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Drummer Joe Dodge was a big fan of heavy duty bebop drummers Max Roach and Art Blakey, but seemed to dodge similar intensity in his own musical relationships. He was known for the softer sound suitable for the surface of a rhythm section accompanying alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, both with and without noted piano sidekick Dave Brubeck. Dodge also got into playing Dixieland with leaders such as Jack Sheedy as well as holding down the beat for commercial dance bands. Dodge surely got closer to large piles of money than many of his peers on the jazz scene, but it wasn't because of the Brubeck connection: he started working as a bank teller in 1950, returning to that day job later in the decade when he presumably got tired of tooling around the United States in Brubeck's station wagon.
Dodge hailed from the west coast and initially studied to be a symphonic percussionist. Following a four year Army stint which began in 1942, Dodge formed a group with the young Desmond. The drummer was also in Nick Esposito's touring outfit during the last gasp of the '40s. Brubeck put Dodge in his rhythm section garage in 1951, an event that some jazz references report as happening as much as two years later. Classic Brubeck sides from this period featuring this drummer include the albums entitled Stardust and Jazz at the Blackhawk; most retrospective collections of the mild pianist's career will also include at least a few of Dodge's brush strokes. ~ Eugene Chadbourne