Rabon Tarrant

Robert W. "Rabon" Tarrant (December 25, 1908 – October 11, 1975) was an American jump blues and jazz drummer, singer and songwriter. His most notable composition was "Blues with a Feeling", later recorded by Little Walter and many other musicians, becoming a blues standard.

Biography Tarrant was born in Ennis, Texas. He later lived in Wichita Falls with his uncle,

By the mid-1930s, he was based in California, where he played with Edith Turnham's Orchestra in San Diego, and then with Bert Johnson's brother Cee Pee Johnson's orchestra in Hollywood. He first recorded as the drummer with Jack McVea's orchestra in 1944. Tarrant was occasionally credited on records from 1945, and became the vocalist on about one-third of the tracks recorded by McVea in the late 1940s. He also wrote for McVea's band, his songs including "Lonesome Blues," "Naggin' Woman Blues," and "Slowly Going Crazy Blues."

Tarrant also led his own sessions from around 1945, on some of which his band included Charles Mingus (bass) and Lucky Thompson (tenor saxophone). As Rabon Toren, he recorded with Charlie Whitfield in 1952. From the early 1950s, Tarrant led his own band, which performed for the following two decades.

Tarrant died in Huntington Park, California, in 1975.