Paul Nelson Humphrey (October 12, 1935 – January 31, 2014) was an American jazz and R&B drummer.

Biography

Humphrey was born in Detroit and began playing drums at age eight, taking private lessons in Detroit. In high school he played baritone horn, trombone and drums in the school band. Upon graduation he entered the U.S. Navy and studied under Kenneth J. Abendschein, touring the world and playing with many jazz figures of 1950s. After discharge from the service, he worked as a session drummer in New York for Wes Montgomery, John Coltrane, Les McCann, Kai Winding, Jimmy Smith, Charles Mingus, Joe Williams, Lee Konitz, Blue Mitchell, Gene Ammons and the Harry James Band (replacing Buddy Rich). He moved to Los Angeles and joined the Harry "Sweets" Edison group with Tommy Flanagan and Frank Delarossa. He recorded with Larry Williams and Johnny "Guitar" Watson and toured and recorded with Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, The Supremes, Tony Orlando, Jerry Garcia, Burt Bacharach, Diahann Carroll, Sammy Davis Jr. and Bill Medley. In late 1974, he toured with Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders, Martin Fierro and John Kahn, succeeding Bill Kreutzmann and preceding Ron Tutt as drummer for the configuration later named Legion of Mary. As a bandleader, he recorded under the name Paul Humphrey and the Cool Aid Chemists with keyboardist Clarence MacDonald, guitarist David T. Walker, and bassist Bill Upchurch. The album was produced by Gabriel Mekler and engineered by Dave Hassinger. In 1971 this band had two hits, "Cool Aid" (US No. 29, US R&B Singles No. 14) and "Funky L.A." (US R&B Singles No. 45). Humphrey was one of the drummers on Marvin Gaye's album Let's Get It On. He also recorded with Steely Dan, Frank Zappa, Jimmy Smith, Al Kooper, Jackie DeShannon, Natalie Cole, Albert King, Quincy Jones, Dusty Springfield, Jean-Luc Ponty, Michael Franks, Maria Muldaur, Marc Bolan and many others. Humphrey was the featured drummer for the Lawrence Welk orchestra and Welk television show from 1976 to 1982.

Discography

As leader

As sideman

With Mel Brown With Ron Eschete With Four Tops With Eddie Harris With Gene Harris With Richard "Groove" Holmes With Quincy Jones With Charles Kynard With Les McCann With Blue Mitchell With Freddy Robinson With T-Bone Walker With Gerald Wilson With others