Music is essential to the preparation phase of entertaining. It's a statement of intent, a groove establisher and momentum generator. Your choice of musical accompaniment is key. The lead in to the party should be its own kind of celebration. Prep shouldn't feel like work, it should feel like play. The right music puts you on track to the right kind of party. And there's not much that can get you in a swinging mood faster than a stiff belt of Gene Krupa.
Stuart Krimko and I were getting ready to throw a big verdita party that was going to be filmed for the first entertaining clip here at Embury (coming this Friday). When I showed up in the middle of the afternoon to prep I found percussive, driving Big Band music pumping through the loft. "It's great, WKCR 89.9 has been playing Gene Krupa all day," Stuart exclaimed, "and it's really been working for me." As I settled in to the lengthy process of preparing a half gallon of verdita it worked for me too, and before you knew it the work was done and the party was on.
There's a insistent and joyous quality to Krupa's drumming that's great for getting things done. Krupa played like a madman, a proto John Badham, and he's the first big bandleader to play the drums. To his devoutly religious family's horror Krupa cut his teeth playing in speakeasies in Chicago during Prohibition, rising to fame as the Big Band sound exploded. Notoriety came with a celebrated bust for marijuana, which added to his wild haired mystique. Krupa played with most every major figure in the Big Band era including Tommy Dorsey, Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller. Fellow hop-head Anita O'Day was a real standout among the vocalists he worked with--she used her voice with some of the same tension and energy that Krupa put into his playing.
In this sensational sequence from the 1941 Howard Hawks film "Ball Of Fire" nightclub singer Barbara Stanwyck performs with Krupa. (Note the beautiful martini that the girl sitting next to Gary Cooper is drinking--stick in the mud Cooper is drinking milk.)
"Drum Boogie", from "Ball of Fire"
Since you can't count of happening upon 6 hours of the bandleader on the radio the next time you're getting ready for a party you may want to stock up on some Krupa: listen to tracks at lala.com. Try "Drum Crazy", a great all round collection with plenty of guest vocalists, including O'Day. Preview a track below.
An assortment of Krupa film clips here at drummerman.net.
In the second part of the post see a clip of Krupa and Anita O'Day, and the trailer from "The Gene Krupa Story" starring Sal Mineo.
Photo: drummerman.net
Anita O'Day performing "Boogie Ride" with Krupa:
The trailer for "The Gene Krupa Story". Sal Mineo doesn't quite scan as a heterosexual leading man, but he does anguish well and has some great hangover scenes. His drum solos are kicking-Mineo practiced with Krupa for a year before shooting began, and he plays along to Krupa's tracks with legitimate ferocity.
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