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George Wettling

George Godfrey Wettling (November 28, 1907 – June 6, 1968) was an American jazz drummer.

He was born in Topeka, Kansas, United States, and from his early teens was living in Chicago, Illinois. 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.

Wettling went on to work with the big bands of Artie Shaw, Bunny Berigan, Red Norvo, Paul Whiteman, and Chico Marx, but he was at his best with bands led by Eddie Condon, Muggsy Spanier, and himself. In these small bands, Wettling demonstrated the arts of dynamics and responding to a particular soloist that he had learned from Baby Dodds.

Wettling was a member of some of Condon's bands, which included Wild Bill Davison, Billy Butterfield, Edmond Hall, Peanuts Hucko, Pee Wee Russell, Cutty Cutshall, Gene Schroeder, Ralph Sutton, and Walter Page. In 1957, he toured England with a Condon band that included Davison, Cutshall, and Schroeder.

Toward the end of his life, Wettling, like his friend clarinetist Pee Wee Russell, took up painting and was influenced by the American cubist Stuart Davis. 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".

Birth and Death Data: Born Topeka (capital of the state of Kansas, United States; county seat of Shawnee County), Died June 6, 1968 (New York City (most populous city in the United States) )

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1925 - 1956

Roles Represented in DAHR: drums, traps

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings (Results 151-159 of 159 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Decca N 1781 10-in. 2/29/1944 High society Joe Marsala Orchestra instrumentalist, drums  
Decca N 1782 10-in. 2/29/1944 Wolverine blues Joe Marsala Orchestra instrumentalist, drums  
Decca N 1783 10-in. 2/29/1944 Blues in C Joe Marsala Orchestra instrumentalist, drums  
Decca N 2944 10-in. 12/14/1944 Jam session jump Eddie Condon instrumentalist, drums  
Decca N 2945 10-in. 12/14/1944 Jam session blues Eddie Condon instrumentalist, drums  
Decca N 2946 10-in. 12/14/1944 Someone to watch over me Eddie Condon instrumentalist, drums  
Decca N 2947 10-in. 12/14/1944 The sheik of Araby Eddie Condon ; Jack Teagarden instrumentalist, drums  
Decca N 2948 10-in. 12/14/1944 The man I love Eddie Condon ; Lee Wiley instrumentalist, drums  
Decca N 2949 10-in. 12/14/1944 Somebody loves me Eddie Condon Orchestra ; Jack Teagarden instrumentalist, drums  
(Results 151-159 of 159 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Wettling, George," accessed January 6, 2026, http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/105504.

Wettling, George. (2026). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved January 6, 2026, from http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/105504.

"Wettling, George." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2026. Web. 6 January 2026.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/105504

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