Baby Dodds (1898-1959) was one of the top jazz drummers of the 1920s, a pioneer who was an early influence on Gene Krupa, Chick Webb and many of the other drummers to come.

Among his other accomplishments, Dodds was the first musician to ever record unaccompanied drum solos.

In the mid-1940s, in addition to his solos and excerpts from historic recordings, he explains what he did on his Folkways album Talking And Drum Solos which is released here in full, giving today’s listeners some insight into his playing and early drum styles in general.

-Scott Yanow