Dave Tough


David Jarvis Tough was an American jazz drummer associated with Dixieland and swing jazz in the 1930s and 1940s. He has been described as "the most important of the drummers of the Chicago circle".

Biography

Born in Oak Park, Illinois, United States, Tough was a friend of Bud Freeman, who was part of a group of musicians known as the Austin High School Gang in Chicago. In 1925, he became a professional musician, playing with Jack Gardner, Art Kassel, Sig Meyers, and Husk O'Hare's Wolverines. He played two years in Europe, then returned home and played with Benny Goodman and Red Nichols.
He left music for three years until 1935, then joined the big bands of Tommy Dorsey, Red Norvo, Bunny Berigan, and Benny Goodman. He played Dixieland jazz with Bud Freeman, Jack Teagarden, Eddie Condon, Mezz Mezzrow, and Joe Marsala. In the 1940s, he played with the big bands of Charlie Spivak and Claude Thornhill, in Artie Shaw's Symphonic Swing Orchestra, Shaw's naval band and Woody Herman's big band. He then worked with Eddie Condon, Jerry Gray, Muggsy Spanier, Will Bradley and Jazz at the Philharmonic.
Tough struggled with epilepsy throughout his life. He died at the age of 41 after falling down and hitting his head on the street in Newark, New Jersey.

... Herman told Soph that Dave Tough was an epileptic. This condition wasn't fully understood in the twenties and thirties. In many instances it was considered a mental deficency. As a recommended aid in reducing the epileptic attacks, Tough drank...
...One cold icy evening in the winter of 1948, Dave Tough was out walking on leave from a stay at a Veterans Hospital. He had an epileptic attack, fell hitting his head on the sidewalk and was dead.

He was played by Shelly Manne in the 1959 Paramount Pictures biopic The Five Pennies, a biography of Red Nichols starring Danny Kaye, Barbara Bel Geddes, and Louis Armstrong.
In 2000, he was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.

Discography

With Tommy Dorsey
  • Tribute to Dorsey Vol. 1
  • Tribute to Dorsey Vol. 2
  • Yes Indeed!
With Benny Goodman
With Charlie Ventura
  • Jumping with Ventura
  • Carnegie Hall Concert
  • East of Suez
  • Live at the Three Deuces! with Bill Harris
  • Aces at the Deuces with Bill Harris
  • Euphoria
  • Live at the Three Deuces Vol. 2 with Bill Harris
With others