Chris Columbo

Joseph Christoffer Columbus Morris, better known as Crazy Chris Columbo, was an American jazz drummer, born June 17, 1902 in Greenville, North Carolina, USA, died August 20, 2002 in New Jersey, USA. Prior to a stroke which partially paralyzed him in 1993, Columbo was the oldest working musician in Atlantic City. Columbo got his first professional gig playing with Fletcher Henderson in 1921. Between the 1920s and the 1960s, he played at most of the city's nightclubs, and lead the Club Harlem orchestra for 34 years until 1978, when the club shut its doors. Thereafter, Columbo's band went on to perform at practically every Atlantic City casino hotel. At the time of his stroke, he was playing regularly at the Showboat. Columbo has worked, recorded, and toured with such luminaries as Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Jordan, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Columbo was the father of drummer Sonny Payne.