It could be considered disappointing that someone with a name as exciting as Johnny Blowers would be a drummer, and not play an instrument that requires clouds of air be blown into it. Real jazz hipsters, on the other hand, consider all swinging players as "blowing," even if they are actually striking an object with a stick, perhaps even holding their breath at the time. Blowers is one of the most prolific drummers in the genre's history, blowing on many dates behind leaders from Louis Armstrong, with whom he appears on several dozen different records, to pianist Teddy Wilson. The drummer has been a presence in jazz and popular music through almost the entire 20th century. Blowers learned drums right alongside his father, who was also a percussionist. The lad's first jobs were substituting for the old man in local theater orchestras in the late '20s. From here he began gigging with local bands before finishing high school in Fort Myers, FL.

Blowers went on to Atlanta College, again holding down the drum chair in local combos, and finally headed up to New York City with his friend, trombonist Lou McGarity. By the late '30s the drummer was already associated with trumpeter Bobby Hackett as well as the orchestra of Bunny Berigan.

In the early '40s he began what would turn out to be an extremely busy studio career. He was on call for

CBS, NBC, and ABC and also cut records with artists such as vocalist Billie Holiday, trumpeter Yank Lawson, and many others. For 11 years, Blowers was Frank Sinatra's regular drummer at sessions and many concerts. His studio career continued on through the '60s, a period when many similar players felt snowed under by rock roll. Blowers stayed true to his swing roots, gigged regularly at Eddie Condon's Club, and worked in the ensemble of reedman Johnny Mince in the late '60s.

Jazz listeners in the decades to follow began to seriously marvel at the longevity of this artist. His recording enterprises at first wound down in the early '80s, but involvement with a repertory group entitled the Harlem Blues and Jazz Legends provided a new spark that has kept the drummer much more active than most individuals his age. At the age of 91, Blowers was still playing drums alongside many pals from the past, such as guitarist Al Casey, a veteran of the Fats Waller band from 1934-1942, and bassist Carline Ray, whose background includes the all-female International Sweethearts of Rhythm, a group that was active during World War II. Blowers also started his own outfit, Johnny Blowers the Giants of Jazz, and in the style of much younger musicians put out his own recording. In 1997, -Warren Vaché's Back Beats and Rim Shots: The Johnny Blowers Story was published, and is considered to be not only a fine biography but one of the best volumes ever published about the swing era. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi