The Drummer

The T.V. Tonight Show frequently opened with a drum roll showing a drum and the sticks playing. Jack Sweet was playing the drums. I met Jack Sweet who was playing snares in Woodland, California a small city near the University of Davis. He accompanied a piano player during a summer student musical at an old theater located in the middle of town. During the intermission I made friends with him, and he told me about some of his life as a drummer. He invited me to visit his home to show me his drums. Months later I visited Jack at his home in Woodland, and I asked him about drumming. He took me upstairs to a large room filled with many drums and musical equipment. He revealed that he had been playing drums for many years.

Jack Sweet played in many popular professional bands from 1930 through the 1980’s. He started in Hollywood where his drumming friends included Mickey Rooney and Mel Torme (who wrote The Christmas Song). Jack Sweet also played with his friend Nat King Cole before Nat started singing in 1940. Jack’s first major band was led by Gus Arnheim where he met Less Paul the guitar player. Jack helped Less Paul produce some of the first multiple recordings using jazz drum beats, bongos and other sounds produced by Jack . The multiple drum music was mixed with multiple guitar harmonies played by Less Paul. Less Paul soon made musical history using multiple recordings.

In the late 1930,s Jack Sweet worked with Benny Goodman where he replaced his friend Gene Cruppa, a famous drummer. Jack learned Cruppa’s drum solo in Sing, Sing, Sing that had made jazz history.

Jack played in bands like Ted Fiarito, Harry James, Charley Barnett, Less Brown, Ziggy Elman, Stan Kenton and many other popular jazz bands. He performed with THE TONIGHT SHOW band for eight years with another good drummer who hosted the show, Johnny Carson. Many times the show opened with a drum solo played by Jack Sweet.

His friend Gene Cruppa had started his education to become a Rabbi. Instead of being a rabbi he spent his life playing drums. Jack told me that he had started as a Drummer but has now become a bishop in the Anglican church. He said, "I was brought up in a fundamental Christian family. When I started earning money as a drummer, I thought I was a hot shot and started drinking alcohol. After a while my drumming suffered from alcohol so I quit drinking. I decided to stay away from Marijuana and other drugs that were always near the bandstands.”

He began serving the church after he bought a funeral home next to his second music store called Sweet’s Music Store in Los Angeles. He was often asked to speak at funerals. He made friends with a bishop who talked him into a religious education where he became a bishop to this day.

At his music store he had special drum sticks he sold with his name marked on them. He wrote several books teaching jazz drum music. In his spare time he gave drum lessons. He taught the son of Glen Ford and Eleanor Powell at their home, and the dancer Eleanor Powell introduced him to their neighbor Fred Astaire. Fred was interested in learning about special drum beats to incorporate into his dancing. Later Jack played the drums for Eleanor Powell when she made a comeback in Las Vegas.

Jack said “One day Mickey Rooney called me at my Sweet’s Music Store. Mickey said one of his former wives would bring their son to the store to buy a set of drums. Mickey said he was having trouble paying alimony to all his wives that had divorced him, and that he didn’t want to spend too much for the set of drums. He gave a limit of how high he would pay. He said to sell only a cheap or moderately priced set to his former wife. Mickey’s son picked out the most expensive equipment in the store. Mickey’s ex-wife approved paying triple the money that Mickey had set. She said Mickey would pay. So I made her sign a contract taking responsibility herself in case Mickey Rooney refused to pay that much. The next day Mickey called me and angrily complained about the transaction. I told Mickey his son’s mother had signed to take full responsibility. Mickey calmed down when he realized I had tried to hold down the cost by showing cheaper drums. He gave up and said, “Well, I can’t win. I might as well pay. I know it’s not your fault, but this is typical of the way women treat me.”

"Years later Mickey’s son had learned well from private lessons I gave him. I helped back up his band when they played at the popular dance hall Paladium in Los Angeles.”

Jack signed two of his drum music books and gave them to me along with two sets of drum sticks. One set was old and had been used on the Tonight show. They were often used to start the shows with some jazz drumming. He said, “You couldn’t see my face but the television got a good shot of these sticks and my hands.”