Bobby Durham, 71, a jazz drummer of impeccable taste and versatility who teamed with Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald and became a fixture of the Jazz at the Philharmonic touring concert series, died July 7 at a hospital in Genoa, Italy. He had lung cancer and emphysema.

His death was confirmed by Sandra Fuller, a family friend.

Mr. Durham's personality on drums ranged from exuberant to unobtrusive. John S. Wilson, the late New York Times jazz critic, noted his "remarkable displays of technical virtuosity" in a 1968 concert with Mr. Peterson.

Norman Granz, the impresario behind Jazz at the Philharmonic, used Mr. Durham frequently as a studio and stage musician for a variety of star performers from the 1960s to the '80s.

In the 1970s, he also spent several years in small groups fronted by Ms. Fitzgerald and pianists Monty Alexander and Tommy Flanagan .

Robert Joseph Durham was the son of tap dancers who learned trombone, bass and vibraphone before concentrating on a drumming career in rhythm and blues groups after Marine Corps service in the late 1950s. He also developed a talent for improvised singing known as scat.

Mr. Durham, a small man fond of kufi caps, spent the final years of his life in Basel, Switzerland, and Isola del Cantone, near Genoa.

The music reference Web site AllMusic.com wrote that one of his greatest successes with audiences was a piece he called "Airplane Song" based on the safety instructions handed out to passengers.