Evening star., 1939-12-29

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Anyway. Rays the young man
grew up with him down in New Or
leans at the mouth Of the Missis-
sippi.
Well, Ray started out with the
sticks on q piece Of board and then
he got an old drum with q wornout
skin and whitfield himself some
sticks and he walloped that old drum
and kept at 1t till he had roll.
Ray was the kind Of boy who could
be compared to our kids who wor-
ship aviators and make models
themselves.
But he made the real thing, when
he got up in his teens, . drum with
q new skin and some cowbells he
bought with savings, and first thing
you know he was the towns kid
drummer.
Now, after Is years Of pretty tough
going, studying every day and re-
hearsing and working out his own
tricks, he's the star of Bob Crosby's
Band. He's a grand guy, too. He
never was q jitterbug. They didn't
have them in his boyhood; they
danced old mems dances then.
Rays got the idea he missed
something, not being a jitterbug.
Here's what he says: "They stand
out there and watch a drummer, and
II he makes slip say, they can
tear you to pieces"
He's a Dixieland drummer. He
was telling me he uses both a two
and four beat, also syncopation
beats. when I use a four" he says,
II accent on the afterbeat"
Always he plays what he calls the
New Orleans style" Ray says
there are really three styles.
There's the Chicago style" he says,
"and then there are the Dixie style
and the blues style"
The Chicago style has full beat
and the Dixie style a two-beat.
The blues style is really just a sort
of an arrangement Of music, soften
ing up the playing.
You can tell 1t takes work getting
where he was. He's been with so
many bands he just can't remem-
ber how many, but he always played
Dixie style. That means get style
and stick to it. He's played it with
Ben Pollock and Freddie Rich and
Joe Venuta.
Standing in the wings, watching
Ray work, you wonder how he gets
so much rhythm and such big
reputation. He sits there and just
works as easy as pianist running
his fingers over the keys, just as
though nothing were happening
But sometimes, when he's lifting
the band, why he really puts on an
act. And sometimes, when he's
bringing 1t home-you know, Bob
Crosby says to the boys, Bring it
home"-he gets up out Of his seat
and he's creased lightning. But he
never does any mugging. He's
always got smile on his face, but
his hair does get runed.
Maybe it's because he's so South
ern; he just kind of takes things
easy, and that's why he doesn't
mug. We asked him, knowing you'd
like to have the inside, If mugging
was putting on an act or really an
emotion the drumming worked up in
q guy, and he says like this: II
guess it's showmanship."
So you can take it from Ray that
Genes q Snowman.
There's an awful lot to know about
being q drummer, 50 get ready for
hard shedding If you're bound to be
q Ray or Gene.
Coming back to his building his
own equipment as a kid. Well, Rays
kept at it. He makes his own
sticks, 16 inches long. They're diff
ferent from others, because they
taper from the middle to the rear
end. That's because" he says, II
play with both ends"
He made his bass drum and his
three tom-toms, the big one and the
other two, one medium ,one small.
Some folks call them jungle jugs"
And he put two chromium plated
cowbells on the top Of the big drum
and q black vood-box In the center
Of the bells.
Altogether he's got i've cymbals:
The heavy ride, the crash, the cut
OF and Q little upside-down cymbal
that hs calls tho alta. beat bfush.