Nurtured in the big band era and best known for his thirty-year stint behind the drum kit of the Johnny Carson Tonight Show Band, Ed Shaughnessy‘s percussion credentials can only be termed galactic. Goodman, Dorsey, Basie. How about being able to drop those names at a job interview?

Shaughnessy’s work has appeared on over 500 (in writing: five-hundred) albums, among them a 1970 release from the obscure improv-jazz-quartet FLOW which featured a crack guitarist by the name of Don Felder.

At age 80, Ed literally still hasn’t missed a beat. You can catch him over the Memorial Day weekend as a panelist at the L.A. Jazz Institute’s East Coast Sounds festival on May 29. He will perform later on in the afternoon with the Mundell Lowe Orchestra in a tribute to composer Alec Wilder.

L.A. Jazz Institute – East Coast Sounds Festival
Recent interview at Jazz Times