It was a memorable night at 54 Below. 90 year old Peggy King and The All-Star Jazz Trio performed to an enthusiastic crowd of actors, critics, agents and music lovers. They came to see Peggy perform in NYC for the first time in four decades! She’s still got it!

The iconic songstress forever known as “pretty, perky Peggy King” made quite a splash in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a regular on the George Gobel television program, in films like “Zero Hour,” on recordings as a contract player with Columbia Records, and in clubs, theaters and concert halls all over the country.

As for jazz chops, she worked closely with Mel Torme’ on what was network television’s first foray into color telecasting, with big bands of Charlie Spivak, Ray Anthony, Harry James octet during time when Buddy Rich, whose drumming she loved, had the drum chair; and by way of a professional and personal association with Andre’ Previn (“I dodged that bullet,” Ms. King says of their personal affiliation). But for any number of reasons, she gave up the business sometime in the early 1960s. She married After Six formal wear honcho Sam Rudofker, started a family, and effectively dropped out of the music business for more than 30 years.

Six years or so ago, Ms. King attended a concert given by Philadelphia’s All-Star Jazz Trio, a swinging combination I co-founded with pianist/educator/author/record producer Andy Kahn circa 1972, and still going strong today. Inspired by what she heard—or so she said—she approached Andy and me about “doing something together someday.” That “doing something together” turned out to be five years of club and concert appearances starring Peggy and The All-Stars, as well as the production and release of her first new, commercial recording in some 36 years, “Songs ala King,” released worldwide on the prestigious Fresh Sound record label.

As time went on—Peggy turns 90 in February—she naturally slowed down, and not too long ago, chose the life of comfort and security in a luxury assisted living facility in suburban Philadelphia. She did an occasional appearance with our All-Stars at our regular haunt in Center City Philadelphia, Square on Square Chinese restaurant, but she had not performed with us for the better part of a year until Thursday afternoon, December 13, 2019, before at least 100 of her adoring fans at Saunders House.

It was one of those miraculous show biz occasions that would have made great fodder for an MGM opus of a bygone era. Despite being away from the stage and the microphone for 12 or so months, as soon as the proverbial “red light” went on, Ms. King came out full force and swinging—she often swings us, rather than vice-versa—and wowed one and all with an hours’ program of everything from the hard-swinging, up tempo “Who Cares?” to her own composition, “Here Comes Christmas.”

There are a lot of lessons to be learned from something like this, the least being the miraculous power of music to heal, to inspire, and to bring joy, to say nothing of forcing all of us to ask just what miracles go on in a 90-year-old, show business human mind (when she forgot a lyric or two, she made up her own, and “her own” words were just perfect).

From the perspective of a drummer with Peggy King, especially yesterday, I recalled one of Buddy Rich’s comments related to how his playing directly reflected his feelings at the moment (“When Johnny Carson comes in,” he once said, “I play with love”). Those were my feelings yesterday, and to be honest about, love has been my feeling whenever I’ve had the honor of playing behind her. When drumming for Peggy King, I forget who I am or who I think I’m supposed to be and totally immerse myself into what Peggy is singing, how to add color to a lyric, to a bridge, to an ending, and how to effectively use dynamics to ensure that the story that she wants to tell—and the story that the song tells—is told.

And there’s no question that swinging grooves—at any tempo—abound during the course of an hour, and that swinging has nothing to do with volume, but everything to do with intensity, whether using brushes or sticks.

In line with the actual kit used for such a thing, an audience member asked me an interesting question after our program concluded. "Do you think you could have done just as well with just a snare drum?" was the question. The answer is "no." Each part of the kit combine to a make musical instrument, with the emphasis on the world musical. In a playing situation like this, each cymbal and each part of the kit has to mean something.

The key, of course, is how to apply all of this in order to make complete music. Knowing the lyric and knowing the construction of the song are essentials for a drummer, especially when it has to to with American popular song. Legendary saxophonist Lester Young said long, long ago, that he couldn’t effectively play a tune if he didn’t know the words. A drummer has got to know where the song is going. The song lyrics tell you. It's like a good drum solo. "A good drum solo should tell a story," said Buddy Rich, "and a story has a beginning, a middle, and a bitch of an ending."

Working in tandem with Peggy’s Musical Director and pianist, The All-Stars Andy Kahn, not only ensures that everything goes as smoothly as it possibly can, but the beauty of our association with Peggy King and our long musical time together is that we are of one mind about music, and about the beauty, support, security, and love we try to provide when accompanying Peggy King. The All-Stars newest member, the versatile, colorful, ever-evolving and always-swinging Doug Drewes, fit in perfectly with our musical method of operation. In the end, though they might not be able to put it into words, the audience feels the love and the joy. And the swinging.

Mr. Sinatra sometimes would remark to an adoring crowd that he “never felt so much love in one room in all his life.” That’s the way it felt yesterday, and in the end, it sure is a different way to think about the drums. I look forward to thinking that way again. Often.

Dr. Bruce Klauber is the biographer of Gene Krupa, co-producer and writer of the various videos on Buddy Rich, one of the “Buddy Rich One of a Kind” book curating and editing team at Hudson Music, a Technical Adviser on the Oscar-winning film “Whiplash” and a working jazz drummer with the likes of Charlie Ventura, Al Grey, Milt Buckner, Joanie Sommers, and The All-Star Jazz Trio since childhood.