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SAN GABRIEL, Calif., April 10 (AP) — Danny Barcelona, a jazz drummer who traveled the world with Louis Armstrong and His All Stars and played on Armstrong recordings including “Hello, Dolly!,” died on April 1 in San Gabriel, Calif. He was 77 and lived in Monterey Park, Calif.
The cause was cancer, his daughter Dana Barcelona-Bonner said.
In the early 1950s, Mr. Barcelona, who was born in Hawaii, started his own sextet, the Hawaiian Dixieland All Stars, which toured the Hawaiian Islands and Japan. During those years, he met his wife, Dee, who was performing at a Waikiki hotel with her two sisters; the group was called the Morgan Sisters.
Mr. Barcelona joined Armstrong’s All Stars in 1958 and traveled widely with the band, playing in more than 130 recording sessions and soundtracks with Armstrong, including those of his hits “ “Hello, Dolly!” and “What a Wonderful World.”
The band broke up after Armstrong’s death, in 1971. Mr. Barcelona then became a fixture at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu, playing with the Bernie Halmann group. He moved to Monterey Park in 1979.
In addition to his wife and Ms. Barcelona-Bonner, Mr. Barcelona is survived by another daughter, Jodi Barcelona; a brother, Jose (Sonny) Barcelona; five grandchildren; and a great-grandson.
Barcelona, a resident of Monterey Park, died April 1 of cancer in a convalescent home in San Gabriel.
He was surrounded by his family, they said.
The Hawaiian-born drummer joined Armstrong's All Stars in 1958 and traveled with the band throughout the United States, Asia, Europe and Africa, as well as behind the Iron Curtain for more than a decade.
Affectionately called "the little Hawaiian boy" by Armstrong, Barcelona played on more than 130 recording sessions and soundtracks with Armstrong, including his 1968 hit "What a Wonderful World."
In a 1966 opening-night review of the band at the Carousel in West Covina, Leonard Feather, then The Times' jazz critic, wrote that "Armstrong today leads one of the best groups he has ever fronted. Wisely, he gives each individual a chance to prove it."
That included Barcelona, who, Feather observed, "did his customary 'Stomping at the Savoy' drum workout to close the show."
"Danny was excellent," Buddy Catlett, who joined the Armstrong band as bass player in 1965, told The Times on Friday. "He was a good show drummer on top of it. Louis kept a sense of showmanship going at all times, and Danny did his part."
In a 2000 interview with the Orange County Register, Barcelona said that Armstrong was the same off stage as on.
"He stayed happy all the time," Barcelona said. "Pops loved to play the horn. That's what kept him going. If we had two or three days off, he'd get restless and was ready to play again."
After Armstrong died in 1971 and the band broke up, Barcelona became a fixture at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu for several years, playing with the Bernie Halmann Group. He later worked at Harry's Music in Kaimuki, which supplied musical instruments to the local school district, and gave drum lessons before moving to Monterey Park in 1979.
The son of Filipino immigrants, Barcelona was born July 23, 1929, in Waipahu on the island of Oahu.
A self-taught drummer, he joined trombonist Trummy Young's orchestra in Hawaii in 1948. (Young later played trombone for Armstrong's All-Stars and recommended Barcelona to Armstrong.)
In the early '50s, Barcelona started his own sextet, the Hawaiian Dixieland All Stars, which toured the Hawaiian Islands and Japan. Around the same time, he met his wife, Dee, who was performing at a hotel in Waikiki with her two sisters as the musical trio the Morgan Sisters.
In addition to his wife, Barcelona is survived by his daughters, Dana Barcelona-Bonner and Jodi Barcelona; his brother, Jose "Sonny" Barcelona; five grandchildren and a great-grandson.
04-09) 12:12 PDT San Gabriel, Calif. (AP) --
Monday, April 9, 2007
Drummer Danny Barcelona, who traveled the world with Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars and played on such Armstrong recordings as "Hello, Dolly," has died. He was 77.
Barcelona, who was born in Hawaii and was affectionately called "the little Hawaiian boy" by Armstrong, died of cancer April 1 in a nursing facility near the Monterey Park home he shared with his wife of 50 years, his daughter Dana Barcelona-Bonner said.
In the early 1950s, Barcelona started his own sextet, the Hawaiian Dixieland All Stars, which toured the Hawaiian Islands and Japan. During those years, he met his wife Dee, who was performing at a Waikiki hotel with her two sisters as the musical trio the Morgan Sisters.
Barcelona, who joined Armstrong's All-Stars in 1958 and traveled worldwide with the band, played on more than 130 recording sessions and soundtracks with Armstrong, including his hits "Hello, Dolly" and "What a Wonderful World."
The band broke up after Armstrong's death in 1971. Barcelona then became a fixture at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu, playing with the Bernie Halmann Group. He moved to Monterey Park in 1979.
In addition to his wife and daughter Dana, Barcelona leaves a second daughter Jodi Barcelona; his brother Jose "Sonny" Barcelona; five grandchildren and a great-grandson.
Funeral arrangements weren't disclosed.
Danny Barcelona
It was trombonist Trummy Young who inspired drummer Danny Barcelona to say aloha to his home in Hawaii and embark on a career as an international jazz artist. The two met during a period in the mid-'40s when trombonist, singer, and bandleader Young was hanging out in the land of macadamia nuts. It was the middle of Barcelona's final year of high school when he took off to join Young's orchestra, an era when "Salt Peanuts" was becoming the new musical snack. In the early '50s, Barcelona launched his own sextet called the Hawaiian Dixieland All-Stars and toured the Far East, where some listeners thought the band was just plain nuts. There were plenty of fans, however, and the drummer was invited back a few years later as part of an international music revue. Even with all this traveling, Barcelona kept up a Hawaiian base and did plenty of club and party engagements in Waikiki when he wasn't on the road. Finally, in the fall of 1957, he relocated to New York City, where Young once again proved to be a valuable connection. At this point the good-natured trombonist was a member of Louis Armstrong's combo, one of the most steadily employed groups in jazz during that period. Barrett Deems was the drummer on the way out, and Barcelona would remain with the group known as Louis Armstrong's All-Stars until 1971, when the beloved leader put the pet project down due to his own ailing health. Highlights of the years with Satchmo included an African tour in the '60s, in which Barcelona's performance wowed Rhodesian drum masters. There was plenty of recording as well, some 130 different sessions in all, one of which produced the hit single of "Hello Dolly" in 1968, offering listeners a trip to Barcelona every time they turned the radio on. Horror film fans had the same opportunity in 2001, when the hit Jeeper's Creepers utilized the Armstrong recording of the same name on its soundtrack. The majestic solidity of Barcelona's beat is akin to architectural landmarks in the Spanish city that naturally comes to mind whenever this drummer's name is brought up.
- by Eugene Chadbourne Danny Barcelona
It was trombonist Trummy Young who inspired drummer Danny Barcelona to say aloha to his home in Hawaii and embark on a career as an international jazz artist. The two met during a period in the mid-'40s when trombonist, singer, and bandleader Young was hanging out in the land of macadamia nuts. It was the middle of Barcelona's final year of high school when he took off to join Young's orchestra, an era when "Salt Peanuts" was becoming the new musical snack. In the early '50s, Barcelona launched his own sextet called the Hawaiian Dixieland All-Stars and toured the Far East, where some listeners thought the band was just plain nuts. There were plenty of fans, however, and the drummer was invited back a few years later as part of an international music revue. Even with all this traveling, Barcelona kept up a Hawaiian base and did plenty of club and party engagements in Waikiki when he wasn't on the road. Finally, in the fall of 1957, he relocated to New York City, where Young once again proved to be a valuable connection. At this point the good-natured trombonist was a member of Louis Armstrong's combo, one of the most steadily employed groups in jazz during that period. Barrett Deems was the drummer on the way out, and Barcelona would remain with the group known as Louis Armstrong's All-Stars until 1971, when the beloved leader put the pet project down due to his own ailing health. Highlights of the years with Satchmo included an African tour in the '60s, in which Barcelona's performance wowed Rhodesian drum masters. There was plenty of recording as well, some 130 different sessions in all, one of which produced the hit single of "Hello Dolly" in 1968, offering listeners a trip to Barcelona every time they turned the radio on. Horror film fans had the same opportunity in 2001, when the hit Jeeper's Creepers utilized the Armstrong recording of the same name on its soundtrack. The majestic solidity of Barcelona's beat is akin to architectural landmarks in the Spanish city that naturally comes to mind whenever this drummer's name is brought up.
- by Eugene Chadbourne
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