Chick Webb
William "Chick" Webb overcame childhood tuberculosis of the spine to become one of swing's most explosive drummers, leading the house band at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom from 1931 until his death in 1939. A teenage vocalist named Ella Fitzgerald joined his orchestra in 1935, and their 1938 novelty hit "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" became the band's biggest crossover success even as Webb's ferocious solo technique was already reshaping what a drummer inside a big band could do.
the sound in question
1938
A-Tisket, A-TasketChick Webb
we haven’t charted Chick Webb yet
this stretch of the river isn’t mapped. we trace the watershed one artist at a time — and we’re always heading further upstream.