Dannie Richmond was born Charles Daniel Richmond on December 15, 1931 in New York City and grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina. He started playing tenor saxophone at the age of thirteen, and went on to play R&B with the Paul Williams band in 1955.

His career took off when he transferred his talents to the drums, which he had taught himself to play in his early twenties, through the formation of what was to be a 21-year friendship and an  indispensable ingredient of the Mingus sound. Upon Mingus' death Richmond became…