Artist: Jackie Paris
Carlo Jackie Paris (September 20, 1924 – June 17, 2004) was an American jazz singer and guitarist. He is best known for his recordings of "Skylark" and "'Round Midnight" from the late 1940s to the early 1950s.
Paris was born and raised in Nutley, New Jersey. After serving in the army during World War II, he was inspired by his friend Nat King Cole to assemble a trio featuring himself on guitar and vocals. The Jackie Paris Trio was a hit at the Onyx Club on New York's 52nd Street.
He recorded from the 1940s into the 2000s. His albums include Songs by Jackie Paris (EmArcy), Jackie Paris Sings the Lyrics of Ira Gershwin (Time), and The Song Is Paris (Impulse!). The first song that he recorded was "Skylark", on one of two sessions made by his trio for MGM Records in 1947. He recorded Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight", which was produced by the critic Leonard Feather and featured a young Dick Hyman on piano.
In 1949, he toured with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and was invited to join Duke Ellington's Orchestra, but he was too exhausted to take it. Paris was part of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra that played at the famed Cavalcade of Jazz in Los Angeles at Wrigley Field which was produced by Leon Hefflin Sr. on July 10, 1949. They did a second concert at Lane Field in San Diego on September 3, 1949.
He was the only vocalist to tour as a regular member of the Charlie Parker Quintet. Unfortunately, no recordings exist of the Parker–Paris combination, but there is a photograph of the two working together.
He worked often with Charles Mingus, who called Paris his favorite singer and recorded with him often, including 1952's "Paris in Blue" and "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love" on the album Changes Two in 1974.
Paris performed or recorded with Bobby Scott, Charlie Shavers, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Donald Byrd, Eddie Costa, Gigi Gryce, Hank Jones, Joe Wilder, Johnny Mandel, Lee Konitz, Max Roach, Neal Hefti, Oscar Pettiford, Ralph Burns, Terry Gibbs, Tony Scott, and Wynton Kelly.
Further information about Jackie Paris is found at JackieParis.com.
Photography credit: William P. Gottlieb, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
This content was excerpted from the Wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Paris, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).
Jackie Paris "Wave" His last gig at the Jazz Standard (NYC)
Jackie Paris: Videos
Nobody Else but Me
Jackie Paris - Once in my life