June 6, 1968(1968-06-06) (aged 60) New York City, U.S.
Genres
Jazz, swing, Dixieland
Occupation
Musician
Instrument
Drums
Years active
1920s–1950s
Musical artist
George Godfrey Wettling (November 28, 1907 – June 6, 1968) was an American jazz drummer.[1]
He was born in Topeka, Kansas, United States, and from his early teens was living in Chicago, Illinois.[2] He was one of the young Chicagoans who fell in love with jazz as a result of hearing King Oliver's band (with Louis Armstrong on second cornet) at Lincoln Gardens in the early 1920s. Oliver's drummer, Baby Dodds, made a particular and lasting impression on Wettling.[3]
Toward the end of his life, Wettling, like his friend clarinetist Pee Wee Russell, took up painting and was influenced by the American cubistStuart Davis.[2] He has been said to have believed that "jazz drumming and abstract painting seemed different for him only from the point of view of craftsmanship: in both fields he felt rhythm to be decisive".[4]