Gordon "Specs" Powell (June 5, 1922 – September 15, 2007) was a

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 ...

who began performing in the swing era.

Career

Specs was the first black staff musician hired by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

in 1943. Born in New York City, he started on piano but became exclusively a drummer in the late 1930s. He worked with Edgar Hayes (1939),

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

(1941–42), and

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 ...

. He played percussion on the ''Ed Sullivan Show'' in the early 1960s and remained active professionally until the 1970s. At some point in the early 1960s he approached the Latin percussion maker Martin Cohen and had Cohen make for him an early (perhaps the first) bongo stand. In 2004 he was inducted into the Big Band Jazz Hall of Fame. Powell was also a photographer, and his photographic archives of 2500 images are preserved in the Tom and Ethel Bradley Center at California State University, Northridge. He died in San Diego of kidney disease at the age of 85.

Discography

As leader

* '' Movin' in'' (Roulette, 1957) * ''Specs Powell Presents Big Band Jazz'' (Strand, 1961)

As sideman

* Billy Butler, '' Guitar Soul!'' (Prestige, 1969) * Charlie Byrd, ''The Great Byrd'' (Columbia, 1968) *

Erroll Garner Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1921 – January 2, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His instrumental ballad " Misty", his best-known composition, has become a jazz standard. It was first r ...

, ''The Most Happy Piano'' (Columbia, 1957) * Errol Garner, ''Encores in Hi Fi'' (Columbia, 1958) * Charlie Kennedy & Charlie Ventura, ''Crazy Rhythms'' (Regent, 1957) *

Moondog Louis Thomas Hardin (May 26, 1916 – September 8, 1999), known professionally as Moondog, was an American composer, musician, performer, music theoretician, poet and inventor of musical instruments. Largely self-taught as a composer, his ...

, ''Moondog 2'' (Columbia, 1971) *

Rose Murphy Rose Murphy (April 28, 1913 – November 16, 1989) was an American jazz pianist and singer, famous for the song "Busy Line" and her unique vocal style.Brethour, Ross, sleevenotes to ''Busy Line'', a Rose Murphy best of compilation, Body and Soul, ...

, ''Jazz, Joy, and Happiness'' (United Artists, 1962) *

Red Norvo Red Norvo (born Kenneth Norville; March 31, 1908 – April 6, 1999) was an American musician, one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba, and vibraphone as jazz instruments. His reco ...

, Gene Krupa, Charlie Ventura, Teddy Wilson, ''Jazz Concert'' (Jazztone, 1956) *

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards ...

, ''The Oscar Peterson Trio and the Gerry Mulligan Quartet at Newport'' (Verve, 1963) * Bernard Purdie, '' Soul Is... Pretty Purdie'' (Flying Dutchman, 1972) * Chuck Rainey, ''The Chuck Rainey Coalition'' (Skye, 1972) *

Ray Repp Raymond Robert Repp (September 17, 1942 – April 26, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter credited with introducing folk music into Mass in the Catholic Church, Catholic Masses with his 1965 album ''Mass for Young Americans,'' an album that fo ...

, ''Hear the Cryin'' (Myrrh, 1972) *

Lightnin' Rod Jalaluddin Mansur Nuriddin (July 24, 1944 – June 4, 2018) was an American poet and musician. He was one of the founding members of The Last Poets, a group of poets and musicians that evolved in the 1960s out of the Harlem Writers Workshop in ...

, '' Hustlers Convention'' (Celluloid, 1973) *

Shirley Scott Shirley Scott (March 14, 1934 – March 10, 2002) was an American jazz organist. Her music was noted for its mixture of bebop, blues and gospel elements. She was known by the nickname "Queen of the Organ". Life and career Scott was born in Phi ...

, ''

Soul Song “Soul Song” is a song written by George Richey, Billy Sherrill and Norro Wilson and first recorded by Tanya Tucker as a track for her 1972 debut album Delta Dawn. Background The song also represented a first for co-writer Norro Wilson: a No. ...

'' (Atlantic, 1969) *

Charlie Shavers Charles James Shavers (August 3, 1920 – July 8, 1971) was an American jazz trumpeter who played with Dizzy Gillespie, Nat King Cole, Roy Eldridge, Johnny Dodds, Jimmie Noone, Sidney Bechet, Midge Williams, Tommy Dorsey, and Billie Holiday ...

, ''The Complete Charlie Shavers with Maxine Sullivan'' (Bethlehem, 1957) *

Nina Simone Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blu ...

, '' Nina Simone Sings the Blues'' (RCA Victor, 1967) * Nina Simone, '' To Love Somebody'' (RCA Victor, 1969) *

Bert Sommer Bert Sommer (February 7, 1949 – July 23, 1990) was an American folk singer and songwriter. He appeared in the musical '' Hair'' and at the Woodstock Festival, and released several albums as a singer-songwriter. Life and career Sommer was born ...

, ''The Road to Travel'' (Capitol, 1969) * Bert Sommer, ''Inside'' (Eleuthera, 1970) *

Carla Thomas Carla Venita Thomas (born December 21, 1942) is an American singer, who is often referred to as the Queen of Memphis Soul. Thomas is best known for her 1960s recordings for Atlantic and Stax including the hits "Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes)" (1 ...

, ''Memphis Queen'' (Stax, 1969) * Joe Thomas, ''

Joy of Cookin' ''Joy of Cookin is an album by American jazz flautist Joe Thomas recorded in 1972 and released on the Groove Merchant label.

'' (Groove Merchant, 1972) *

Charlie Ventura Charlie Ventura (born Charles Venturo; December 2, 1916 – January 17, 1992) was an American tenor saxophonist and bandleader from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Career During the 1940s, Ventura played saxophone for the bands o ...

, ''Jumping with Ventura'' (EmArcy, 1955) * Charlie Ventura, ''East of Suez'' (Regent, 1958) *

Reuben Wilson Reuben Wilson (born April 9, 1935) is a jazz organist. He performs soul jazz and acid jazz, and is best known for his title track "Got to Get Your Own". He was born in Mounds, Oklahoma and his family moved to Pasadena when he was 5. He played in ...

, ''

Set Us Free ''Set Us Free'' is the fifth album by American organist Reuben Wilson recorded in 1971 and released on the Blue Note Records, Blue Note label.

'' (Blue Note, 1971) *

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 ...

, ''Teddy Wilson All Star Jazz Sextette'' (Allegro, 1956) * Teddy Wilson, '' The Teddy Wilson Trio & Gerry Mulligan Quartet with Bob Brookmeyer at Newport'' (Verve, 1957)

References

External links

Scott Yanow All-Music GuideSpecs Powell obituary''Specs Powell
NAMM Oral History Program Interview (2000)
Peggy Powell Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2021) 1922 births 2007 deaths American jazz drummers Bebop drummers Hard bop drummers Musicians from New York City Swing drummers 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Jazz musicians from New York (state) 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians {{US-jazz-drummer-stub