THREAD: Bet you can name a fictional white dwarf character but probably don’t know that one of the greatest jazz drummers of all time – who helped launch Ella Fitzgerald’s career – was a black man with dwarfism?

Oh you didn’t?

Well allow me to introduce…

(Please read & RT) 1/

“One of the great #jazz drummers and bandleaders of the 1920s and 30s”, William ‘Chick’ Henry Webb was born February 10 1909.

He grew up in #Baltimore, USA.

2/

Congenital tuberculosis of the spine caused his short stature. Chick was just over 4’0” and he had a hunched back.

He started drumming – buying his first drums with wages earned from delivering newspapers – to loosen stiffness in his joints and increase upper body strength.

3/

He had to fit his drums with adapted pedals, and started playing professionally – aged only 11 – on the local segregated ‘excursion’ boats.

4/

About 1924 – aged just 15 - Chick moved to New York City where he started playing in clubs.

On Sundays, he’d jam with jazz heavyweights (like Duke Ellington).

Chick encountered #ableism early on.

Often, his #disability meant others didn’t even consider auditioning him.

5/

Webb used custom-made pedals, ‘goose-neck’ cymbal holders, a 28-inch bass drum & a variety of other percussion instruments when he played.

(I would’ve liked to have got a better sense of what he needed adapted & what he didn’t, but this wasn’t really clear from what I read.)
6/

Chick couldn’t read #music, so he’d memorise arrangements.

He defined swing music as: "like loving a gal, and having a fight, and then seeing her again."

7/

By 1926 Chick had his first job as a bandleader, heading up the ‘Harlem Stompers’.

Duke – like a manger to the band – helped them get their first big gigs.

In 1927 Webb signed as the Savoy Ballroom’s (one of the few non-segregated clubs at the time) house band, in #Harlem.

8/

In 1927, aged just 18, Webb and his band “became the talk of Harlem” after beating Joe King Oliver and Fletcher Henderson respectively in a ‘battle of the bands’.

(So crushing was the defeat Oliver’s drummer – who had snubbed Webb beforehand - apologised to him afterwards.)

9/

Three years later, Webb would prepare for battle again – this time against two huge heavyweight bands, Duke Ellington’s and Cab Calloway’s, playing against each other at the Savoy in 1930.

Webb beat them.

Both.

10/

In May 1935 Webb hired an 18 year-old teenager - named Ella Fitzgerald.

When the Savoy owner's objected - seeing Ella as shy - Chick insisted, “Listen to the voice!”

By November 1936, they were recording as “Ella Fitzgerald and Her Savoy Eight.”



11/

In 1937, Webb and his band toppled the heralded Benny Goodman Orchestra – with the great Gene Krupa on drums - in a "battle of the bands” in front of a record-breaking crowd of 4,000 people at the Savoy.

12/

(In fact, SO big were the crowds – a further 5,000 were turned away – that the Savoy club manager called the fire department…

and the mounted police…

and THE RIOT SQUAD.

#Standard)

13/

Chick's battle with Benny Goodman revealed his lazer-like focus and competitiveness.

Before taking the stage, Webb told his band-mates:

“Tonight we got to make history… anybody do any little thing wrong… just pack and go home because this is my life.”

14/

Gene Krupa – widely celebrated as one of the G.O.A.T.s – said of Chick: “I’ll never forget that night - he just cut me to ribbons… When he felt like it, he could just cut down any of us.”

Webb became known as ‘the King of the Drums’.

(Check the crown on the bass drum!)

15/

An exceptionally talented drummer, Webb and his band lost only one battle – to none other than Duke Ellington (also in 1937).

(Caveat for strict jazz heads: in 1938 he battled Count Basie and, from what I’ve read, the final verdict is unclear.)

16/

In 1938, Ella Fitzgerald would go on to provide the band with their biggest hit record, 'A-Tisket, A-Tasket’.

Other hits included ‘Liza’ and ‘T’aint What You Do’.

Chick and Ella “were very close, supportive, and loving of one another.”



17/

Throughout 1938, Webb maintained a brutally punishing schedule of playing, touring, and recording.

After playing in #Boston, he was admitted to hospital but discharged after two weeks.



18/

Writers suggest Webb’s disability and his devotion to his band-mates made him work twice as hard.

“He didn’t want to be seen as sickly, so he would keep going. His loyalty...made it impossible for him to ease up…despite the fatigue and the pain.”



19/

Webb might have been ruthlessly competitive, but he was also deeply caring – especially of his friend, Ella Fitzgerald.

As his health deteriorated, Chick instructed his band-mates:

“Anything happens to me… take care of Ella… Just take care of Ella.”

20/

On 16 June 1939, Chick Webb died following a major operation in Johns Hopkins hospital.

Legend has it his last words were “I’m sorry: I’ve got to go”. He was only 30.

Over 7,500 people attended his funeral in Baltimore where, as a tribute, Ella Fitzgerald sang ‘My Buddy’.

END

(Sources: Falzerano, C. ‘Chick Webb: The Little Giant’; Adelson, B: ‘The Lives of Dwarfs’; https://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Chick_Webb.html; https://www.pas.org/about/hall-of-fame/william-chick-webb; https://web.archive.org/web/20160519163857/http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/interactives/harlem/faces/chick_webb.html; https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/chickwebb#.ULhw-mCmAeN; The Afro American. 17 February 1940)

PS: I would've liked to have learned more about the racism and ableism (and, of course, the intersection of the two) that Chick Webb must've encountered as a disabled black man in segregated America, but there wasn't much in the sources mentioned.

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Thank you.

Picture captions:

Tweet 1/ a: photo is of Chick Webb on drums, Artie Shaw on clarinet, and Duke Ellington on piano, all in a crowded room.

Tweet 1/ b: photo is of Chick Webb, playing.

Tweet 2/ picture is of Chick, alone, on drums. Right arm is raised like he's about smash the cymbal.

Tweet 6/ picture is of Chick on drums looking ultra focussed. The background is blurred.

Tweet 7/ picture is of a signed headshot of Chick looking young, handsome, and ultra-pouty. #instagram would approve.

Tweet 8/ picture is of the Savoy Ballroom billboard in Harlem, NYC.

Tweet 10/ pics are of Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway. Chick would defeat both in Battle of the Bands but later lose a second match to Duke Ellington.

Tweet 12/ picture is of Gene Krupa - whom Chick beat in a battle of the bands.

Tweet 15/ picture is of Chick playing his drums. A big crown with 'C.W.' is plastered on the bass drum. Webb would become known as King Of The Drums.

Tweet 16/ picture is of Duke Ellington hugging Chick, playfully. Artie Shaw (I think) looks on.

Tweet 20/ picture is of Ella Fitzgerald on stage. Chick is peeping over the drums at her.

The last picture is of Ella and Chick sat down together. They are close. She is writing music. He is beside her in maybe a dressing gown. His hand is on her wrist, as he looks at the compositions.