About: Doug Sides

Douglas Joseph Sides (born October 10, 1942, Los Angeles) is an American jazz drummer and composer. Doug started playing the piano when he was four years old. Later he became interested in playing timpani and drums in general. Sides attended USC, NYU, and Berklee College of Music, and worked in the early 1960s with Illinois Jacquet, Teddy Edwards, Lionel Hampton, Johnny Griffin, Howard Rumsey, Curtis Amy, Harold Land, Sonny Stitt, Charles Kynard, and Buddy Collette. In 1962, Doug did his first recording session with saxophonist Johnny Griffin (Grab This!). In February 1963, he worked in a recording with saxophonist Curtis Amy (Katanga!). He served in the US Armed Forces from 1964 to 1966, then worked with Merle Saunders and John Handy in San Francisco. With this last one, Doug did a live r