Gene Krupa in Chicago. Bartłomiej was an immigrant from Poland. Anna was born in Shamokin, Pennsylvania and was also of Polish descent. His parents were Roman Catholics who groomed him for the priesthood. He spent his grammar school days at parochial schools. After graduation he attended Saint Joseph's College for a year but decided the priesthood was not his vocation. Krupa studied with Sanford A. Moeller and began playing drums professionally in the mid-1920s with bands in Wisconsin. In 1927 he was hired by MCA to become a member of Thelma Terry and Her Playboys, the first notable American jazz band—all-girl bands
Liu Yuan (musician) Liu Yuan (musician) Liu Yuan (, pronounced ; January 1, 1960 in Beijing, China) is a Chinese musician, who plays tenor and baritone saxophone as well as the Chinese wind instrument called "suona". He is recognized as one of the two most prominent jazz musicians in China, the other being the saxophonist Du Yinjiao. His father was a player of the "suona", a traditional Chinese wind instrument, and this was also Liu's first instrument. At about the age of eight, he began his performing career, playing in a government-run children's musical group. He continued his "suona" studies at the Beijing