| The Drum Suite | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Manny Albam-Ernie Wilkins and Their Orchestra |
| Cover: | The Drum Suite.jpg |
| Released: | 1956 |
| Recorded: | March 5, 6 & 7, 1956 Webster Hall, NYC |
| Genre: | Jazz |
| Length: | 36:52 |
| Label: | RCA Victor LPM 1279 |
| Producer: | Jack Lewis |
| Chronology: | Ernie Wilkins |
| Prev Title: | Top Brass |
| Prev Year: | 1955 |
| Next Title: | The Big New Band of the 60's |
| Next Year: | 1960 |
The Drum Suite (subtitled A Musical Portrait of Eight Arms from Six Angles) is an album by American jazz composers and arrangers Manny Albam and Ernie Wilkins featuring performances recorded in 1956 and first released on the RCA Victor label.[1] The album was followed by Al Cohn's Son of Drum Suite (RCA Victor, 1960).
The AllMusic review stated "No doubt written to exploit the hi-fi craze in full swing during Ike's presidency, Manny Albams' and Ernie Wilkins' The Drum Suite took the unprecedented step of including parts for four drummers. Inevitably, Albams and Wilkins abandoned the anarchic idea of turning all four drummers loose at the same time; thus these six movements -- divided equally between the two composers -- feature carefully written-out parts for each drummer to follow. ...By keeping things free of gimmickry, Albams/Wilkins created a viable piece of music that, if truth be told, could have been performed acceptably by one drummer." and awarded the album 4 stars.
All compositions by Ernie Wilkins except as indicated