Mickey Roker

Born in 1932 in Miami and raised in Philadelphia, Mickey Roker played drums with R&B bands but was attracted to jazz. He worked briefly with such visiting and local jazzmen as Jimmy Heath, Lee Morgan, and McCoy Tyner, and at the end of the '50s headed to New York. During the next few years he played in bands led by Gigi Gryce, Ray Bryant, Duke Pearson, Art Farmer, Sonny Rollins, Milt Jackson, Clifford Jordan, and Morgan. For a while he was a member of the house band at Blue Note Records, and played on many dates. In 1971 he began a long association with Dizzy Gillespie that la...