Celebrating Chick Webb: Stephanie Stein Crease and Ulysses Owens Jr.

William Henry "Chick" Webb was one of the first virtuoso drummers in jazz and an innovative bandleader—the "Savoy King," who reigned at the Savoy Ballroom and helped launch the Swing Era of the 1930s. In Rhythm Man, the first full biography of Webb, jazz historian Stephanie Stein Crease explores Webb's engrossing life and times. The Library for the Performing Arts welcomes Crease in a discussion moderated by drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. celebrating Chick Webb and the publication of Crease's new book.

Drawing from previously unpublished material and years of archival research, Crease paints a nuanced portrait of Webb's life and career. Webb intersected with almost every important jazz musician of his time—including Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Louis Armstrong—and helped launch the careers of such legends as Louis Jordan and Ella Fitzgerald. But, as Crease details, Webb also struggled with the harsh realities of racism and show business, in addition to his chronic spinal tuberculosis that contributed to his death at the young age of 34.

Stephanie Stein Crease

Stephanie Stein Crease is a jazz historian, author, editor, and former Senior Jazz Coordinator for the Jazz Arts Program, Manhattan School of Music. Her books include Gil Evans: Out of the Cool (ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award), and Duke Ellington: His Life in Jazz. She was literary editor for the Grammy-awarded Duke Ellington Centennial Edition. She was a 2020 Scholar-in Residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NYPL, and 2018 Berger-Benny Carter-Berger Research Fellow at the Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University.

Ulysses Owens Jr.

Performer, producer and educator, Ulysses Owens Jr. goes the limit in the jazz world and beyond, claiming 7 successful albums of his own. Owens has also gained special attention for his performances on GRAMMY Award-winning albums by Kurt Elling and the Christian McBride Big Band. As an author Ulysses has authored two books titled: Jazz Brushes for the Modern Drummer: An Essential Guide to the Art of Keeping Time, and The Musicians Career Guide: Turning Your Talent into Sustained Success, released by Simon and Schuster. His third, forthcoming book is called, Jazz Big Band for the Modern Drummer: The Essential Guide to the Large Ensemble, for Hal Leonard Publications.

While tickets to all events at the Library for the Performing Arts are free, seating is granted on a first come first serve basis. Five minutes before showtime, seats will be given out to people on the wait list regardless of reservation status.

Host or Publisher New York Public Library for the Performing Arts