Albert Gardner

Albert "June" Gardner (December 31, 1930 – November 19, 2010) was an American R&B and jazz drummer and bandleader from New Orleans whose professional music career spanned six decades.

Early life Albert Samuel Gardner, Jr. was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to Albert, Sr. and Olivia Woodland Gardner, the youngest of their six children. He was nicknamed June, short for Junior. His brothers were Tom and Richard, his sisters Myrtle, Thelma, and Cleo. Gardner said his father was from McComb, Mississippi and his mother was from "across the river", meaning the west bank of the Mississippi. They lived at 2909 LaSalle Street. When he was a young boy the family moved to 2620 St. Andrew Street, between Magnolia and Robertson streets, into a house with no electricity and an outdoor privy. His father worked for the Illinois Central railroad. The family attended the First Evangelist Missionary Baptist at Felicity and Willow Streets. By the time of a 1996 interview Gardner admitted he was no longer religious, but said, "I carry the Lord in my chest twenty-four hours a day". Gardner would also go to vaudeville theaters, the Ritz and the Palace, to hear drummer Pickle Johnson. In 1944 when Gardner became interested in playing drums his parents paid for lessons with Professor Valmont Victor. "Twenty-five cents (a lesson) was a lot of money at the time, but they made arrangements for me to do it", he recalled. He also took music classes when at Booker T. Washington High School, and played in the school’s marching band. His parents could not afford to buy him drums, but the school had them for their students. He said, "The earlier you’d get to school (you) had the best chance of getting a better drum." His older brother Richard bought him his first drum set.

From 1949-1950 Gardner played with saxophonist and bandleader Otis Drucker at the Dew Drop Inn. Drucker said, "When I was at the Dew Drop, I used only four pieces: that was 'Carter' playing bass, June Gardner playing drums, Reveal Thomas was on piano, I was on alto saxophone." The band played Cafe Society in New York City, backing guest star Louis Armstrong on "When It's Sleepy Time Down South". Studio work had no such limitations. Gardner was one of several drummers competing for the first call position at Cosimo recording studio on Governor Nicholls Street after Palmer's departure. He said of that time, "They took advantage of my youth and inexperience". Cooke knew Gardner had come up through the New Orleans apprentice system. He had a driving rock-steady beat. He joined Cooke and his guitarist Cliff White in Richmond, Virginia. Gardner remembered, "We'd come into town, and have a rehearsal, and one of Cliff's famous lines was, 'If you don't play my music right, I'm gonna snatch your arm out and beat you with the bloody end!'" Gardner quickly learned to keep the rhythm the way Cliff wanted it. The two traveled as Cooke’s band. The common practice at the time was to use the house musicians in each town to supplement. Gardner recalled fondly the times when Sam would turn to Cliff in the middle of a song and say, "Tell them fuckers to lay out!" Then the other musicians would stop playing, and Sam would sing with just White and Gardner backing him. "We killed them", Gardner said, "with just guitar and drums". He added that Cooke kept him and Cliff White on salary when not on the road, with "a check every week".

After Sam Cooke’s untimely death in 1964, Gardner went on the road with Cooke cohort Lou Rawls for a month. He left due to "problems with the money". Back in New Orleans he led bands on Bourbon Street and did numerous studio sessions. It also reached number eight on the UK singles chart. Gardner was also the drummer on Aaron Neville's "Tell it Like It Is", which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Billboard Hot R&B chart.

June Gardner and the Fellas played the Economy Hall Tent at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival using musicians including bassist Chuck Badie, Gardner on drums, pianist Thaddeus Richard, trumpeter Leroy Jones, and trombonist Lucien Barbarin. Barbarin had played rhythm and blues gigs around New Orleans, but an invitation to work with Gardner at Preservation Hall drew Barbarin toward traditional jazz. His uncle Paul Barbarin, who Gardner heard as a child, was recruited by Louis Armstrong for his big band in the 1930s. A live recording of "Tin Roof Blues" by June Gardner and the Fellas from the 2001 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival was featured on radio station WWOZ's compilation CD Sounds of New Orleans 2002 release. It was released again on the 2011 WWOZ compilation CD Play It Again.

Personal life For a time Gardner had a drum studio where he instructed students because, he said, "As long as there's New Orleans there will be drummers". He had learned by imitating other drummers. "What you playing somebody else done played, you just added a little bit to it". After hearing other drummers, Gardner said he would "add my little onions and garlic to it". He stressed getting the bass drum going first—1, 2, 3, 4, then add the high hat on 2 and 4. "You have to know where 1 is at" with the bass drum. "Learn your timing", he advised, "everything else comes in". Gardner placed emphasis on practicing. "Everybody can mess up but the drummer - piano or sax hit a wrong note nobody say nothing. Drummer does it he throws off the dancers and the whole band". Gardner tuned his drums to his own ear, though he acknowledged, "Everybody tunes their drums different. After a while they become seasoned". Gardner told young drummers it was important that their families understood the demands of a musician's life.

Albert "June" Gardner died on November 19, 2010. He and wife Rachel were the parents of four boys and one girl, seven grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren. "He was right on the ball", said drummer Smokey Johnson, who had been friends with Gardner since he was 17 years old. "If he couldn't do it right, he wouldn't do it at all. He was a special dude and just like his record says, he was 'Gentlemen June Gardner'".

Discography Singles "99 Plus 1" b/w "Mustard Greens" – (as June Gardner) Hot Line Records 118 (1965), (as J. Gardner) Blue Rock Records B4026 (1965) "It's Gonna Rain" b/w "Last Night" – (as Gentleman June Gardner) Blue Rock Records B4050 (1966), EmArcy Records E4050 (1966) "Bustin' Out" – (as Gentleman June Gardner) EmArcy Records LP MGE26014 (mono), SRE66014 (stereo) (1966) "Tennessee Waltz" b/w "The Jolly Little Meget" – (as Gentleman June Gardner) Hep' Me Records 105 (1971)

Albums 99 Plus One: Rare & Unissued Jazzy Soul & Funk 1965- 1970 – (as June Gardner) Night Train International NTI LP 7103 (1999), Night Train International NTI CD 7103 (2000) Tin Roof Blues – (as June Gardner and the Fellows) Friends of WWOZ CD The Sounds of New Orleans Vol.17 (2002), Friends of WWOZ CD Play It Again Vol.34 (2011)