Bill Beason

William Beason was an American swing jazz drummer. At the height of his career, he recorded with Django Reinhardt.

Biography

Beason was born March 6, 1908, in Louisville, Kentucky. He attended Central [High School (Louisville, Kentucky)|Central High School] there, along with classmates and future jazz musicians Helen Humes, Jonah Jones and Dicky Wells, and then Wilberforce University in Ohio, playing drums for Horace Henderson's Collegians while there.
In 1939, Beason took over the role of drummer in Ella Fitzgerald's orchestra from Chick Webb.
Beason died, aged 80, in New York City.

With Dickie Wells and his Orchestra

With Ella Fitzgerald and her Orchestra