Isaac Day Jr. (1925 – 1958),[ better known as Ike Day, was a Chicago-based hard bop and bebop jazz drummer.
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Life
Referred to as “legendary” by many jazz musicians, including Andrew Hill,[ Panken, Ted. “Andrew Hill:Roots and Blue Notes” Jazz Journalists Association Library Jazz Journalists Association. Retrieved July 3, 2013.] very little is known about Day except for a few specific dates when he played with Tom Archia and his All Stars, with Gail Brockman, Andrew "Goon" Gardner or John "Flaps" Dungee, Gene Ammons, Claude McLin (possibly), Junior Mance, George Freeman and Jo Jo Adams, a line-up that recorded at the Pershing Ballroom, Chicago in early 1948,[ and with Fats Navarro, LeRoy Jackson, Clarence "Sleepy" Anderson, Gene Ammons and Tom Archia at Leonard Chess's club, the Macomba Lounge, in 1948, where both Kenny Dorham and Max Roach went to see him,][ Campbell, Robert L. and Leonard J. Bukowski, and Armin Büttner "The Tom Archia Discography" Retrieved July 3, 2013.] as did, according to Duke Groner, Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson.[ Walton, Charles “The DuSable Hotel and the Drexel Square Area” Jazz Institute of Chicago. Retrieved July 3, 2013.]
Ike Day started playing professionally in April 1943, at around the age of 17, when he filed a contract with the Musicians Union for a 12-week contract at the Bar o' Music. After a month, however, he was suspended by the Commissioner of Police for bad behaviour.[ Campbell, Robert L. and Robert Pruter, George R. White, Tom Kelly, George Paulus “The Aristocrat Label” Retrieved July 5, 2013.]
In April 1944, he was in a band led by Jesse Miller performing at Joe's Deluxe Club, with Albert Atkinson (sax), Kermit Scott (tenor sax), Argonne Thornton (piano), Walter Buchanan (bass).[
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He also recorded a Gene Ammons/Christine Chatman session for Aristocrat on February 28, 1949,[ released as Jug and Sonny (Chess LP 1445), The Soulful Saxophone of Gene Ammons (Chess LP 1442) and Gene Ammons – Early Visions (Cadet 2CA 60038).][[5] Jazzdisco.org. Retrieved July 3, 2013.])
In 1950 he led a trio featuring Sonny Rollins[ Rosenthal, David H. (1993) Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music, 1955–1965, p. 34. Oxford University Press At Google Books. Retrieved July 3, 2013.][ and Vernon Bivel][ Annual review of jazz studies, Volume 6. Rutgers University. Institute of Jazz Studies Transaction Books, 1993 At Google Books. Retrieved July 5, 2013.] just before Rollins was convicted on a drugs charge and sentenced to eight months.[ Mathieson, Kenny (2012) Giant Steps: Bebop And The Creators Of Modern Jazz, 1945–65. Canongate Books At Google Books. Retrieved July 3, 2013.]
Johnny Griffin recalls that Buddy Rich hired Day to join his big band and that Slim Gaillard took him to New York in the late 1940s, where he played at Minton's. Griffin also called on him to substitute Philly Joe Jones in the Joe Morris-Johnny Griffin band.[Panken, Ted. Panken, Ted. “In conversation with Johnny Griffin” jazz.com. Retrieved July 3, 2013.] and refers to Day playing as a duo with Wilbur Ware, double bassist Richard Davis recalls jamming with Ware and Day[Panken, Ted Richard Davis: August 18 1993, WKCR-FM New York Jazz Journalists Association Retrieved July 3, 2013.] and Ahmad Jamal mentions having played with him at the Palm Tavern.[Panken, Ted "It’s Ahmad Jamal’s 81st Birthday" Retrieved July 3, 2013.]
Day died in his early 30s, of tuberculosis[Panken, Ted. “Two Interviews with Pianist Chris Anderson from 1986 on his 87th Birthday Anniversary” Retrieved July 3, 2013.] brought on by drug abuse.[ Spencer, Frederick J. (2002) Jazz and Death: Medical Profiles of Jazz Greats, p. 273. Univ. Press of Mississippi At Google Books. Retrieved July 3, 2013.] According to Roy Haynes, he was living but hospitalized with tuberculosis in the late 1950s.[ Burt Korall, Drummin' Men: The Heartbeat of Jazz, The Bebop Years, Oxford University Press, 2004, p.254]
Legacy
Ike Day was admired by many other drummers, including Tommy Hunter (Sun Ra Arkestra),[Panken, Ted. Panken, Ted. “A 2007 Jazziz Article and Four Interviews with Roy Haynes, who Turns 87 Today” Retrieved July 3, 2013.] and Vernel Fournier,[Feather, Leonard, Gitler, Ira (1999) The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press At Google Books. Retrieved July 3, 2013.][ Riley, Herlin and Johnny Vidacovich, Daniel Thress (1995) New Orleans Jazz and Second Line Drumming, p. 45. Alfred Music Publishing At Google Books. Retrieved July 3, 2013.] and, according to Wilbur Campbell, both Max Roach and Art Blakey had expressed their admiration for Day,[ Kart, Larry (2004) Jazz in Search of Itself, p. 40. Yale University Press At Google Books. Retrieved July 3, 2013.] as did Joe Segal in his liner notes to Johnny Griffin's debut solo album on Blue Note, Introducing Johnny Griffin.[ Introducing Johnny Griffin. The Hard Bop Homepage Retrieved July 3, 2013.]
Jo Jones described him as "one of the greatest drummers who ever lived".[ Likewise, Sonny Rollins also refers to Day as one of the finest musicians he ever worked with.][ Palmer, Richard (2004) Sonny Rollins: The Cutting Edge, p. 29. Continuum At Google Books. Retrieved July 3, 2013.]
Discography
- As sideman
- 1949: Gene Ammons/Christine Chatman session for Aristocrat released as Jug and Sonny (Chess LP 1445), The Soulful Saxophone of Gene Ammons (Chess LP 1442) and Gene Ammons – Early Visions (Cadet 2CA 60038).
