Jackie Paris

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Carlo Jackie Paris (* 20th September 1926 or 1924 in Nutley , New Jersey ; † 17th June 2004 in New York City ) was an American jazz - singer and guitarist . He was one of the first bebop singers.

Live and act

Paris comes from an Italian family. As a child, he performed singing and dancing numbers on vaudeville stages. In the early 1940s he began his New York career in Nick Jerret's band . His early role models were Eddie Vinson and Ella Fitzgerald . From 1944 to 1946 he did his military service.

Paris was discovered by Harry Mills of the Mills Brothers at the Baby Grand Club in Harlem . After completing military service, he performed in the jazz clubs on 52nd Street in the late 1940s . He went on two tours with Charlie Parker , which also included Billie Holiday . In 1947 he took with Deryck Sampson - after the model of the Nat Cole Trio - his first singles on MGM Records ; the first with a version of the Carmichael / Mercer hit " Skylark ". On his 1949 single for the National label , he was the first singer to perform the vocal version (lyrics: Bernie Hanighen ) of the Williams / Monk bop classic " Round Midnight ". In 1949/50 he sang in Lionel Hampton 's orchestra and went on tour with Les Browns orchestra.

In the early 1950s it seemed like Paris was on the verge of a breakthrough; In 1953, Downbeat magazine named him “best new male vocalist”. In favor of more successful show work, he gave up playing the guitar and began tapping while performing . His first long-playing records were released in the mid-1950s, but the hoped-for success did not materialize. Instead he came into contact with the jazz “underground” of the time; In 1952 he recorded two singles with Charles Mingus on the newly founded music label Debut Records . He then sang the pieces " Make Believe " and " Paris in Blue ", which in their radicalism refer to Mingus' later work (" Scenes In The City " at A Modern Jazz Symposium of Music and Poetry , 1957). On Changes Two in 1974, the collaboration between Jackie Paris and Charles Mingus should continue again; Paris can then be heard in the composition " Duke Ellington's Sound Of Love ".

In 1953 he sang a ballad in the show "Jazztime USA" produced by Bob Thiele ; Paris is also on record with the Jazz Lab Quintet of Gigi Gryce to hear (1957), text-free on a series halbimprovisierter scats sang. In the 1950s, Paris had engagements in American nightclubs. In 1959 he also appeared with comedian Lenny Bruce . At Peggy Lee's request , Capitol Records had him audition, but did not hire him; It wasn't until 1962 that Bob Thiele gave him the chance to write the first vocal album for the young Impulse! Records , The Song Is Paris with a reinterpretation of Ellington's “ C Jam Blues ” as “Duke's Place”.

Paris was first married to the Canadian singer Anne Marie Moss (1961–1981); he toured with her in the 1960s. His second wife died in the early 1990s.

Jackie Paris passed away as a result of bone cancer.

Appreciation

In the opinion of the author Will Friedwald , the “Paris” sound was one of the most attractive in jazz; its rasping baritone has something of Crosby's , if not his way of using syncopation . (...) Paris has spent his career trying to find an audience to no avail, and the failure of his search says more about the music industry than his talent. ”He gives the frustration of Jackie Paris, eternally referred to as an“ underrated ”artist to become, again: "I've made something like seven or eight albums, and they're all collectibles ... What the hell do I get out of that?"

Quote

“A singer has to be able to tell a story. Frank Sinatra and Nat Cole are best at it; Mel Tormé too. I like to take a text that means something and sing it to exactly the person for whom it was intended. "

- Jackie Paris : Down Beat

documentary

In 2006 Verve Pictures released the film 'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris ; Directed by Raymond De Felitta .

Discography (selection)

Under his own name
  • Skylark (Brunswick)
  • The Song Is Paris ( Impulse ! , 1962)
  • Lucky To Be Me ( EmArcy , 1988)
  • Nobody Else but Me (Audiophile)
  • The Lyrics of Ira Gershwin (Time) (Tokuma (Japan))
  • Love Songs (Phonogram)
For other artists
  • Charles Mingus: Jazz Workshop - Autobiography In Jazz (Debut Records)
    re-released in The Complete Debut Recordings 1951–1958 ( OJC ) or Debut Rarities, Volume 4 (OJC, 1952–1953)
  • Charles Mingus: Changes Two ( Atlantic , 1974)

literature

  • Richard Cook, Brian Morton: The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 (English).
  • Liner Notes for: Charles Mingus: The Complete Debut Recordings 1951–1958 (OJC)
  • Will Friedwald: Swinging Voices of America - A Compendium of Great Voices . Hannibal, St. Andrä-Wölker 1992, ISBN 3-85445-075-3 .
  • Horst Weber, Gerd Filtgen: Charles Mingus. His life, his music, his records . Oreos, Krottenthal 2014, ISBN 978-3-923657-05-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jazz news: Jackie Paris: Singer with Mingus, Bird, Hampton. In: news.allaboutjazz.com. Retrieved April 13, 2019 .
  2. ^ Scott Yanow: The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide . Music Dispatch, 2008, ISBN 0-87930-825-7 .
  3. ↑ Jackie Paris. In: independent.co.uk. Retrieved April 13, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Quotations from Friedwald, p. 215 f.
  5. ^ Down Beat, October 11, 1962
personal data
SURNAME Paris, Jackie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Paris, Carlo Jackie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz singer and guitarist
DATE OF BIRTH September 20, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Nutley , New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH June 17, 2004
Place of death New York City