Charlie Persip

Both in large ensembles and smaller groups, Charli Persip established himself as a skilled drummer before altering the spelling of his first name during the early 1980s. Local work in New Jersey and a 1953 stint with Tadd Dameron preceded the wider attention he received from Dizzy Gillespie’s big band and quintet between 1953 and 1958. He assembled his own unit, the Jazz Statesmen, in 1959, with the young Freddie Hubbard among its members. Persip contributed to dozens of sessions throughout the 1950s and 1960s alongside Lee Morgan, Dinah Washington, Red Garland, Gil Evans, Don Ellis, Eric Dolphy, Roland Kirk, Gene Ammons, Archie Shepp, and others. He remained with Billy Eckstine from 1966 to 1973, served as principal drum instructor for the Jazzmobile in the mid-1970s, and has directed his part-time big band, Superband, since the early 1980s, releasing several recordings.