Ed Cassidy

Ed " Cass " Cassidy ( born May 4, 1923 in Chicago, Illinois, † December 6, 2012 in San Jose, California ) was an American jazz and rock drummer. He was in 1967 one of the founders of the rock group Spirit.

Life

Ed Cassidy was born in a rural area outside of Chicago. His family moved in 1931 to the Bakersfield Californian. Cassidy began his career as a professional musician in 1937. He served during WWII in the U.S. Navy. After his release, he often changed his jobs before he became a full time musician. He worked in show bands, Dixieland combos, country and western bands and played soundtracks for movies. He also made a short trip to the San Francisco Opera.

Cassidy played in the 1950s, among others, with such jazz greats as Art Pepper, Cannonball Adderley, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan and Zoot Sims together. With Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder in 1964, he founded the band Rising Sons, 1965, the Red Roosters. With his stepson Randy California Cassidy was formed in the late 1960s in Los Angeles, the band Spirit with which he recorded four albums until 1970.

From the mid- 1970s, Cassidy also worked as an actor, including live improvisations and appearances in the television series General Hospital, as well as in movies.

Ed Cassidy died at the age of 89 years on December 6, 2012 at the San Jose, California.