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 … Continue reading Jazz Birthday: Mickey Roker (1932)