[Dixielandjazz] More on Stacey

fred spencer drjz@bealenet.com
Mon, 18 Nov 2002 11:08:38 -0500


Dear Don,
Your report that Jess Stacy "worked for the US post office for a while" may
explain what he said in a New Yorker interview with Whitney Balliett, "I took a
job in the mail room at Max Factor. It was a lowly job, and I guess you'd call
it beneath my station. I walked ten miles a day delivering mail, but at least I
enjoyed the first vacations with pay I'd ever had. I worked there six years,
and when I hit sixty-five they retired me". I have always wondered how Jess
could have walked ten miles a day from the Max Factor mail room. Someone with
more knowledge  than  I  have of the wondrous ways of the federal government,
or the cosmetics industry, may be able to explain this. Regards.
Fred

Don Ingle wrote:

> Re: Jess Stacey
> What has not been mentioned here is the stormy marriage of Jess to Lee
> Wiley. Both were heavy drinkers at the time of their marriage and those who
> were around them knew of the oft-times fighting and shouting matches they
> were prone to. These got almost violent at times. A famous food fight in a
> club one time was reported where the two tossed entrees at each other.
> When their marriage was over things got quieter for both.
> Lee in fact in late life turned into a tee-totaler, married a high society
> guy in New York, and went heavy into charity work. Jess on the other hand
> seemed to go into oblivion as far as a career went. A truly sad page in his
> history.
> Another interesting thing about Stacey in his limbo from music was that he
> not only worked for Max Factor, but also worked for the US post office for
> awhile.
> Jess also came out of retirement once and awhile and once he played solo in
> a small lounge room in Van Nuys, ca. very early 1960's, where I had the
> great good fortune to hear him one evening. He played quietly, restrained
> but every so often the old spark would ignite and his hands would sort of
> reach out and grab a fistful of keys and make magic happen.
> Certainly one of the great - and sadly too often ignored -jazz pianists.
> Nice to see him getting his due here among our listmates.
> Don Ingle
>
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