Tommy Benford
Template:Infobox musical artist Thomas Benford (April 19, 1905 – March 24, 1994)<ref name="storyville" /><ref name="watrous" /> was an American jazz drummer.
Biography
Tommy Benford was born in Charleston, West Virginia.<ref name="storyville" /><ref name="watrous" /> He and his older brother, tuba player Bill Benford, were both orphans who studied music at the Jenkins Orphanage in Charleston, South Carolina.<ref name="allmusic" /> He started playing in an orphanage band and continued with the drums for the next 60 years.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He went on tour with the school band, traveling with them to England in 1914.<ref name="allmusic" />
In 1920, he was working with the Green River Minstrel Show.<ref name="allmusic" /> Benford recorded with Jelly Roll Morton<ref name="qgazette" /> in 1928 and 1930. He also played with Duke Ellington, Fats Waller and Eddie South.<ref name="allmusic" /><ref name="qgazette" /> From 1932 till 1941 Benford lived in Europe, where in 1937 he participated in one of the most memorable recording sessions ever in Paris, with Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli.
Benford died on March 24, 1994, at Mount Vernon Hospital in Mount Vernon, New York.<ref name="watrous" />
References
- 1905 births
- 1994 deaths
- African-American drummers
- American jazz drummers
- Dixieland drummers
- Swing drummers
- 20th-century American drummers
- American male drummers
- 20th-century American male musicians
- American male jazz musicians
- Harlem Blues and Jazz Band members
- 20th-century African-American musicians
- Musicians from Charleston, West Virginia
- Drummers from West Virginia