490 - [Daniel Glass Show]: A Conversation With Bobby Morris. - Drummer's Resource: Conversations with the world's greatest drummers and music industry pros.
May 22, 2019

490 – [Daniel Glass Show]: A Conversation With Bobby Morris.

In this podcast, Daniel checks in with his old pal, the legendary drummer Bobby Morris. Best known for his 1950s work with Louie Prima, Morris’s colorful life and incredible musical associations are detailed in a new autobiography, My Las Vegas: With Elvis, Sinatra, Streisand, Darin, Prima & More.

What’s covered in this session:

  • Daniel shares how he met Bobby Morris almost 20 years ago, when he sought out Morris in Las Vegas to learn how to play the “Prima Shuffle.”
  • Bobby’s early years, including his birth in Poland and how he came to America 1937 at the age of 10.
  • How Bobby became inspired to play the drums – first through watching marching bands and then seeing Gene Krupa perform live with the Benny Goodman big band.
  • Snare drum studies with legendary educator Henry Adler, and getting to know a fellow student named Freddie Gruber.
  • How passion and hard work led to a professional career by the age of 14.
  • Becoming obsessed with “the New Music” (bebop) in the late 1940s – and working with many of its greatest legends as a teenager on 52nd Street in Manhattan.
  • Bobby’s move to Las Vegas in 1950, when there were only five casino/hotels and the population was just 30,000 .
  • Joining the “relief band,” which included the most crack musicians in all of Vegas.
  • Connecting with Louie Prima in 1955, introducing his famous shuffle to the act, and enjoying the band’s meteoric rise to stardom.
  • Becoming the musical director at the International Hotel in 1969, where he would conduct for the likes of Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Bobby Darin and many others.

Resources/Links/People Mentioned:

  • Daniel Glass and Bobby Morris in 2000, outside the offices of the Morris Talent Agency in Las Vegas.
  • Bobby’s new book My Las Vegas recounts the incredible stories of his life in New York, Las Vegas and around the world.
  • Bobby with Louis Prima at the height of that group’s fame in the late 1950s.
  • Learn more about My Las Vegas, now available in hard cover or digital download from Hudson Music.