George Wettling, born November 28, 1907 and died June 6, 1968 was an American jazz drummer. King Oliver’s jazz band, with Louis Armstrong on the second cornet, at Chicago’s Lincoln Gardens in the 1920s was what brought him to love jazz. Baby Dodds (Oliver’s drummer) made a lasting impression on Wettling. Wettling worked with Artie Shaw, Bunny Berigan and Red Norvo. But he was best known for his work in small, ‘hot’ bands that were led by Eddie Condon and Muggsy Spanier. These small bands allowed Wettling to show the art of dynamics and respond to a soloist he had learned from Baby Dodds. Like his clarinetist friend Pee Wee Russell, Wettling took up painting towards the end of his life. He was greatly influenced by Stuart Davis, an American cubist. According to some sources, he said that jazz drumming and abstract paintings were different from his from the perspective of craftsmanship. He believed rhythm was decisive in both of these fields. But, as good as Wettling’s paintings were, he will be remembered most for his cavernous, rattling sound at the drums, especially with Eddie Condon’s bands. Text contributed by users is possible under the Creative Commons By–SA License. It may also be available under GNU FDL.
