* En anglais uniquement
Tiny Kahn (who was anything but tiny) had a brief but productive life. A fine drummer (both in small groups and big bands),
Kahn was a greatly underrated arranger-composer. He did not start on drums until he was 15 but packed a lot of living into his last 15 years.
Kahn played with
Boyd Raeburn (1948),
Georgie Auld, the
Chubby Jackson big band,
Charlie Barnet's bebop orchestra (1949), and
Elliot Lawrence (1952-1953 during which time he doubled on vibes), also gigging with
Red Rodney,
Serge Chaloff,
Lester Young,
Al Cohn, and
Stan Getz, among others.
Kahn, who contributed arrangements to many big bands including
Woody Herman's, composed "Tiny's Blues" (the classic shout chorus was later used by
Dave Frishberg in his "Can't Take You Nowhere") and "Father Knickerbocker," and arranged
George Wallington's "Godchild."
Kahn, who never led his own record date and did not live long enough to fulfill his potential as a writer (where he was an influence on his contemporaries), died of a heart attack at the age of 30. ~ Scott Yanow