Father Tom Vaughn

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Father Tom Vaughn (born October 13, 1936 in Benton , Kentucky , † March 4, 2011 in Riverside , California ) was an American jazz musician ( piano ) and priest.

Live and act

Vaughn received piano lessons from his mother when he was five; he was ten years old when the family moved to Pontiac, Michigan, where he took piano lessons with a teacher who knew jazz pianist Art Tatum . By chance he met Tatum while the blind pianist was playing with his teacher. As a teenager, Vaughn played jazz piano. After graduating from Eureka College in 1948, Vaughn began playing in local clubs before beginning his training as a priest in the Episcopal Church . In 1964 he became assistant to the rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Midland, Michigan, before moving to Los Angeles in 1967 to serve as a priest at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church in Winnetka. From then on, jazz became a hobby.

When Vaugn got the opportunity to play in a quartet under the direction of Gene Krupa in Detroit, the jazz promoter George Wein noticed him and asked him to come to New York. It was there that Vaughn finally recorded his first album in December 1965, Jazz in Concert at the Village Gate (RCA). He was accompanied by Art Davis and Elvin Jones during his performance at the Village Gate . Vaughn then played pop and jazz standards such as "I Get a Kick Out of You", "Chim Chim Cheree", "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" and " Softly, as ." In his style, which was strongly influenced by Ahmad Jamal and Oscar Peterson in a Morning Sunrise ”. He occasionally played club gigs near Los Angeles, most notably at Donte's, the place where studio musicians from all of Hollywood's TV variety shows jammed. Vaughn usually had Leroy Vinnegar on bass. In the following years he recorded the albums Cornbread (RCA, 1966), Motor City Soul (RCA, 1967), Tom Vaughn Has Piano Power (Capitol, 1969), Games People Play (Capitol, 1969) and most recently in a trio with Monty Budwig and Jake Hanna 1975 Joyful Jazz (Concord) on.

Discographic notes

  • Motor City Soul (RCA-Victor, 1967), with Dan Jordan, Dick Riordan
  • Cornbread (Meat Loaf, Greens and Devilled Eggs) (RCA Victor, 1967)
  • Joyful Jazz (Concord Jazz, 1976)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Marc Myers: Father Tom Vaughn: Village Gate. Jazzwax, September 16, 2019, accessed on September 16, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Marc Myers: Hugh, Stan and John. Jazzwax, September 21, 2019, accessed on September 21, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Vaughn, Father Tom
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician (piano) and priest
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Benton , Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH March 4, 2011
Place of death Riverside