Mickey Roker


Granville William "Mickey" Roker was an American jazz drummer.

Biography

Roker was born into extreme poverty in Miami to Granville and Willie Mae Roker. After his mother died, when he was only ten, he was taken by his grandmother to live in Philadelphia with his uncle Walter, who gave him his first drum kit and communicated his love of jazz to his nephew. He also introduced the young Roker to the jazz scene in Philadelphia, where drummer Philly Joe Jones became Roker's idol.
In the early 1950s, he began to gain recognition as a sensitive yet hard-driving big-band drummer. He was especially favored by Dizzy Gillespie, who remarked of him that "once he sets a groove, whatever it is, you can go to Paris and come back and it's right there. You never have to worry about it." Roker was soon in demand for his supportive skills in both big-band and small-group settings.
While in Philadelphia he played with Jimmy Oliver, Jimmy Heath, Jimmy Divine, King James and Sam Reed before moving to New York in 1959, where his first gigs were with Gigi Gryce, Ray Bryant, Joe Williams, Junior Mance, Nancy Wilson and the Duke Pearson big band.
In 1965 Mickey joined Art Farmer and Benny Golson's revamped group, the "New York Jazz Sextet".
In 1992, he replaced Connie Kay in the Modern Jazz Quartet.
He recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Duke Pearson, Tommy Flanagan, Ella Fitzgerald, Zoot Sims, Horace Silver, Junior Mance, Sarah Vaughan, Milt Jackson, Herbie Hancock, Phil Woods, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Bucky Pizzarelli, Stanley Turrentine, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Hank Jones, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Locke, and many other jazz musicians.
Roker was still active on the Philadelphia music scene during the 21st century. He died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the age of 84.

Discography

As sideman

With Nat Adderley
With Gene Ammons
With Roy Ayers
With Randy Brecker
With Ray Brown
With Ray Bryant
With Jon Faddis
With Art Farmer
With Frank Foster
  • Manhattan Fever
With Dizzy Gillespie
, and a hidden Rodney Jones in Buffalo, N.Y., 1977
  • Dizzy Gillespie's Big 4
  • Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods with Machito
  • The Dizzy Gillespie Big 7
  • Bahiana
  • Carter, Gillespie Inc. with Benny Carter
  • Dizzy's Party
With Gigi Gryce
  • Saying Somethin'!
  • The Hap'nin's
  • The Rat Race Blues
  • Doin' the Gigi
With Herbie Hancock
With Gene Harris
With Bobby Hutcherson
  • San Francisco
With Milt Jackson
  • Born Free
  • Milt Jackson and the Hip String Quartet
  • Olinga
  • The Milt Jackson Big 4
With Willis Jackson
With Hank Jones
With Sam Jones
With Irene Kral
With Charles Kynard
With Mike Longo
With Junior Mance
With Herbie Mann
With Blue Mitchell
With the Modern Jazz Quartet
  • '
With Lee Morgan
  • Standards
  • Live at the Lighthouse
  • Sonic Boom
With Joe Pass
  • Quadrant
With Duke Pearson
  • Wahoo!
  • Honeybuns
  • Prairie Dog
  • Sweet Honey Bee
  • Introducing Duke Pearson's Big Band
  • The Phantom
  • Now Hear This
  • How Insensitive
  • It Could Only Happen with You
With Billie Poole
With Sonny Rollins
  • There Will Never Be Another You
  • Sonny Rollins on Impulse!
With Shirley Scott
  • Soul Duo with Clark Terry
  • Oasis
  • Great Scott!
  • Blues Everywhere
  • Skylark
With Horace Silver
  • All
  • In Pursuit of the 27th Man
With Buddy Terry
  • Awareness
With Stanley Turrentine
  • Rough 'n' Tumble
  • The Spoiler
With McCoy Tyner
  • Live at Newport
With Harold Vick
  • The Caribbean Suite
  • Commitment
With Mary Lou Williams
  • Zoning
  • Free Spirits
With Cedar Walton
  • The Electric Boogaloo Song
With Joe Williams
With Reuben Wilson
With Phil Woods
  • Rights of Swing
With The N.Y. Hardbop Quintet
  • Rokermotion
With Oscar Peterson and Stephane Grapelli
  • Skol - EP
With Joshua Breakstone'