Bobby Christian

Christian sustained a prolonged association with the Dick Schory Percussion Pops Orchestra as percussionist, arranger, and composer while also fronting multiple space age pop albums that collectors of exotica have long pursued. Born Sylvester Christian in Chicago on October 20, 1911, he obtained his first drum kit at age six and trained for two decades with celebrated percussion educator Roy Knapp, whose students also included Gene Krupa and Hal Blaine. He left school at 14 to perform with Chicago bandleader Louie Panico, remaining with that ensemble for five years at the Canton Tea Gardens. In 1930 he embarked on a two-year tour backing singer Sophie Tucker, after which he returned to Chicago and joined violinist Eddie Varzo. National attention arrived in 1938 when he entered the Paul Whiteman band as both drummer and arranger. Exhaustion from constant touring prompted his return to Chicago in 1940, where he spent the rest of the decade in Roy Shield's NBC radio orchestra and earned substantial income from advertising jingle dates. He also played under conductor Fritz Reiner with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and, in 1944, established the Bobby Christian School of Percussion, whose roster later included drumming notables Cozy Cole and Lou Singer. Moving to New York City in 1950, he rejoined Whiteman for the ABC television program Tales of Tomorrow. In 1955 he entered Arturo Toscannini's NBC Symphony of the Air, touring the Far East with the ensemble before returning to Chicago the following year. In addition to leading his own dance band, Christian became a member of Schory's Percussion Pops Orchestra, an ensemble that displayed his singular one-man-band skills. Fellow percussionist Duanne Thamm recalled, "[Christian] played 'Sabre Dance' sitting down, two right mallets on the xylophone, left hand playing two timpani, bass drum with the right foot and bells in front of the xylophone. He brought the house down!" Under Schory's direction Christian recorded several LPs for RCA's Stereo Action label, including 1958's Music for Bang, Baa-Room and Harp, 1960's Music to Break Any Mood, and 1962's Holiday for Percussion, earning the nickname "Mr. Percussion" for his technical command. The same epithet titled his initial Mercury release, a 1963 album that included an ethereal reading of "Cherokee" with wordless vocal effects supplied by wife Vernyle. Even more striking is the Audio Fidelity album Strings for a Space Age, a landmark of the outer space exotica subgenre. Following further LPs such as Percussion in Velvet, Vibe-Brations, and In Action, Christian's recording career concluded in the early 1970s; thereafter he devoted himself to teaching through private lessons and clinics for aspiring musicians at home and abroad. He also authored a series of instructional books and produced the how-to video Bobby Christian's Tricks of the Trade. In 1989 he was inducted into the Percussion Arts Society's Hall of Fame. He died unexpectedly on December 31, 1991, at the age of 80.