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Tiny Kahn Biography

tiny-kahn
  • Born: in New York, NY
  • Years Active: 1940s-1950s
  • Genre: Jazz

Tiny Kahn (who was anything but tiny) had a brief but productive life. A fine drummer (both in small groups and big bands), Kahn was a greatly underrated arranger-composer. He did not start on drums until he was 15 but packed a lot of living into his last 15 years. Kahn played with Boyd Raeburn (1948), Georgie Auld, the Chubby Jackson big band, Charlie Barnet's bebop orchestra (1949), and Elliot Lawrence (1952-1953 during which time he doubled on vibes), also gigging with Red Rodney, Serge Chaloff, Lester Young, Al Cohn, and Stan Getz, among others. Kahn, who contributed arrangements to many big bands including Woody Herman's, composed "Tiny's Blues" (the classic shout chorus was later used by Dave Frishberg in his "Can't Take You Nowhere") and "Father Knickerbocker," and arranged George Wallington's "Godchild." Kahn, who never led his own record date and did not live long enough to fulfill his potential as a writer (where he was an influence on his contemporaries), died of a heart attack at the age of 30. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi

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