The StarDusters Big Band

Ken Todd

Ken Todd was not deterred when his first teacher barked at him and said, ''I could teach more to a monkey.'' He picked up his sticks and joined the junior high band and he was off on a long career. High school music was followed by a stint with the Dan Ramsey Orchestra that ended in 1963 when he joined the Air Force, was assigned to Keesler AFB and joined a modern jazz quartet. A transfer to Shaw AFB in Sumter, S.C. allowed him to rejoin the Ramsey band before being transferred to Berlin. After discharge he swapped his drums for a new suit, got married and moved to Washington with the Department of Defense. Transferred to Bad Aibling, Germany, he hooked up with a big band and played five years. Returning home he played with the Bay Side Big band out of Annapolis before being transferred to Harrogate, England where he joined the Par Five Jazz Orchestra, later organizing his own band, The Colonial Cousins. He retired in 1997, returned to his native Gastonia, N.C. and didn't play for a year until doing some work with The Basics, a rock group. When he couldn't find a big band to join, he and his brother, Bill, organized The StarDusters.