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Mickey Roker

Granville "Mickey" Roker is an American jazz drummer. Roker was born into extreme poverty in Miami to Granville (Sr.) and Willie Mae Roker. After his mother died (his father never lived with them), when he was only ten, he was taken by his grandmother to live in Philadelphia with his uncle Walter, who gave him his first drum kit and communicated his love of jazz to his nephew. He also introduced the young Roker to the lively jazz scene in Philadelphia, where the great Philly Joe Jones became Roker's idol.

Roker learned quickly, and he never stopped playing. In the early 1950s he started to gain recognition as a sensitive and yet hard-driving big-band drummer. Especially favored by Dizzy Gillespie, Roker was soon in demand for his supportive skills in both big-band and small-group settings.

Still active on the Philadelphia scene in the 21st century, Roker has recorded with Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Duke Pearson, Tommy Flanagan, Ella Fitzgerald, Zoot Sims, Horace Silver, Junior Mance, Sarah Vaughan, Milton Jackson, Herbie Hancock, Phil Woods, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Bucky Pizzarelli, Stanley Turrentine, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Hank Jones, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Locke, and a seemingly endless list of other jazz greats.

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22
Album Review

Lee Morgan: The Complete Live at the Lighthouse

Read "The Complete Live at the Lighthouse" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


Suffice to say that if Blue Note's original Live at The Lighthouse (1970) lit a fire under you and all the subsequent expanded iterations did nothing to douse said flames, this definitive final word on a very good thing is going to grab your attention fast and hold it hard. Fourteen previously unreleased whirlwind turns around the bandstand complete the picture painted that July weekend in California when trumpeter supreme Lee Morgan and his pirate quintet—Bennie Maupin on ...

1,221
Interview

Mickey Roker: You Never Lose the Blues

Read "Mickey Roker: You Never Lose the Blues" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


Drummer Mickey Roker is a mainstay and icon of the jazz world, having a played with Dizzy Gillespie, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Lee Morgan, and many of the other signature groups of modern jazz.

Yet he has always maintained his Philadelphia roots, and is and has been a regular at Ortlieb's Jazzhaus in that city for many years. Still active as a drummer and a mentor, he has witnessed and been part of the jazz world in action ...

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Profile

Mickey Roker

Read "Mickey Roker" reviewed by George Kanzler


“I started out in rhythm 'n' blues when I first got a trap drum set as a teenager," says Mickey Roker, 76, from his home, “because I was young and it was easier to play that music than playing jazz since I didn't go to school for music". But after he got back to Philadelphia from the Army in 1955, he decided “it would be better for me to play in jazz where I could learn more since they utilized ...

152
Album Review

Donald Byrd: Electric Byrd

Read "Electric Byrd" reviewed by Jim Santella


This landmark recording from 1970 followed on the heels of Miles Davis' Bitch's Brew and contained many of the same elements that Miles used in his innovative ventures; jazz moved away from the wah-wah trumpet and ushered in the wah-wah guitar. With a lineup including Mickey Roker on drums, Ron Carter on bass, Duke Pearson on electric piano, Wally Richardson on electric guitar, Bill Campbell on trombone and a reed section of Jerry Dodgion, Frank Foster, Lew Tabackin and Pepper ...

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137

Performance / Tour

Jazz Bridge Celebrates Philly Joe Jones' Birthday at Chris' Jazz Cafe

Jazz Bridge Celebrates Philly Joe Jones' Birthday at Chris' Jazz Cafe

Source: Suzanne Cloud

Jazz Bridge will celebrate the life of the late Philadelphia drummer Philly Joe Jones with an all-star concert on his birthday, Friday July 15 from 8-12 pm at Chris' Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom Street, Phila, PA. The celebration begins at 8 p.m with the Sticks & Tones Percussion Ensemble, featuring Randy Sutin, Harold Smith, Doc Gibbs, Craig McIver and Jim Miller. Then at 9:30 p.m. the Mickey Roker Quartet with Bootsie Barnes, Lee Smith and Lucas Brown take the stage ...

192

Interview

Drummer Mickey Roker Interviewed at AAJ

Drummer Mickey Roker Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz

Drummer Mickey Roker is a mainstay and icon of the jazz world, having a played with Dizzy Gillespie, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Lee Morgan, and many of the other signature groups of modern jazz.

Yet he has always maintained his Philadelphia roots, and is and has been a regular at Ortlieb's Jazzhaus in that city for many years. Still active as a drummer and a mentor, he has witnessed and been part of the jazz world in action for over ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Complete Live at...

Blue Note Records
2021

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Electric Byrd

Blue Note Records
1996

buy

Skol

Original Jazz Classics
1990

buy

All Too Soon - The...

Kedar Entertainment Group
1990

buy

Skol

Original Jazz Classics
1982

buy

Quadrant

Pablo Records
1979

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