John Von Ohlen
Jazz Drummer
Inducted into the Indianapolis Jazz Hall of Fame in 2012
John Von Ohlen
(May 13, 1941 – October 3, 2018)
John Von Ohlen was an American jazz drummer who worked for Woody Herman in 1967 and 1969, then with Stan Kenton from 1970 to 1972. Born in Indianapolis, Von Ohlen loved music all his life. He started playing the accordion at age 4, then advanced to piano because "It had more keys." He began playing trombone in middle school, and played through high school, graduating from North Central High School in 1960. He then went to North Texas State briefly but returned to Indianapolis shortly after.
From 1967 to 1968, Von Ohlen toured with Billy Maxted’s Manhattan Jazz Band. In the 1980s and 1990s, Von Ohlen was a member of a big band led by pianist Steve Allee.
Von Ohlen led the Blue Wisp Big Band in Cincinnati from 1980 to 2018, and his own groups under his name ranging from quartets to big band. In addition to five Blue Wisp Big Band albums, Von Ohlen played on recordings with jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, vocalist Carmen McRae, saxophonist Benny Carter and at the Berlin Jazz Festival.
He settled in Covington, KY, just across the river from Cincinnati, living with singer Mary Ellen Tanner, after touring with Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett, Perry Como, Mel Torme and the Holiday On Ice shows, as well as playing in pit bands for Broadway shows. He was a jazz drums instructor at University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
"JVO," as he was known by musicians, was the drummer's drummer. "Most of us kind of play the licks we've known for years, and not thinking about what we're doing," said Carmon DeLeone, drummer and director of the Cincinnati Ballet orchestra, during a 2009 radio show. "But John is able to pre-program what's going to happen. He has a way of setting up the music, so you know that the sax section is coming in now, or the lower brass. You can hear it in his drums, even before it happens. He signals it by some magical means."
Von Ohlen was known for his cymbal with a crescent moon cut out of it. At one of Von Ohlen's first Cincinnati gigs, trumpeter Al Nori joked that the cymbal looked like a dinosaur had taken a bite out of it. That convinced Von Ohlen to move to Cincinnati from Indianapolis where he was based the remainder of his career. Following his induction into the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation Hall of Fame in 2012, John inspired the Cincinnati jazz community to establish a Jazz Hall of Fame of their own. For more insight into JVO, Jim Nunn published It's Gotta Swing: The John Von Ohlen Story in 2016 based on his many conversations with Von Ohlen at Covington's Roebling Point Books & Coffee.
