Chauncey Morehouse

• Born: March 11, 1902
• Died: November 03, 1980
• Genres: Jazz
• Instrument: Drums

Biography

Because practically all of his most significant jazz work was created in the 1920s, it is surprising to realize that Chauncey Morehouse was active as a drummer into the early 1970s. He grew up in Chambersburg, PA, and began playing drums early on; he also worked with his school orchestra and with his father, who played piano for silent films. Morehouse, who led the Versatile Five while in high school in 1919, picked up important experience playing with Paul Specht from 1922-24, making recordings and visiting London with Specht in 1923. One of the most technically skilled drummers of the 1920s, Morehouse was a member of Jean Goldkette's Orchestra from 1925-27, was with the short-lived and legendary Adrian Rollini band in 1927 (with Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer) and played regularly with Don Voorhees from 1928-29. During the 1925-29 period, Morehouse appeared on many jazz records including with Goldkette, Trumbauer, Bix and his Gang, Red Nichols, the Dorsey Brothers and Joe Venuti, among others. In 1929 he became a studio percussionist and during the next 40 years he worked primarily in the studios, on radio and later in television. He gradually modernized his style and led an unusual band in 1938 in which he played chromatically tuned percussion that he had designed; Stan King helped him out on drums. But Morehouse mostly was outside of jazz until the 1970s, when he retired from the studios and occasionally appeared at jazz festivals. By then, he had been long forgotten in the jazz world by all but 1920s collectors. As a leader, Morehouse led three Dixieland-oriented titles in 1937 plus four numbers in 1938 with a 14-piece band that showed off his percussion work. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide