born April 27, 1917 Denzil Best, composer of "MOVE" - Lou Donaldson alto saxophonist

Denzil DaCosta Best (April 27, 1917 – May 24, 1965) was an American jazz percussionist and composer born in New York City. He was a prominent bebop drummer in the 1950s and early 1960s. Best was born in New York City, into a musical West Indian family originally from Barbados.[1] Trained on piano, trumpet, and bass, he concentrated on the drums starting in 1943. Between 1943 and 1944 he worked with Ben Webster, and subsequently with Coleman Hawkins (1944–45), Illinois Jacquet (1946) and Chubby Jackson. The drummer was known to sit in at Minton’s Playhouse.[2] He took part in a recording with George Shearing in 1948 and was a founding member of his Quartet, remaining there until 1952. In 1949 he played on a recording with Lennie Tristano and also recorded later with Lee Konitz. Best composed several well-known bebop tunes, including “Move“ (which featured, arranged by John Lewis, on the seminal 1957 Miles Davis album, Birth of the Cool), “Wee“, “Nothing but D. Best“, an