Herbert "Kat" Cowans or Cowens (born May 24, 1904 - Jan. 23rd, 1993) 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 major ...

drummer born in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. Cowans worked as a shoeshine boy as a child. His first professional engagement as a drummer was with the Satisfied Five, a local Texas ensemble. After moving to Wichita Falls, he played in Frenchy's New Orleans Jazz Band, then worked with Charlie Dixon. He quit Dixon's ensemble to finish

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

while still in his teens. He played in theater orchestras early in the 1920s, then moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to play with Cleo Mitchell in the ''Shake Your Feet'' revue. Following this, he did work with the Kansas City Blackbirds, Jimmy Cooper's Black and White Revue, and Eubie Blake in addition to leading his own band (which included

Sylvester Lewis Sylvester Lewis (October 19, 1908 in Kansas City, Missouri – 1974 in New York City) was an American jazz trumpeter. Lewis played locally as a college student in Kansas City in the 1920s. His first major tour was with a traveling revue calle ...

among its members). In the 1930s Cowans played with

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...

and Stuff Smith, and joined Eddie Heywood's band for recordings behind

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop si ...

in 1941. He worked with Garvin Bushell in 1942, then played in the

pit orchestra A pit orchestra is a type of orchestra that accompanies performers in musicals, operas, ballets, and other shows involving music. The terms was also used for orchestras accompanying silent movies when more than a piano was used. In performances ...

for the Broadway show ''The Pirate''. Cowans led a

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

band in 1943, touring military bases worldwide, then led small ensembles for several decades thereafter. He also worked with

Louis Metcalfe Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

in 1963. He worked with USO again in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

in the 1970s, then retired to

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

References

* Eugene Chadbourne,

Herbert Cowans Herbert "Kat" Cowans or Cowens (born May 24, 1904 - Jan. 23rd, 1993) was an American jazz drummer born in Texas. Cowans worked as a shoeshine boy as a child. His first professional engagement as a drummer was with the Satisfied Five, a local Texa ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowans, Herbert American jazz drummers 1904 births Year of death missing Jazz musicians from Texas