Alan Dawson

A musician's musician if ever there was one, drummer Alan Dawson was one of those solid, highly professional mainstream jazz musicians who seemingly played with everyone, yet never attained widespread notoriety among the jazz public at large. In the early '50s, Dawson freelanced around Boston and worked steadily with the band of drummer Sabby Lewis. He toured with Lionel Hampton in 1953, then returned to Lewis' group, with which he remained from 1953 to 1956. Around 1954, the father of young drummer Clifford Jarvis approached Dawson about teaching his son; thus began a long an...