Born in the Appalachians, drummer Tommy Benford and his brother, tuba player Bill Benford, unfortunately wound up as orphans. Both boys benefited from the extensive musical training offered by the Jenkins Orphanage of South Carolina as a result of these circumstances. This institution was so proud of its musical talent that it actually put its groups on tour. Tommy Benford was hitting venues abroad with such a group as early as 1914. Following a series of concerts in London, one such tour had to be canceled due to the outbreak of the First World War. Benford began studying drums privately with Steve Wright and Herbert Wright shortly thereafter. Performances with +the Green River Minstrel Show circa 1920 are considered to be his first professional engagements.

Soon thereafter, Benford began drumming with the Marie Lucas Orchestra, and was based out of Washington, D.C. The capitol city was a hotbed of new jazz developments in the '20s, and the drummer began playing with Elmer Snowden, Charlie Skeet, Jelly Roll Morton, Edgar Hayes, and the orchestra of Bill Benford. There was even a one-month substitution stint with the mighty Duke Ellington. In the '30s, Benford checked out the European scene, working with players such as Eddie South, Freddy Taylor, Garland Wilson, and others who had decided there would be more interest in jazz abroad than in America. In these years the drummer recorded prolifically with many greats of the genre, including the gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt, the

serene soprano saxophonist Sidney Bechet, and improvising idol Coleman Hawkins.

In 1938, Benford began working fairly regularly with reed player Willie Lewis, an association that continued for three years, both men remaining expatriates. Then begins Benford's second American period, gigging with Noble Sissle in 1943 and Snub Mosley a few years later in New York City. Over the next decade he was associated with such solid mainstream jazz players as trumpeters Rex Stewart and Muggsy Spanier and with the Big Apple's swing jazz scene in general, hanging out for long residencies at venues such as Jimmy Ryan's and the Central Plaza. In the late '50s the drummer worked with Freddy Johnson, spent his summers with Leroy Parkins and Bob Pilsbury, and was in Europe once again as part of +the Jazz Train Revue, a concoction of director Eddie Barefield.

In the '60s, Benford continued laying down a flawless beat, the epitome of straight-ahead swing, for bandleaders Joe Thomas and Ed Hall. Students of drumming often listen in wonder to the manner in which Benford accents the second and fourth beats of a measure on recordings with Morton from the late '20s, no doubt wishing that a bit of Benford's gold could be deposited in their own playing style. The drummer himself must have known the feel was right, because he kept it throughout his career. As he got older, Benford worked with the Saints Sinners band and several similar revival outfits led by Danny Barker. Later in this decade, the drummer finally began to back away from gigging on a full-time basis, though he was still likely to inhabit a drum stool on weekends, sometimes in the company of the charismatic Franz Jackson. Clyde Bernhardt took him on lengthy tours during the '70s, indicating good health for a man who had been playing drums since the early 20th century. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi