“Cozy” Cole was born on October 17th, 1909 in Orange, New Jersey and since his three brothers were jazz musicians it was inevitable he’d become one too. His nickname came courtesy of the other kids in school who, instead of calling him William, latched onto “Colesy,” which, with casual use, sounded like “Cozy.”
William Randolph “Cozy” Cole was the definitive example of a drummer who was a master of all the rudimentary elements of drumming, and he applied them all to jazz with the ability to combine them all at once as he saw fit. Also, he was among the very few whose individual style evolved and spanned a number of eras. Through it all, listeners could hear virtually all of the rudiments–flam taps, five-stroke rolls, paradiddles and more- applied directly to jazz drumming.
He was a life-long student of the drums as well, studying at Julliard in the mid-1940s, with the New York Philharmonic’s Saul Goodman, and opening his own drum school with dear friend Gene Krupa in New York in the mid-1950s. Most of his long career was as a sideman for such leaders as; Willie Bryant, (the suave, Un-Official Mayor of Harlem), Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton and Louis Armstrong. Even before these, Cozy had played with Benny Carter’s first (and un-successful) band. That band also had such un-known names as Teddy Wilson (piano); Chu Berry (tenor sax) and a young trombonist named Dickie Wells.
Cozy Cole was established at a time when jazz ensembles and soloists were outstanding; thus Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Fats Waller, Coleman Hawkins, Jonah Jones, Benny Goodman stood out. Cozy played a wildly rhythmic drum solo in the stage show “Carmen Jones” in 1943 saying, “I think I’m the only drummer to have been featured in a big Broadway show with his name on the program.”
But, perhaps one of his most important accomplishments went almost completely unnoticed.
With almost complete silence, Cozy Cole broke one of the many racial barriers in American music. He was the first black musician on a network musical staff. CBS radio hired him to work with Raymond Scott in 1943. In 1985, Scott recalled, “Cozy was the most professional musician I’ve ever worked with.”
Music: From 1955, here’s Alan Hartwell’s Big Band featuring Cozy Cole with “Topsy, Part I.
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