Alvin Burroughs

Who was Alvin Burroughs?

Alvin Burroughs was an American swing jazz drummer.

Burroughs was raised in Pittsburgh. He played in Kansas City with Walter Page's Blue Devils in 1928-29 and then with Alphonse Trent's territory band before moving to Chicago around 1930. There he played with Hal Draper's Arcadians, Horace Henderson, and Earl Hines; with Hines he recorded extensively. In the 1940s he worked with Milt Larkin, Benny Carter, and Red Allen, in addition to leading his own groups. He was in George Dixon's quartet in 1950 when he died of a heart attack. He never recorded as a leader.