Reference.com

Cozy Cole

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

Cozy Cole (October 17 1909 — January 31 1981) was a jazz drummer who had a #1 hit with the song "Topsy Part 2". The song contained a lengthy drum solo, and one of the few drum solo recordings that ever made the Billboard Hot 100 (1958) chart. The single, issued on the tiny Brooklyn based Love Records, was a big hit.

Cole is cited as an influence by many contemporary rock drummers, including Cozy Powell, who part named himself after Cole.

William Randolph Cole was born in 1909 in East Orange, New Jersey. His first job was with Wilber Sweatman in 1928. In 1930 he played for Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers, recording an early drum solo on "Load of Cole". He then spent 1931-33 with Blanche Calloway, 1933-34 with Benny Carter, Willie Bryant in 1935-36, Stuff Smith's small combo 1936-38 and Cab Calloway 1938-42.

Cole appeared in a few music related films through the years, right up to the 1950s, including a brief cameo in Don't Knock the Rock. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s Cole continued to work in a variety of settings, until he died of cancer in 1981, in Columbus, Ohio.

External links



Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Wednesday February 20, 2008 at 12:54:48 PST (GMT -0800)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation