Smilin' The Blues Away: Zutty Singleton

I could not find a brief, clear, beat-by-beat overview of Zutty Singleton’s career, so I wrote this:

Arthur “Zutty”1 Singleton was born May 14, 1898 in rural Bunkie, Louisiana and moved with his family 150 miles southwest to New Orleans, where he was raised. Around the time of Zutty’s 13th birthday, he attended a tent show on the outskirts of New Orleans and befriended Louis Armstrong, then just 11 years old and singing with a vocal quartet.

In 1915, at age 16 or 17, Singleton was a working drummer, playing in New Orleans with pianist Steve Lewis2 and others before enlisting in the Navy as part of the nation’s effort in World War I.

Singleton was back in New Orleans probably by 1919. He was soon appearing with cornetist Papa Jack Celestin’s Tuxedo Brass Band, “Big Eye” Louis Nelson (clarinetist who played with Freddie Keppard), John Robichaux’s band, and with Fate Marable on the Streckfus steamboats, with whom Singleton made his first recording for Okeh in March 19243.

Singleton then left New Orleans, moving not to Chicago but to St. Louis, where in November 1925 he recorded of “Market Street Stomp” and “Won’t Don’t Blues” by trumpeter Charles Creath (the latter featuring guitarist and vocalist Lonnie Johnson).

The records4 made little impact, though Creath was an exciting player. Creath’s other connection to our story is his sister Marge, who married Singleton sometime before 1926, when the couple moved to Chicago.

In the Windy City, Zutty reconnected with Louis Armstrong, and Singleton became a part of Armstrong’s inner circle. In 1927, in one of the more curious chapters of jazz history, Armstrong, pianist Earl Hines, and Singleton attempted to go independent, firing their management, organizing themselves as a co-operative, and promoting their own shows (at a dance hall for which they held the lease). This idealistic and risky venture went belly-up right away, but Hines and Singleton formed the core of Armstrong’s second Hot Five.

These second Hot Five recordings— “A Monday Date”, “West End Blues”, “Muggles”, “Beau Koo Jack”, “St. James Infirmary”, “Hear Me Talkin To Ya”, and “Tight Like This”, among others— are some of the best Louis Armstrong ever. All were made in June, November, and December 1928, and all feature Zutty Singleton.

Though Singleton was only permitted to use a suspended cymbal and a set of “Bock-a-de-Bock” hand cymbals5 on the June sessions that yielded “A Monday Date” and “West End Blues”, on the November and December sessions, Singleton’s swinging bass drum is a clearly audible heartbeat, while his embryonic timekeeping-and-fills concept appears at just the right moments6. Jazz drumming is about to appear on record.

In 1929, Zutty moved to New York, evidently planning to join Louis Armstrong full-time. Though that did not pan out, Singleton did play on the recording of the two Fats Waller songs which launched Armstrong into the stratosphere: “Ain’t Misbehavin” and “Black and Blue”.

By now, we are so used to Armstrong that we strain to understand what a radical departure from the musical norms of 1929 “Ain’t Misbehavin” and “Black and Blue” are. Listen close to “Ain’t Misbehavin” and focus only on Zutty and Armstrong, and the century of acclimation starts to wash away: Zutty’s 4/4 bass drum, the perfect complement to Armstrong’s irrepressible rhythm, is heard continuously. Singleton’s steady swing underneath Armstrong’s free rhythm still create excitement today. What did it do 100 years ago?

Both “Ain’t Misbehavin” and “Black and Blue” were hits, which means that Singleton is now an influential musicians. Therefore, if you were into jazz and drumset in 1929, you were encountering Zutty Singleton, whether you knew his name or not.

For another side of Zutty, check out “Smiling The Blues Away” (1929) by Jelly Roll Morton in a trio with Zutty and Barney Bigard. Zutty’s roots in theater and military drumming are apparent, but this is freer than anything we’ve heard yet. Singleton plays continuously, with a throbbing heartbeat in the bass drum, time on the snare, and choked cymbals for accents and exclamations (and the briefest timekeeping). Zutty rolls along, coloring and filling in as he pleases—I hear at least one tom-tom— undoubtedly the author of his part (even if the famously bossy Morton micromanaged Singleton’s choices). This is it. Here at last, indisputably, on a jazz record by the music’s original innovators and creators, is the thing we’re searching for, full-drumset jazz drumming.

By the mid 1930s, Zutty seems to have returned to Chicago. The standout from this period is Roy Eldridge’s “After You’ve Gone”, featuring Singleton playing medium-up 4/4 with snare drum press rolls. Zutty creates real excitement by eschewing the ‘trap-drummer’ vocabulary heard with Jelly Roll Morton and the passivity of his part-of-the-texture approach with Armstrong. This must be the Zutty that the Chicago drummers— Dave Tough, George Wettling, and especially Gene Krupa— took to heart.

From 1938 to 1940, Zutty seems to be back in NYC full-time, freelancing and participating in a plethora of small-band sessions. Highlights include the Pee Wee Russell Rhythmmakers session featuring James P. Johnson, “Jungle Drums” with Sidney Bechet; a reunion with Jelly Roll Morton and Bechet that yielded a classic “Oh Didn’t He Ramble”; Singleton’s own session for Decca with Lil Hardin and Henry “Red” Allen; and the trio of Zutty, Pee Wee Russell, and Joe Sullivan for Commodore in 1941 with a nice Singleton tom-tom feature released as “About Face”.

By 1943, Zutty Singleton is no longer in New York, but in Los Angeles. As an Angeleno, Zutty appears in at least three studio films: Stormy Weather (1943) with Lena Horne and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson; New Orleans (1947) starring Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday; and A Song Is Born (1948) directed by Howard Hawks with Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo. This knocked me out— what other jazz drummer born in 1898 has three movie credits?— and is a sign of Singleton’s success.

That’s Zutty playing tasty brushes on Slim Gaillard’s original 1945 “Cement Mixer (Put-Ti-Put-Ti)” on Cadet, and it was a December 1945 Gaillard session in Los Angeles that teamed Singleton with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. “Dizzy Boogie” features Singleton’s infectious shuffle and memorable choruses from both Gillespie and Parker.

After what seems to be a brief residence in Paris from 1951 to 1953, Zutty is back in NYC, appearing with Roy Eldridge, recording with clarinetist Omer Simeon, Henry “Red” Allen, and Jimmy Rushing, and even appearing on a Riverside album (Songs Father Taught Me, by banjoist Father Joseph Dustin). Perhaps Singleton’s biggest moment of exposure in this period was the Chicago and All That Jazz NBC TV broadcast from 1961, where Zutty proudly swings out for solos from Kid Ory, Buster Bailey, Henry “Red” Allen, and Lil Armstrong on “Jelly Roll Blues” and “Dr. Jazz”.

Though Singleton remained somewhat active throughout the Sixties, a stroke in 1970 forced him to retire. As Armstrong’s own health declined, Armstrong biographer Ricky Riccardi reports several long visits between Armstrong and Singleton in Armstrong’s final year, a lovely moment to imagine.

Arthur “Zutty” Singleton, the drummer from jazz’s first generation who most clearly demonstrated the instrument’s natural flexibility, died in New York on July 14, 1975.

The range of Singleton’s collaborators reminds us immediately of Roy Haynes, but in the big picture, Zutty Singleton is a stand-in for the initial promise, reach, potential, and magic of jazz drumming, the African American percussion tradition that the world has taken to its heart.

In the meantime, enjoy Fats Waller, Lena Horne, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, and Zutty Singleton from Stormy Weather: