Francis “Frankie” Dunlop, a great jazz drummer of precision, sensitivity, inventiveness, and deep swing, passed away this past July at age eighty-five, after a long struggle with illness. Born December 6, 1928, into a musical family, Dunlop possessed determination that revealed itself early. As his former wife, Laura Dunlop, retells the tale, “His mother didn’t want him to go into show business. She was a religious person; he could play drums in the church, but she didn’t want him to do otherwise.” When a gig opportunity arose, the twelve-year-old yearned to participate, but his mother forbade it. Recruiting a friend, Dunlop snuck his drums out his bedroom window, loaded them onto a wagon, and rolled ahead to the venue. But mothers just know. “She went right down there, pulled him off the stage, and marched him home,” Laura says. But Dunlop ultimately won out. By age sixteen, he was playing […]

December 2014 Issue