Cozy Cole (
October 17 1909 –
January 31 1981) was a
jazz drummer who scored a
#1 Cashbox magazine
hit with the
record "
Topsy Part 2". "Topsy" peaked at number three on Billboard
Hot 100, and at number one on the R&B chart.
. The recording contained a lengthy
drum solo, and was one of the few drum solo
recordings that ever made the
Billboard Hot 100 (1958)
chart. The
single was issued on the tiny
Brooklyn-based Love Records label.
William Randolph Cole was born in 1909 in
East Orange,
New Jersey. His first music job was with
Wilber Sweatman in 1928. In 1930 he played for
Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers, recording an early
drum solo on "Load of Cole". He spent 1931–33 with
Blanche Calloway, 1933-34 with
Benny Carter, 1935-36 with
Willie Bryant, 1936-38 with
Stuff Smith's small combo, and 1938-42 with
Cab Calloway. In 1942, he was hired by
CBS Radio music director
Raymond Scott as part of network radio's first mixed-race orchestra. After that he played with
Louis Armstrong's All Stars.
Cole appeared in music-related films, including a brief cameo in
Don't Knock the Rock. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s Cole continued to perform in a variety of settings. Cole and Gene Krupa often played duets at the Metropole in New York City during the 1950s and 60s.