Sidney “Big Sid” Catlett (January 17, 1910 – March 25, 1951 Evansville, IN) was an American jazzdrummer. Catlett was one of the most versatile drummers of his era, adapting with the changing music scene as bebop emerged.

After performing for several lesser established musical acts, Catlett began recording and performing with multiple musicians including Benny Carter, McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, Fletcher Henderson, and Don Redman throughout the 1930s. Between 1938 and 1942, Catlett was Louis Armstrong‘s drummer of choice as he was regularly featured in Armstrong’s big band, while also periodically joining Benny Goodman‘s group. Following a brief stint in collaboration with Duke Ellington in 1945, Catlett led some of his own bands through the remainder of the 1940s, and was involved in Armstrong’s All-Stars between 1947 and 1949.

Catlett was one of the few drummers to successively transition into bebop, appearing on Dizzy Gillespie‘s progressive recordings in 1945. Catlett participated in the Gillespie-Charlie Parker segment of a New Jazz Foundation June 1945 concert at New York’s Town Hall; a recording surfaced in 2005. In 1950, he performed with Hoagy Carmichael at the Copley Plaza Hotel. In early 1951, he began to suffer from pneumonia. In that same year, he died of a heart attack while visiting friends backstage at a Hot Lips Pagebenefit concert in Chicago, Illinois.

(January 17, 1910 – March 25, 1951) was an American jazzdrummer. Catlett was one of the most versatile drummers of his era, adapting with the changing music scene as bebop emerged.

In early 1951, he began to suffer from pneumonia. In that same year, he died of a heart attack while visiting friends backstage at a Hot Lips Pagebenefit concert in Chicago, Illinois.