut along with Dizzy Gillespie; at Yankee Stadium for the University of Oklahoma in a nationally televised football game against West Point; and at half time at Buffalo in a nationally televised AFL game between the Buffalo Bills and the N.Y. Titans. After retirement in 1980, he worked mainly as a leader. He led the Glenn Miller Orchestra, whose recording in the Digital Mood for

GRP Records GRP® Records (Grusin-Rosen Productions) is a jazz record label founded by Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen in 1978. Distributed by Verve Records, GRP® was originally known for its digital recordings that focuses on its jazz genre. History With G ...

received a

Gold Disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. He also led the

ghost band A ghost band is a legacy band that performs under the name of a deceased leader. In rock and roll, it is a band that performs under the name of the band whose founders are either deceased or have left the band. Use of the phrase may refer to a re ...

s of

Jimmy Dorsey James Francis Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. He recorded and composed the jazz and pop standards " I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary Peop ...

. In the 1990s, DeRosa led the New York City Big Band. He coauthored books with

Mel Lewis Melvin Sokoloff (May 10, 1929 – February 2, 1990), known professionally as Mel Lewis, was an American jazz drummer, session musician, professor, and author. He received fourteen Grammy Award nominations. Biography Early years Lewis was ...

, Dick Hyman, Michael Moore, and

Ed Shaughnessy Edwin Thomas "Ed" Shaughnessy (January 29, 1929 – May 24, 2013) was a swing music and jazz drummer long associated with Doc Severinsen and a member of The Tonight Show Band on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''. Biography Shaughn ...

. Shortly before his death, DeRosa moved from New Jersey, where he had lived with his wife, to be near his son Richard DeRosa (born 1955), a professor of music composition at the

University of North Texas College of Music The University of North Texas College of Music, based in Denton, is a comprehensive music school among the largest enrollment of any music institution accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. It developed the first jazz studies ...

.''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz,'' by

Leonard Feather Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing. Biography Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...

Ira Gitler Ira Gitler (December 18, 1928 – February 23, 2019) was an American jazz historian and journalist. The co-author of ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'' with Leonard Feather—the most recent edition appeared in 1999—he wrote hundreds of ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

(1999)

Selected discography

*''Pioneer of Jazz Education'' (1996) * ''The Sandole Brothers & Guests,''

ZYX Music ZYX Music GmbH & Co. KG is a German record label that was founded in 1971 by Bernhard Mikulski. It is one of the most successful German record labels of the 1980s and 1990s. Until 1992, the label's name was Pop-Import Bernhard Mikulski. The labe ...

, (1955 & 2001)

Selected publications

* Dick Hyman, Clem DeRosa: ''It's Time for Some Changes Piano, '' Kendor Music, Delevan, 1980 * Clem DeRosa, Mel Lewis:'' It's Time.'' For the big band drummer Kendor Music, Delevan, 1978 * Clem DeRosa, Ed Shaughnessy:'' Show Drumming:.. The Essential Guide to Playing Drumset for Live Shows and Musicals'' Hal Leonard Corp., 2004 * Clem DeRosa, Michael Moore.'' The Michael Moore Bass method'' Rottenburg (Tübingen): Advance Music Products, 2002

References

External links

* *
Portrait at Kendor Music

{{DEFAULTSORT:DeRosa, Clem 1925 births 2011 deaths American jazz drummers American music educators Big band bandleaders Teachers College, Columbia University faculty Juilliard School alumni Manhattan School of Music alumni United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Musicians from New York City Jazz musicians from New York (state)