Kaiser Marshall

Due to his work with Fletcher Henderson, Kaiser Marshall was considered one of the most influential drummers in jazz of the 1920s and was one of the first significant big band drummers. Marshall grew up in Boston and gigged locally including with singer Jules Bledsoe and Charlie Dixon. After moving to New York, he was in Ralph "Shrimp" Jones' band in 1923 and then spent a long period with Henderson (from 1924-30), appearing on many records. After leaving Henderson in 1930, Marshall remained quite active and played with many bands. He led his Czars of Harmony in 1931, worked with LeRoy Smith, co-led Kaiser and Reynolds' Bostonians with Ellsworth Reynolds, and subbed in the orchestras of Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway. Marshall worked with a later version of McKinney's Cotton Pickers, with Leon Englund, headed some short-lived groups, played in Europe with Bobby Martin in 1937, was with Edgar Hayes in 1939 and from the early 1940s on mostly worked with Dixieland bands. Among his later associations were Wild Bill Davison, Art Hodes, Bunk Johnson, Sidney Bechet and Mezz Mezzrow (the latter two welcomed Marshall to some of the King Jazz recordings). Marshall never led his own record date but can be heard on quite a few recordings as a sideman. Food poisoning caused his sudden death at the age of 48. ~ Scott Yanow