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Drummer Gene Krupa performing at Gjon Mili’s...

Drummer Gene Krupa performing at Gjon Mili’s studio. NYC, 1941

*Amazing* photographs from LIFE Magazine’s photo archives. Originally featured in the July 9th, 1941 article, “GENE KRUPA SHOWS HOW TO PLAY DRUM IN THESE FANTASTIC SOUND PICTURES.”

In these unusual shots Krupa illustrates some rudiments of drumming. They were taken by Gjon Mili’s multiple-exposure camera so you could follow the track of Krupa’s drumsticks whizzing through the air. But they are interesting also as impressionistic portraits of sound, suggesting the rhythmic pandemonium of a Krupa jam session.

….As a drum historian, he likes to tell how Napoleon Bonaparte was once defeated by Russians who were roused to a fighting frenzy by Cossack drummers. Says Krupa proudly, “I have Cossack blood myself.”

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read more posts about:
• drumming
• gene krupa
• gjon mili
• life magazine
• music
• photography
• portraits
• time-lapse
• visualization

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10. heartwarmers reblogged this from austinkleon and added:

    He was such a cool cat!

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    Give the drummer some!

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34. theokbb said: I also love the love that Lindsey’s dad has for Gene Krupa in Freaks and Geeks.
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    In these unusual shots Krupa illustrates some rudiments of drumming. They were taken by Gjon Mili’s multiple-exposure...

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