[Dixielandjazz] Jackie Paris--obit- toured with Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, and Lionel Hampton

[Norman Vickers]

Listmates:  Although Jackie Paris was not a dixielander.  There are many
parallels, so I post for your conderation.

Norman Vickers

_________________________________________________________________

" a career that began when he was a child, but never brought him to fame."

I daresay that  many avowed jazz fans may not have even heard of
vocalist-guitaristJackie Paris. Even so,you may find this obituary of
interest.

So many work in the jazz arena, yet so few get the public accolades. Here's
a bit of jazz history for your consideration.

_____________________________________






Jackie Paris, 79, a Jazz Artist Who Sang With Legendary Bands,
Dies

by Peter Keepnews
New York Times, June 19, 2004

Jackie Paris, the jazz artist who first sang the words to the
Thelonious Monk standard "'Round Midnight" near the beginning
of the
bebop era and performed for nearly seven decades with some
of the
biggest names in jazz, died on Thursday in Manhattan. He was
79 and
lived in Manhattan.

The cause was complications of bone cancer, said David
Grausman, a
friend.

Mr. Paris amassed glowing reviews and the admiration of his
peers in
a career that began when he was a child, but never brought him
to
fame.

He toured with Charlie Parker and worked with Charles Mingus.
Ella
Fitzgerald was said to have counted him among her favorite
singers.
The critic Leonard Feather praised him as one of the handful of
male
singers who had retained the true jazz sound.

But widespread success eluded him. In 1962 he told an
interviewer
that he had worked only 20 weeks over the previous five years.
When
he referred to himself as a legend or said his albums were all
collectors' items, it was with a mixture of pride in his
accomplishments and regret that he remained unknown even to
many jazz
fans.

Carlo Jackie Paris was born in Nutley, N.J., on Sept. 20, 1924.
Encouraged by an uncle who had played guitar with Paul
Whiteman's
orchestra and by fellow performers like the dancer Bill
Robinson,
known as Bojangles, he broke into vaudeville with a song-and-
dance
act as a child. By the early 1940's he had begun working as a
singer
and guitarist in New York.

After two years in the Army, he returned to New York in 1946 and
was
drawn to the fabled jazz clubs on 52nd Street, where he worked
as the
leader of his own trio and as a sideman, most notably with
Parker.

He later worked with Lionel Hampton's big band and with
Mingus. He
also recorded a handful of albums as a leader and performed in
nightclubs and on television. In the 60's and 70's, he frequently
worked with his wife, the singer Anne-Marie Moss, from whom
he was
later divorced. His second wife, Joan, died in the early 90's. He
left no immediate survivors.

In recent years Mr. Paris made most of his income teaching
master
classes and giving private lessons. But he also continued to
record
and perform. His most recent album, "The Intimate Jackie
Paris," was
released by the small Hudson label in 2001.

He had been scheduled to perform on Aug. 3 and 4 as part of
a "Legendary Vocal Week" at the Iridium jazz club in Manhattan.
He
last performed in New York in March, at the Jazz Standard.
Reviewing
that performance, Robert L. Daniels of Variety wrote that Mr.
Paris's
familiar, warm, crusty baritone voice had lost none of its earthy
passion or velvety luster.
					--End--