Mickey Roker, still active, often played with Dizzy Gillespie in a quartet, and that’s how I saw him at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago. His is one of the many stories in jazz of a rise from poverty and of a family member who got him started playing. He has supported many jazz greats in both small group and big band settings because he’s a tasteful drummer who knows how to propel other instrumentalists to greater musical heights. His recordings are solely as a sideman. One of my old albums (from 1977) has Mickey and Ray Brown together with Diz and Count Basie. I’ve chosen “Back to the Land”, a slow blues. Diz plays one solo on the mouthpiece only! Another youtube selection from the same album, St.  James Infirmary, shows Roker’s work well but it has inexplicably been speeded up.

watch?v=HbkrfWsv2iU

The Best of Michael S. Rozeff