[Dixielandjazz] Marty Napoleon, 93, Dies;

[Marek Boym]

A jazz great indeed, and a wonderful storyteller, as shown in his intervew
with Marian McPartland.
We'll pay him tribute at a forthcoming jazz evening.



On 4 May 2015 at 23:13, Robert Ringwald <rsr at ringwald.com> wrote:

> Marty Napoleon, 93, Dies;
> Jazz Pianist Played With Louis Armstrong
>
>
>
> Marty Napoleon worked with luminaries like Gene Krupa, Coleman Hawkins and
> Nat King Cole.
>
> Marty Napoleon, a jazz pianist best known for his many years with Louis
> Armstrong
> ,
> died on Monday in Glen Cove, N.Y.
> He was 93.
> His death was confirmed by his son, Marty Jr.
> Mr. Napoleon taught himself to sing and play piano as a teenager and
> performed as both a sideman and a leader for more than seven decades. His
> first major job was with the orchestra led by
> Chico Marx
> of the Marx Brothers in the early 1940s.
> In 1950 he formed a quartet with the drummer Buddy Rich, the bassist
> Chubby Jackson and the saxophonist Charlie Ventura.
> He became the pianist with Armstrong’s All Stars in 1952, and continued
> playing with the group off and on until Armstrong’s death in 1971. He
> appeared with Armstrong on television shows hosted by Dean Martin, Johnny
> Carson and Dick Cavett, and in the 1954 movie “The Glenn Miller Story,”
> which starred James Stewart and June Allyson.
> “Mr. Napoleon plays in an appealing melodic style and with a persuasive
> momentum that keeps the room’s dance floor well filled when his trio is
> on,” John S. Wilson wrote in reviewing a performance by one of Mr.
> Napoleon’s bands in The New York Times in 1973. “He holds to a relatively
> conservative repertory of familiar songs, but he imbues them with a fresh,
> joyously propulsive feeling, much as the big bands of the swing era treated
> popular songs.”
> Mr. Napoleon also worked with luminaries like Gene Krupa, Coleman Hawkins
> and Nat King Cole. He played at major festivals in San Remo, Italy, and
> Newport, R.I., and in New York venues like Michael’s Pub and Windows on the
> World.
> He was born to Matteo and Giovanina Napoli, immigrants from Sicily, in
> Brooklyn on July 2, 1921. The family was musical — his uncle Phil Napoleon
> was a trumpet player who led a group called the Original Memphis Five, and
> three uncles were prominent studio and big-band musicians in the 1920s and
> ’30s. As a teenager he formed a quartet with his brother, a cousin and a
> friend, and his playing soon drew the attention of Chico Marx.
> A heart murmur kept Mr. Napoleon out of military service, but he performed
> for the troops with different bands.
> He married Marie Giordano in the early 1940s. She died in 2008.
> In addition to his son, he is survived by a daughter, Jeanine Goldman;
> four grandchildren; and one great-grandson.
> Mr. Napoleon continued performing into his 90s.
>   -30-
>
>
> Bob Ringwald Solo, Duo, Trio, Quartet
> Fulton Street Jazz Band
> 916/ 806-9551
> www.ringwald.com
> Amateur (ham) Radio K6YBV
>
> One of life's greatest mysteries is how the boy who wasn't good enough to
> marry your daughter
> can be the father of the smartest grandchild in the world. Jewish Proverb
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