Biography
Though far from diminutive in build, Tiny Kahn (who was anything but tiny) lived a short yet intensely active existence. Equally capable behind the drums in intimate combos or large ensembles, he remained best known as a markedly underappreciated composer and arranger. He took up drumming only at fifteen yet managed to pack an extraordinary range of activity into the fifteen years that followed. His sideman work encompassed Boyd Raeburn in 1948, Georgie Auld, the Chubby Jackson big band, Charlie Barnet’s bebop orchestra in 1949, and Elliot Lawrence from 1952 to 1953, when he doubled on vibes, plus numerous appearances with Red Rodney, Serge Chaloff, Lester Young, Al Cohn, and Stan Getz. In addition to performing, Kahn furnished charts for many big bands, among them Woody Herman’s, and wrote the compositions “Tiny’s Blues”—whose celebrated shout chorus Dave Frishberg later borrowed for “Can’t Take You Nowhere”—and “Father Knickerbocker,” while also scoring George Wallington’s “Godchild.” Having never led a recording session of his own and denied the time to develop fully as a writer—an influence on fellow musicians of his generation—he suffered a fatal heart attack at thirty.