William Beason (March 6, 1908 – August 15, 1988) was an American swing jazz drummer.
He attended Central High School there, along with classmates and future jazz musicians Helen Humes, Jonah Jones and Dicky Wells,[3] and then Wilberforce University in Ohio, playing drums for Horace Henderson's Collegians while there.
[4] In 1939, Beason took over the role of drummer in Ella Fitzgerald's orchestra from Chick Webb.
[5] Beason died, aged 80, in New York City.
[6] With Dickie Wells and his Orchestra (Richard Fullbright, Bill Beason, Django Reinhardt, Bill Coleman) With Ella Fitzgerald and her Orchestra