Robert W. "Rabon" Tarrant (December 25, 1908 – October 11, 1975)[1] was an American jump blues and jazz drummer, singer and songwriter.
Tarrant played drums in bands led by banjoist Otis Stafford, and trumpeter Roy McCloud, before joining Lafayette Thompson's Golden Dragon Orchestra and touring with them in Colorado and Texas in the early 1930s.
[2] Tarrant was the featured vocalist on McVea's version of "Open the Door, Richard", the first of many recordings of the novelty song, which reached number 2 on the R&B chart and number 3 on the Billboard pop chart in early 1947.
[3] Although not reaching any published charts, the song was successfully covered by Little Walter in 1953, and later by many other artists.
[5] Tarrant also led his own sessions from around 1945, on some of which his band included Charles Mingus (bass) and Lucky Thompson (tenor saxophone).