“Name me a handful that's ridiculous, Dannie Richmond!” - Charles Mingus

Remembering Dannie Richmond on what would be his 92nd birthday today. (December 15, 1931 - March 16, 1988)

Dannie started playing tenor saxophone at the age of thirteen, but his career took off when he took up the drums in his early twenties, through the formation of what was to be a 21-year association with Charles Mingus. Mingus biographer Brian Priestley writes that "Dannie became Mingus's equivalent to Harry Carney in the Ellington band, an indispensable ingredient of 'the Mingus sound' and a close friend as well".

Mingus and Dannie Richmond, Atlantic recordings, January 1978

Photo credit: Sue Mingus