| Frank Butler | |
| Birth Date: | 18 February 1928 |
| Birth Place: | Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Ventura, California, U.S. |
| Instrument: | Drums |
| Genre: | Jazz |
| Associated Acts: | Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Elmo Hope, Miles Davis, Art Pepper, Curtis Counce, Harold Land |
Frank Butler (February 18, 1928 – July 24, 1984) was an American jazz drummer.
Butler was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but later moved west and was associated in large part with the West Coast school. He played the drums in multiple high school bands (including one in Omaha, Nebraska), in local jazz combos, and in USO shows during World War II.[1]
Butler never became well known, but was highly regarded by fellow musicians (in 1958, veteran drummer Jo Jones proclaimed him "the greatest drummer in the world")[2] and performed with numerous jazz notables. Early in his career he played with the Dave Brubeck combo at a 1950 engagement in San Francisco, before Brubeck's group gained a national following in the mid-1950s.[3] He went on to perform and record with Duke Ellington,[1] John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ben Webster, Harold Land, Hampton Hawes and Art Pepper in the 1950s and 1960s. He performed on several television series, including Stars of Jazz with bassist Curtis Counce. The Contemporary label noticed Butler and Counce, and, from 1956 through 1958, captured them together on several Curtis Counce Quintet albums. Sidelined for many years by an addiction to heroin, Butler did not record albums under his own name until the 1970s, when he released two highly regarded albums titled Wheelin' and Dealin' and The Stepper.[3]
Butler died in Ventura, California after a short battle with lung cancer at the age of 56.
Co-led with Curtis Amy
With Dolo Coker
With Joyce Collins
With John Coltrane
With Curtis Counce
With Miles Davis
With Kenny Drew
With Teddy Edwards
With Victor Feldman
With Red Garland
With Hampton Hawes
With Elmo Hope
With Helen Humes
With Fred Katz
With Harold Land
With Big Miller
With Red Mitchell
With Paul Moer
With Phineas Newborn
With Art Pepper
With Ben Webster
With Gerald Wilson
With Jimmy Witherspoon
With Xanadu All Stars