Casey, Floyd
Casey, Floyd
early jazz drummer, washboard player; b. Poplar Bluffs, Mo., 1900; d. N.Y., Sept. 7, 1967. He worked regularly on the riverboats during the early 1920s; was with Ed Allen’s Whispering Gold Band in 1922. He played in St. Louis with Dewey Jackson (c. 1921), and with saxist Jimmy Powell’s Jazz Monarchs (c. 1925-26); moved to N.Y. and from 1927 was featured on many recordings with Clarence Williams. He worked with trombonist George Wilson at Capitol Palace, N.Y., in 1927. During the 1930s he played many “taxi-dance” jobs in N.Y. He was with Jimmy Reynold’s Band in 1941, worked in Ed Allen’s Band, then (with Ed Allen) played in a band led by pianist Benton Heath at the New Gardens, N.Y., for many years. He recorded with Allen and Elmer Snowden in 1961.
—John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter