Don Lamond
b. 18 August 1920, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. Lamond's early drumming career was spent in and around Washington, DC, where he was raised, and later in Baltimore, Maryland. In the early '40s he played in Sonny Dunham's dance band and in the forward-looking big band of Boyd Raeburn. In 1945, he joined Woody Herman's First Herd where he had the unenviable task of replacing the excellent if unstable Dave Tough. Lamond stood up well to the test and became an important member of Herman's band, playing in the Second Herd in the late '40s. Lamond also made records with several small bebop groups of the period, including those led by Charlie Parker and by fellow Herdsman Serge Chaloff. Lamond's abilities are such that he proved a welcome addition to bands covering a wide range of jazz, from bebop to dixieland by way of big and small mainstream groups. Always swinging, he played with Benny Goodman, Zoot Sims, Sonny Stitt, Quincy Jones, Johnny Guarnieri and the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra. In the '60s, Lamond toured extensively, visiting Europe and the following decade began leading an occasional big band formed from eager young musicians in Florida where he had become resident.