Drummer and bandleader William Henry "Chick" Webb was up against it for most of his life, having contracted tuberculosis of the spine while a child, and ultimately dying from the disease at the tragically young age of 34 in 1939.
But his hardship never showed up in his music, which, like all great swing, was infused with an irrepressible joy. Here's a representative example from 1937 called "Harlem Congo". There are nice solos on trumpet and clarinet, but at the 2:28 mark, Webb, himself, jumps in and steals the show with a jaw-dropping solo on the drums (small wonder that he was greatly admired by Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich).
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3 comments:
Playing drums is really hard on the spine, ask Phil Collins.
Chick's justifiably a legend, and a hero for keeping his band in work despite his pain.
Betty McDonald, author of "The Egg and I" and the "Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle" books, was diagnosed with TB in the 1940's. She wrote about her year in a TB sanitarium near Seattle in "The Plague and I."
I think I may say with confidence that it's the funniest book about TB you'll ever read. You have to be awe struck at the sort of tough resilient personality that can undergo something like that and make it funny.
"The Egg and I" was made into a movie in 1947 starring Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert, and introduced the great comic characters Ma and Pa Kettle (Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride) to the world.
I remember vaguely having heard of Betty McDonald's book about her struggle with TB, and it looks to be a very worthwhile read.
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