Often claimed as one of Michigan's many celebrity natives, drummer Bill Dowdy was, to those in the know, actually born in Arkansas and brought to Benton Harbor, MI, some six months later. Was the urge to play drums something in his Ozark blood, or did it only happen because he was removed from the hillbilly influence? For whatever reason, the child began to beat on things at an early age, this remembered by those within earshot of these outbursts as often possessing many of the hallmark definitions of music, or music performance. He might be bashing on a bag of groceries and destroying a dozen eggs in the process, or creating layers of percussive rattle from within his mother's purse, or just plain whacking the kitchen stove and it was if he was playing a drum set, in the latter case a djembe. He broke a mirror in the midst of one practice session, causing years of bad luck not only for his family, but for drummers in general. In high school, the rowdy Dowdy learned piano and officially the drums, as in a set that he could sit down at. At 16, he formed his own group, the catchy Club 49 Trio, in 1949, and the combo soon had its own radio spot in Chicago. Being drafted into the Army interrupted the music flow, and after the services he decided to continue his musical studies on a more serious level. While attending Roosevelt University, he gigged at night, pushing his stamina to the limit playing the rapid tempos of tenor saxophone master Johnny Griffin, or following the Byzantine melodic inventions of trombonist J.J. Johnson. He also played with plenty of blues bands, becoming a Chicago institution and one of the city's busiest and most-respected drummers. It turned out to be his last regular home base for a while, as the next stage of the drummer's career was marked by a movement from place to place, from New York to Los Angeles and on to Canada and then back down to the South, almost as if he was living the four stanzas of My Elusive Dream. He formed the Four Sounds in 1956 and made the cut when it was culled to the Three Sounds the following year, a decision that might have been a cold-bloodedly economic as trimming the size of a robbery gang down by one number. In any case, the guy playing the funky backbeat would be around at the end of the day and that was Dowdy, who put a little bit of the Chicago blues into every track by these groups, be they from Three or Four Sounds. The really classic lineup, at least of the former band size, featured the soulful and subtle pianist Gene Harris and bassist Andy Simpkins. He continued in the group until 1966 and survived all of its membership. Eventually desiring a more settled existence with a wife and family, he settled into the town of Battle Creek and with the smell of cereal manufacturing thick in the air, began working a day gig at a music store. As soon as he was able, he opened his own music store. Musical activities in this stage of his life focused on a gospel group, as well as teaching youngsters both piano and drums. In the late '90s, he performed and recorded with vocalist Dee Dee McNeil. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi