If he had been a "Doc" of the Old West, then perhaps
Doc West would have become a household name, of the stature of a Doc Holliday or similar Western gunslinger. Yet even amongst the crowd of bebop fanatics, and certainly in the annals of jazz history, the drummer who also has many credits under his real name of
Harold West, tends to be overshadowed by slightly later bebop drum stylists;
Max Roach, for instance. Emerging from the hinterlands of North Dakota, the versatile
West had already learned to play both the piano and cello before changing to drums. Having in a sense an intellectual command of the entire rhythm section, he was several steps above the porch where the normal jazz drummer of his era was sitting. No doubt his fame would have been greater in jazz had he survived past the early '50s.
His career began roughly two decades prior in the band of
Tiny Parham in Chicago. Soon he was also swinging behind the lovely trumpet solos of
Roy Eldridge, as well as playing in a combo led by the somewhat more traditional
Erskine Tate. From there he became part of an elite class of jazz stand-ins, in this case filling in the gaps for
Chick Webb when that popular bandleader and drummer was touring Texas in the late '30s. He finished out that decade and got a bit into the '40s burned by the flame of
Hot Lips Page, in whose band he found the navigational compass to the New York scene as well as displaying the difficult art of swinging a band hard while still playing quite quietly. This would become a crux point in emerging bebop drum styles, as the harmonic artistry and elaborate melodic oratorio of the lead soloists was not to be drowned out, although interrupting with a well-placed bass bomb was absolutely no problem.
West played in many a jam at the famed Minton's Playhouse venue in the Big Apple, while simultaneously laying down a more fundamental groove when subbing for roots jazz maestro
Jo Jones in the big band of
Count Basie. In 1945, the man had established beyond a doubt that he could handle either the swing or bop styles, and was getting calls for gigs and recording sessions in both styles. He shows up on some of the most sheerly entertaining music of this era. While bebop is unfairly categorized as being overly analytical, the recordings of
Slam Stewart,
Leo Watson, and
Wardell Gray ranged from profoundly moving to profoundly amusing, the pulse of the drums always a life force.
Since it is bebop history, the trail leads to
Charlie Parker, and jazz Mounties would have to agree that
West's main claim to fame would be the sessions he was involved with featuring that great saxophonist as well as the fine guitarist
Tiny Grimes; with a "Tiny," a "Bird," and a "Doc" in the gang, this might as well have been a meeting of Western gunslingers. This is some of the most popular material by
Parker, whose recordings are sometimes released according to historical timetables by competing jazz record companies, most of whom try to stretch the dates in order to include these sessions. Many listeners most likely have heard the drummer in the company of the great vocalist
Billie Holiday, including the haunting Strange Fruit.
Erroll Garner is another superb player whose discography includes a great deal of this drummer's work, as he held down the seat in that pianist's first important trio from the mid-'40s onward.
West continued collaborating with
Eldridge as well; in fact, the drummer died while on the road with
Eldridge's band. ~ Eugene Chadbourne