Bernie Cummins
{{short description|American drummer}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Bernie Cummins
| image =
| caption =
| image_size =
| birth_name = Bernard Joseph Cummins
| alias =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1900|3|14|mf=y}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1986|9|22|1900|3|14|mf=y}}
| instrument = Drums, percussion
| genre = Jazz, big band, swing
| occupation = Musician, bandleader
| years_active = 1919–1959
| label =
| past_member_of = The Wolverines, Charlie Callas
| website =
}}
Bernard Joseph Cummins (March 14, 1900 – September 22, 1986) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader.
Early years
Cummins was born on March 14, 1900,{{cite news |last1=Price |first1=Mark J. |title=Akron bandleader finds he's well-suited for fame |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-akron-beacon-journal-bernie-cummins/173921017/ |work=The Akron Beacon Journal |date= December 26, 2011|pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-akron-beacon-journal-bernie-cummins/173921017/ B 1], [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-akron-beacon-journal-bernie-cummins/173920971/ B 2] |accessdate=June 5, 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}} in Akron, Ohio. In his youth, Cummins was a boxer, besides playing drums in local bands in Ohio.{{Citation needed |date=June 2025}} His parents, Mary and Michael J. Cummins, were Irish immigrants, and his father was a leading temperance worker in Ohio.{{cite news |title=Bermoe Cummins' Father Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1948/01/06/archives/bernie-cummins-father-dies.html |access-date=|work=The New York Times |agency=Associated Press |date=January 6, 1948 |page=23 |url-access=subscription }} He had eight siblings. He was a student at St. Vincent High School.
Orchestras
In 1919 he created a small ensemble of his own,{{cite book|last1=Lee|first1=William F.|title=American Big Bands|date=2005|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=9780634080548|page=[https://archive.org/details/americanbigbands00leew/page/31 31]|url=https://archive.org/details/americanbigbands00leew|url-access=registration|quote=Bernie Cummins.|accessdate=9 March 2017|language=en}} which debuted in Indiana and which grew gradually into a larger dance band after he moved to Cincinnati in 1923.
Singers in the band included Dorothy Crane, Jerry Lang, Betty Griffin, Bernie's brother Walter Cummins and Scottee Marsh, who sang later with Tommy Dorsey.
A female singing trio known as the Sophisticates was hired by Bernie in the mid-1930s out of Minneapolis Marshall High School about the time the Andrews Sisters from Minneapolis North High School became popular. Charlie Callas and Randy Brooks also played with the band, as did Tommy Dorsey for a time. Besides his activities as bandleader, Cummins was briefly also the manager of The Wolverines.
Recordings
Personal appearances
The band had many appearances in the Mid-West and was well known for its live performances; its smooth style was much loved in larger hotels and ballrooms. They played many times at the Biltmore Hotel and the Hotel New Yorker in New York City, the Trianon, Aragon, Blackstone and the Edgewater Beach Hotel{{cite book|last1=Walker|first1=Leo|title=The Big Band Almanac|date=1989|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=0306803453|page=[https://archive.org/details/bigbandalmanac00walke/page/92 92]|url=https://archive.org/details/bigbandalmanac00walke|url-access=registration|quote=Bernie Cummins.|accessdate=10 March 2017|language=en}} and Palmer House in Chicago, as well as further appearances in Dallas, Kansas City, New Orleans, Denver, San Francisco and Saint Paul. Cummins' band also played on radio shows including the Spotlight Dance Program sponsored by Coca-Cola, and The Fitch Bandwagon.
In the late 1950s it became increasingly difficult for the band to find gigs, but the group continued to play clubs in Las Vegas, at such places as The Flamingo, El Rancho and Last Frontier, before it dissolved it 1959.
Theme
Later years
Cummins retired to Boca Raton, Florida.
Personal life and death
Cummins married Katherine Mahoney in New York City in 1930. He died September 22, 1986, in Palm Beach, Florida. He was 86.{{cite book|last1=Yanow|first1=Scott|title=Classic Jazz: Third Ear - the Essential Listening Companion|date=2001|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=9781617744860|page=65|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e1SBuNFZolAC&dq=%22Bernie+Cummins%22&pg=PA65|accessdate=10 March 2017|language=en}}
Discography
- Bernie Cummins & his Orchestra (1924-1930) (Timeless Records)
References
{{reflist}}
- Leo Walker: The Big Band Almanac, Ward Ritchie Press, Pasadena, CA, 1978, p. 92
- William F. Lee, American Big Bands, Hal Leonard, Milwaukee, WI, 2006, p. 31
External links
- [http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/43019/Cummins_Bernie_director Discography of Bernie Cummins' recordings at Discography Of American Historical Recordings]
- [https://archive.org/details/BernieCumminsOrchestra78rpmCollection/01+Who+Was+The+Lady%EF%80%A5.m4a "Bernie Cummins Orchestra 78rpm Collection" at Internet Archive]
{{Authority control}}
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Category:American big band bandleaders
Category:American jazz drummers
Category:American jazz percussionists
Category:American jazz bandleaders
Category:Gennett Records artists
Category:20th-century American drummers
Category:American male drummers
Category:20th-century American male musicians