Jane Jarvis

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Jane Nossett Jarvis (born October 31, 1915 in Vincennes , Indiana , † January 25, 2010 in Englewood , New Jersey ) was an American pianist , organist , arranger and composer who worked in the fields of muzak and jazz .

Live and act

Jane Jarvis was considered a child prodigy from an early age and, as a girl, had lessons from a professor at Vincennes University . Her family then moved to Gary, Indiana , where Jarvis got a job as a pianist for the local radio station WJKS in Gary as early as 1927. She had the opportunity to accompany Ethel Waters , Sophie Tucker and Paul Whiteman's orchestras. She was orphaned at the age of 13 when her parents died in a traffic accident. She returned to Vincennes with the rest of her family, graduated from Lincoln High School in 1932, and then studied music at various conservatories and universities in Chicago .

After taking a break for a while and taking care of her two children, she joined the WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee in 1954 as an accompanist and organist on a show called Jivin 'with Jarvis and played with guest artists such as Eddie South and Billy Butterfield and Maxine Sullivan . By that time the Milwaukee Braves baseball club had moved from Boston to Milwaukee, and Jarvis was hired as the organist at Milwaukee County Stadium. After eight championships Jarvis left the club and moved to New York City , where she worked as a composer and arranger for the Muzak Corporation. She later rose to become vice president and director of recording and programming.

Shea Stadium

In addition, from 1964 she was organist for the New York Mets at their games at Shea Stadium ; she played the theme song Meet the Mets . She said of her work for the Mets and Muzak in an interview with the New York Times in 1984 :

“Most of the people at the Mets Games didn't know I was playing jazz on the organ at Shea Stadium (...) But Lionel Hampton , Clark Terry and Zoot Sims could hear what I was doing. (...) And when I produced recordings for Muzak, I brought in Hamp, Clark, Richie Kamuca and others ”.

In 1978 Jarvis left the Mets and the Muzak company and concentrated on playing jazz piano. She then performed in New York nightclubs such as the Zinno’s in Greenwich Village , often accompanied by bassist Milt Hinton , and was a founding member of the Statesmen of Jazz , a group of 65-year-old jazz musicians formed by the American Federation of Jazz Societies was sponsored. She then also recorded some albums for audiophiles and Arbors under her own name, such as Jane Jarvis Jams (1995), on which Grady Tate , Dan Barrett , Earl May and Bob Haggart played, and most recently in 1997/98 with musicians such as Jake Hanna , Frank Wess and Benny Powell on Atlantic / Pacific . Jarvis has also worked with Jay Leonhart , Roy Eldridge , Helen Humes , Ruby Braff , Zoot Sims and Doc Severinsen since the 1960s and wrote over 300 compositions.

She spent her late years in Cocoa Beach, Florida, where she was honored for her life's work in 2003 by the Space Coast Jazz Society . There she organized an annual festival, the Jane Jarvis Jazz Invitation . In 2008 Jane Jarvis and Benny Powell were honored at the All Nite Soul Jazz Festival in New York's St. Peter's Church. She then lived in Manhattan in the 2000s, most recently at the Lillian Booth Actors' Home in Englewood, New Jersey.

Discographic notes

  • LA Quartet (Audiophile, 1988)
  • Cut Class (Audiophile, 1990)
  • Jane Jarvis & Jay Leonhart at Duke's Place (Progressive, 1995)
  • Jane Jarvis Jams ( Arbors Records , 1995)
  • Atlantic / Pacific (Arbors, 1997/98)

literature

  • Andy Gregory (Ed.): International Who's Who in Popular Music. 4th edition. Europa Publikcations, London 2002, ISBN 1-85743-161-8 , p. 257 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John S. Wilson: From Organ Caterpillar to Jazz Piano Butterfly. The New York Times, January 20, 1984, p. C16
personal data
SURNAME Jarvis, Jane
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jarvis, Jane Nossett (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz pianist, organist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH October 31, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Vincennes , Indiana
DATE OF DEATH January 25, 2010
Place of death Englewood , New Jersey