Mousey Alexander (1922-1988)
Mousey Alexander moved to Orlando – Central Florida in the mid 80s. It was monumental if you consider the historical drum knowledge in one place at the time.
Tommy Thomas (1901-1995) Don Lamond (1920-2003) Panama Francis (1918-2001) and Bill Peeples (1932-2004)
I met Panama Francis and regret not hearing him play. His discography includes playing on the hit records: Splish Splash, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Walk Like A Man, The Great Pretender, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, Runaround Sue, Calendar Girl to name a few. He performed with: Sam Cooke, Earl Hines, Cab Callaway, John Lee Hooker, Wilson Pickett, Big Joe Turner, Solomon Burke, James Brown, The Four Seasons, Dion, Bobby Darin and the list goes on.
His discography is amazing. One of my favorite tracks he played drums on is Fever by Little Willie Brown. All of those recordings can be easily found. Enjoy
I saw and heard Mousey before and after he had a stroke. I subbed for him once when he was unavailable. There’s a great Youtube video of Mousey playing Sing-Sing-Sing with The Benny Goodman Orchestra. It’s a 1957 Ed Sullivan Show. There are also clips from 1972.
If you played with Benny Goodman, you could Swing. Some great drummers passed through his band beginning with Gene Krupa. Mousey grew up in Chicago with many great jazz musicians. Tommy Thomas and Benny Goodman were sidemen together with Bix Beiderbecke. Those early bands included Jean Goldkette Orchestra and Frankie “Tram” Trumbauer.
Like Louie Bellson and others, Mousey Alexander studied at the Roy C. Knapp School of Percussion in Chicago. Tommy Thomas also taught there when he was staff percussion with ABC, American Broadcast Company.
I remember Mousey playing a Slingerland drum set with a hand painted logo of a mouse. Mousey was very active in the Orlando area hosting jam sessions and special events. Mousey hosted a featured event with Louie Bellson.
When Mousey’s son Tracy Alexander moved to Central Florida…I heard him many times. Tracy also hosted jam sessions and held down several traditional jazz gigs.
I heard Tracy numerous times with guitarist Nathan Page. (1937-2003) Nathan-arrived in Central Florida after touring with Jimmy Smith, Kenny Barron, Roberta Flack, Herbie Mann, Jackie McLean, Charles Tolliver and Sonny Rollins.
Mousey Alexander worked in Chicago with Jimmy and Marion McPartland in the 50s. Marion McPartland performed at The Village Lounge several times. Mousey’s recording discography includes: Johnny Smith, Charlie Ventura, John Bunch, Red Norvo, Lee Konitz, Sal Salvador, Derek Smith, Clark Terry, Phil Wilson and Jimmy Witherspoon.