Buzzy Drootin

Who was Buzzy Drootin?

Benjamin "Buzzy" Drootin was a legendary jazz drummer. He played with some of the greatest leading jazz musicians for over sixty years.

Drootin was born in Kiev, Ukraine and moved to Boston, Massachusetts with his family when he was five. His family was musical going back many generations. His father played the clarinet and two of his brothers as well as his nephew were also musicians.

He began playing the drums professionally as a teenager. When he was twenty he was touring with the Jess Stacy All-Stars featuring Lee Wiley. He also toured with Ina Ray Hutton around that time. After those tours he did a stint with Wingy Manone in Chicago and on the road. After the war he worked as the house drummer at Eddie Condon's in New York from 1947 until 1951.

In the 1950s and 1960s he worked in clubs in New York, Chicago and Boston. He did a stint as bandleader at New York's El Morocco Club. He and his brother Al were in the house band at George Wein's Storyville in Boston during the early and mid 50's. In those years he played with musicians such as Bobby Hackett, Jimmy McPartland, Doc Cheatham, Vic Dickenson, Claude Hopkins, Arvell Shaw and Pee Wee Russell.