Mickey Roker nous a quittés RIP

de · 23 mai 2017

Mickey Roker

Mickey_Roker

Mickey Roker & Dizzy Gillespie 2.jpg

Left to right: Mickey Roker, Ben Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, and a hidden Rodney Jones in Buffalo, N.Y. 1977

Background informationBirth nameGranville William RokerBornSeptember 3, 1932 (age 84)
Miami, Florida, USADiedMay 22, 2017 (aged Expression error: Unexpected < operator–Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character “{“.Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character “{“.)Expression error: Unexpected > operatorGenresJazz, hard bop, bebopOccupation(s)DrummerInstrumentsDrumsAssociated actsDizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Duke Pearson, Tommy Flanagan, Ella Fitzgerald, Zoot Sims, Horace Silver, Junior Mance, Sarah Vaughan, Milt Jackson, Herbie Hancock, Phil Woods, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Bucky Pizzarelli, Stanley Turrentine, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Hank Jones, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Locke, many more

Granville William “Mickey” Roker (born September 3, 1932 – May 22, 2017)[1] was an American jazz drummer.

Biography[edit]

Mickey Roker w/Milt Jackson at Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay CA 1980s. Photo: Brian McMillen

Roker was born into extreme poverty in Miami to Granville (Sr.) and Willie Mae Roker. After his mother died (his father never lived with them), when he was only ten, he was taken by his grandmother to live in Philadelphia with his uncle Walter, who gave him his first drum kit and communicated his love of jazz to his nephew. He also introduced the young Roker to the lively jazz scene in Philadelphia, where the great Philly Joe Jones became Roker’s idol.

Roker learned quickly, and he never stopped playing. In the early 1950s he started to gain recognition as a sensitive yet hard-driving big-band drummer. Especially favored by Dizzy Gillespie—who remarked of him that “once he sets a groove, whatever it is, you can go to Paris and come back and it’s right there. You never have to worry about it”—[2]Roker was soon in demand for his supportive skills in both big-band and small-group settings. While in Philadelphia he played with Jimmy Oliver, Jimmy Heath, Jimmy Divine, King James and Sam Reed before moving to New York in 1959, where his first gigs were with Gigi Gryce, Ray Bryant, Joe Williams–Junior Mance, Nancy Wilson and the Duke Pearson big band.[2]

In 1992, he replaced Connie Kay in the Modern Jazz Quartet.[2]

Roker was still active on the Philadelphia scene during the 21st century before his death. He had recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Duke Pearson, Tommy Flanagan, Ella Fitzgerald, Zoot Sims, Horace Silver, Junior Mance, Sarah Vaughan, Milt Jackson, Herbie Hancock, Phil Woods, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Bucky Pizzarelli, Stanley Turrentine, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Hank Jones, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Locke, and many other jazz greats.

Discography[edit]

As sideman[edit]

[icon] This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it.(September 2010)

With Gene Ammons

With Roy Ayers

With Ray Brown

  • Red Hot Ray Brown Trio (Concord, 1987)

With Ray Bryant

With Art Farmer

With Frank Foster

With Dizzy Gillespie

With Gigi Gryce

With Herbie Hancock

With Gene Harris

  • The Gene Harris Trio Plus One (Concord, 1984)

With Bobby Hutcherson

With Milt Jackson

With Willis Jackson

With Hank Jones

With Sam Jones

With Irene Kral

With Charles Kynard

With Mike Longo

  • Funkia (GrooveMerchant, 1973)

With Junior Mance

With Herbie Mann

With Blue Mitchell

With the Modern Jazz Quartet

With Lee Morgan

With Joe Pass

With Duke Pearson

With Sonny Rollins

With Shirley Scott

With Horace Silver

With Buddy Terry

With Stanley Turrentine

With McCoy Tyner

With Harold Vick

With Mary Lou Williams

  • Zoning (Mary Records, 1974 – later reissued by Smithsonian Folkways, with expansion)
  • Free Spirits (SteepleChase, 1975)

With Cedar Walton

With Joe Williams

With Phil Woods

References[edit]

  1. Jump up^ Mickey Roker – Artist Biography at AllMusic. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  2. ^ Jump up to:a b c Feather, Leonard and Gitler, Ira (1999) The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz, p. 356. Oxford University Press at Google Books. Retrieved 1 May 2013.

External links[edit]

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