The Master of Drums

Gene Krupa and the Music He Gave the World

Elizabeth J. Rosenthal

• Publisher: Citadel Press
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN:
  9780806543284
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music Biographies

2026 Jazz Awards Book of the Year Nominee, Best Biography

"A substantial and engaging biography that contributes significantly to the history of jazz in the United States." —Library Journal

The first definitive biography of Gene Krupa, the most famous drummer on the planet, whose feverish rhythms defined the Swing Era, changed jazz music forever, spurred rock and roll, and influenced generations.

From the early 1930s onward, Gene Krupa was a drum-centric rarity in the jazz world. Never before had a drummer been in the forefront as a solo artist. His galvanizing, unrestrained passion for percussion demanded it. Rocking the rafters, Gene thrilled audiences in ballrooms, nightclubs, and movies. He always knew he would. It was in his blood.

Seemingly born jazz-drum crazy in 1909 to a Polish-immigrant working-class family in South Chicago, Gene was a professional by the age of thirteen and soon made his first recordings. By the early 1930s, he was New York City's most in-demand drummer, and starting in 1934, he joined brilliant clarinetist Benny Goodman's band, helped inaugurate the Swing Era, and played the first-ever swing concert at Carnegie Hall, which made history. So did Gene, whose celebrity spread with every ride cymbal beat and bass drum bomb drop. He formed his own band, hired such dazzlingly outsized personalities as singer Anita O'Day, and unconditionally shattered racial boundaries by sharing the spotlight with the blistering African-American trumpeter Roy Eldridge. But after a skyrocketing ride to the top, Gene experienced a roller-coaster ride of good and bad luck, emotional highs, and devastating depths.

In The Master of Drums, biographer Elizabeth J. Rosenthal crafts a celebratory, honest, and exhaustively researched portrait of a twentieth-century music legend whose acolytes would include such rock-era artists as Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, John Bonham, and Apollo 440. When he died, Gene Krupa may have left behind a world of grieving friends, colleagues, fans, students, and progeny, but as The Master of Drums proves, his dynamic musical and cultural influences live on.

Foreword by Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats

Includes 16 pages of exclusive, never-before-seen photographs

Table of contents

• Praise
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword - By Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats
• AN INTRODUCTORY WORD - “The Breaking Down of Old Traditions”
• CHAPTER 1 - “Yearning to Breathe Free”
• CHAPTER 2 - “I Could See This Little Face About Every Night”
• CHAPTER 3 - “There’s a Maniac Who Wants to See You”
• CHAPTER 4 - “I’ll Be a Friend with Pleasure”
• CHAPTER 5 - “Ask Any of the Boys Around New York”
• CHAPTER 6 - “In the Palm of His Hand”
• CHAPTER 7 - “When Mr. Krupa Beats Those Riffs, He Don’t Let You Down”
• CHAPTER 8 - “A Guy Named Krupa Plays the Drums Like Thunder”
• CHAPTER 9 - “Hey!”
• CHAPTER 10 - “I’m Givin’ You Air”
• CHAPTER 11 - “Some Like It Hot”
• CHAPTER 12 - Enter “Little Jazz”
• CHAPTER 13 - “I Would Spend $10 Anytime to Come to a Negro’s Defense”
• CHAPTER 14 - Giving Careers a Lift
• CHAPTER 15 - Famous Fans and Drumming Descendants
• CHAPTER 16 - “I’m Out Here All Alone on a Shelf”
• CHAPTER 17 - “I’m Almost Afraid to Look”
• CHAPTER 18 - “What’s This?”
• CHAPTER 19 - Here We Go Again!
• CHAPTER 20 - “As Breathtaking as Ever Before”
• CHAPTER 21 - “He Was Beautiful”
• CHAPTER 22 - “Superficial Glandular Excitement”
• CHAPTER 23 - Playing Well With Others
• CHAPTER 24 - Gene and the Big Band Biopics
• CHAPTER 25 - “Being Able to Play a Little Again”
• CHAPTER 26 - “Commence to Rock and Roll”
• CHAPTER 27 - “It Was Just Awful!”
• CHAPTER 28 - “Goodbye, Mr. Drums”
• AFTERWORD - Gene Krupa Remains a Musical and Cultural Force
• Author Interviews
• Acknowledgments
• Notes