Q Prior to having his own orchestra, what bands did Gene Krupa perform with?
-Red Miscavige, Mount Carmel, Pa.
Chicago-born Krupa, whose innovative, high-energy playing revolutionized the role of the drummer during America's swing era of the 1930s and '40s, played with various groups, including the Thelma Terry Band, Red Nichols' Five Pennys and the Bennie Goodman Orchestra, before forming his own in 1938. He died of heart failure in 1973 at the age of 64. Actor Sal Mineo portrayed him in the 1959 movie The Gene Krupa Story.
