• Genre: Jazz
• Active: '30s - '70s
• Instrument: Drums

Biography

In the early days of his career, before he went professional, drummer Arthur Herbert handled much more silver and gold than any of his bandleader bosses, but not because he was some kind of high-priced percussionist. He had a full-time job in a silver and gold refinery back then, playing at various Long Island and Brooklyn clubs and hotels of the '30s, as time allowed. On the other end of his career, when he retired from professional performing full-time, Herbert started up his own exterminating business. It is tempting to try and find an ironic connection between these facts of life, but in the end, it is just business as usual for the journeyman American musician, recording a masterpiece with Sidney Bechet one day and then squashing bugs the next.

Early influences in Herbert's playing may be found in his family's heritage. Both his parents came from Trinidad, and this bloodline seeped into jazz through Herbert as well as his nephew, drummer Herbie Lovelle. In 1935 Herbert took on a full-time commitment to bandleader Eddie Williams and was also soon leading his own combo called the Rhythm Masters, a reasonable boast for a band led by a drummer. Through the late '30s and early '40s, the drummer worked with players such as alto saxophonist Pete Brown, tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, and trumpeter Hot Lips Page. The collaboration with Brown continued through the latter half of the '40s, by which time Herbert had amassed hefty discographical credits with the aforementioned Bechet and others. From the '50s on, Herbert concentrated on a new, non-musical enterprise, unless the sound of insects, or rather the lack of it, is music to one's ears. He kept the drum stool warm, as swing revival opportunities presented themselves, including a Polish tour with Lem Johnson at one point in the late '60s. He eventually retired from managing his death-to-bugs enterprise and it is presumed to have retired from drumming, as well. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide