Anecdotes

Children: Daryl, Maxine, Raoul Jordu, Ayo, and Dara.

Friends with Clifford Brown, and Randy Weston.

Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1991.

Jazz drummer.

Daughter, Maxine, is a jazz violinist.

Frequently performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Coleman Hawkins, Bud Powell, and Miles Davis.

Was one of the first drummers to play in the bebop style.

1952 graduate of Manhattan School of Music.

Inductee of both Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame (in 1982) and the Downbeat Magazine Hall of Fame.

Recipient of eight honorary Doctorate degrees, including degrees awarded by the University of Bologna, Italy, and Columbia University.

Two-time recipient of the French Grand Prix du Disque.

Cited as a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.

Member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.

Music professor of percussion at the University of Masachusetts.

One of the first jazz musicians to teach full-time at the University level.

Survived by three daughters and two sons.

In 1988, he became the first jazz musician to receive a genius grant from the MacArthur Foundation.

Among the first in jazz to perform works in times other than the standard 4/4 count.

Is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York.

In addition to performing and recording, he was a teacher and composer of music for theatre.

He was innovative in his use of cymbals, tom-toms, and bass drum to create solos.

He took music lessons in public school. By the time he was 10 he was playing drums for several gospel groups. At 16 he was asked to fill in for three nights for Duke Ellington's drummer, who was ill.

He was born in North Carolina, but raised in Brooklyn. His mother was a gospel singer.

Co-founded, with Sue Mingus and Charles Mingus, Debut Records (1952-1957), Los Angeles, CA.