Eddie Wasserman: The Small Groups

Eddie Wasserman wasn't a star but he could have been. He never was a leader on his own session. Instead, he spent the bulk of his career playing woodwinds in top big bands. His first recording session was with Benny Goodman in December 1948 and remained there into 1948. Going forward, he was a favorite of many bandleaders through the years. But who was Wasserman and what did he sound like?

To find out, I did some archive research, and I zoomed in on Wasserman's quartet recordings with Gene Krupa. As you'll hear, Wasserman was remarkable, being able to triple fluidly on tenor saxophone, clarinet and flute. Although he never recorded as a leader, his Krupa Quartet sessions in the late 1950s can be considered his leadership dates, since he was the sole featured instrument.

First, who was Eddie Wasserman? In addition to playing with Goodman, he was in big bands recorded live and in the studio led by Artie Shaw, Manny Albam, Stan Kenton, Louie Bellson and Chico O'Farrell, with whom he co-led a big band in 1953.

By 1955, big band work on the East Coast was starting to dry up. In an obit written by Elliot Pinsley for The New Jersey Record in June 1992, after Wasserman's death on May 27, 1992, an agent asked O'Farrell and Waserman if they would form a small group to play Latin music in Miami Beach. O'Farrell likened the experience to “going to hell."

In 1966, jazz clearly wasn't an ideal way to earn a living, so Wasserman gave up the road and became an assistant director of he conert band at Clifton High School in New Jersey. He continued to play club dates and in Broadway pit bands.

Wasserman was born in Smackover, Ark., in 1923. He told friends he had played with many black kids in the area growing up. After his father died, Wasserman moved with his mother to Tyler, Texas. That's where he fell in love with jazz. His first paid job was at age 14, in a dance band.

During World War II, Wasserman attended New York's Juilliard School, but he was soon drafted and wasn't discharged for three years. He returned to Juilliard to complete his studies and graduated in 1948, when he started playing with Goodman. Wasserman later earned a master's degree in education from Columbia University. His wife at the time, Romaine Wasserman, said, “It was really quite a difficult decision for him to make. The motivating force was the hope of doing somthing that was more reliable in terms of a living."

Wasserman died after suffering a heart attack. He was 69.

Let's listen to tracks that feature Wasserman:

Here's Fingerpoppin' Blues on clarinetist Tony Scott's album Scott's Fling in 1955. The band featured Jimmy Nottingham (tp), Billy Byers (tb), Tony Scott (cl), Eddie Wasserman (ts), Danny Bank (bar), Milt Hinton (b) and Osie Johnson (d)...



Here's Lucky to Be Me from the same recording session...



Here's There Will Never Be Another You in March 1958 with Gene Krupa's Men of Jazz, featuring Eddie Wasserman (ts,cl,fl), Ronnie Ball (p), Jimmy Gannon (b) and Gene Krupa (d)...



Here's Flying Home from the same live date...



Here's Yesterdays...



Here's Memories of You...



Here's Drum Boogie from The Swingin' Gene Krupa Quartet at Chicago's London House in 1959, featuring Eddie Wasserman (fl,cl,ts), Ronnie Ball (p), Jimmy Gannon (b) and Gene Krupa (d)...



Here's Tenderly from the same date...



Here's High Falutin' from the same date...



And here's two parts of Tony Bennett with the Gene Krupa Quartet in 1962 for the National Guard, featuring Tony Bennett (vcl), Eddie Wasserman (ts,cl,fl), John Bunch (p), Dave Perlman (b) and Gene Krupa (d)...

Here's Part 1...



And here's Part 2...