Jess Stacy
Encyclopedia
Jess Stacy was an American jazz pianist who gained prominence during the Swing era
.
, a small town across the Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois
. In 1918 Stacy moved to Cape Girardeau, Missouri
. There Stacy received his only formal music training studying under Professor Clyde Brandt, a professor of piano and violin at Southeast Missouri State Teachers College (now Southeast Missouri State University
), while sweeping up nights at Clark's Music Store.
By 1920 Stacy was playing piano in saxophonist Peg Meyer’s jazz ensemble at Cape Girardeau High School and at the Bluebird Confectionary on Broadway and Fountain and also at the Sweet Shop on Main Street. Originally labeled by schoolmates as "The Agony Four," "..... that band took them out of Cape Girardeau where, according to Stacy, 'everyone was square as a bear'".
By 1921 the ensemble was known as Peg Meyer's Melody Kings
and started touring the Mississippi River on 'The Majestic' and other riverboats.
, leader of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings
, playing a sub-genre of jazz which came to be called “Chicago-style”. Stacy cites his main influence at the time as Louis Armstrong
and, especially, pianist Earl Hines
, pianist for both Louis Armstrong and the Carroll Dickerson
band. Stacy would frequently go to wherever Hines was playing and later even played with Hines' band as 'relief piano player' when allowed [as did Nat "King" Cole and Teddy Wilson
] but during this period Stacy was mainly playing with Floyd Towne’s dance orchestra.
Stacy’s big break came in 1935 when Benny Goodman
asked Stacy to join his band. Stacy left Floyd Towne, moved to New York
, and spent the four years from 1935-1939 with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. He reached a personal peak when he performed with Goodman at Carnegie Hall
on 16 January 1938, the first jazz concert ever played at the venue. The Carnegie Hall performance has gained legendary status in part owing to an unplanned piano solo by Stacy during "Sing, Sing, Sing”. Following a Goodman/Krupa duet, Stacy received a nod from Goodman to take a solo. Some believe that Stacy did not gain the recognition he rightly deserved because Teddy Wilson
was the regular pianist for the Benny Goodman
quartet, the most acclaimed of Goodman's bands. Stacy did though play with such players as Bix Beiderbecke
, Eddie Condon
, Bud Freeman
, George Gershwin
, Lionel Hampton
, Billie Holiday
, Gene Krupa
, Jack Teagarden
and, later, Horace Heidt
.
After leaving the Goodman Orchestra, Stacy joined the Bob Crosby
(Bing Crosby
's brother) Orchestra and his famous small jazz group the Bob Crosby
Bob-Cats. During his period with the latter band Stacy received yet wider acclaim. He won the national Down Beat
piano polls in 1940, 1941, 1942, and 1943. Stacy would later be credited with revitalizing the dying band. When the Crosby band broke up, Stacy rejoined Goodman in 1942 for a short period before joining the Tommy Dorsey
Orchestra.
Stacy spent six months with the Tommy Dorsey
band. He then left to put together a big band of his own, named the Jess Stacy Band and recorded with vocalist Lee Wiley
, to whom he was married. But by then "big band" music was losing popularity, and the band suffered economically. The band did not last long and Wiley and Stacy would later divorce.
Unusually for a 'jazzer', Stacy chose to leave the music industry and take regular jobs until he was able to retire. For a time Stacy worked as a salesman, then warehouseman, then postman, for Max Factor cosmetics.
Later, he would be "re-discovered" as fame of his past career became known. However Stacy was selective in his performances - he played for Nelson Riddle
on the soundtrack of The Great Gatsby
(1974). The same year as the film's release he was invited to play at the Newport Jazz Festival
in New York and, as a result, was asked to record twice for the Chiaroscuro
label, in 1974 and, in 1977, Stacy Still Swings. The years after that included compilations and some club work. Stacy’s final performance was broadcast on Marian McPartland
’s Piano Jazz
for National Public Radio on December 1, 1981. After his brief and 'selective' revival in the 1970s, Stacy again retired from the music scene and lived a quiet existence with his third wife, Patricia Peck Stacy.
Stacy's second wife was the beautiful and wild Lee Wiley
, a jazz singer of considerable acclaim at the time and subsequently. The couple was described by their friend Deane Kincaide as being as "compatible as two cats, tails tied together, hanging over a clothesline." After being married less than three years, the couple divorced in 1948. Lee's response to Stacy's desire to get a divorce was, "What will Bing Crosby be thinking of you divorcing me?" while Stacy said of Wiley, "They did not burn the last witch at Salem." Lee Wiley then married a retired business man, Nat Tischenkel, in 1966 and died of stomach cancer in 1975. Stacy did not attend her funeral.
Stacy's third wife was Patricia Peck. They had been friends and dating for a decade when they married on September 8, 1950. Stacy and Peck lived in Los Angeles and were married very happily for forty-five years.
on January 1, 1995.
Since his death Stacy has gained new attention and honors. In 1996 he was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame, and in 1998 a biography of him Jess Stacy: The Quiet Man of Jazz. a Biography and Discography was published.
Swing Era
The Swing era was the period of time when big band swing music was the most popular music in the United States. Though the music had been around since the late 1920s and early 1930s, being played by black bands led by such artists as Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Benny Moten, Ella Fitzgerald,...
.
Early life
Stacy was born Jesse Alexandria Stacy in Bird's Point, MissouriBird's Point, Missouri
Bird's Point is an unincorporated community in Mississippi County, Missouri. It lies on an island or former island in the Mississippi River, near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and is situated directly across from Cairo, Illinois. This is the point where the U.S...
, a small town across the Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois
Cairo, Illinois
Cairo is the southernmost city in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is the county seat of Alexander County. Cairo is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The rivers converge at Fort Defiance State Park, an American Civil War fort that was commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant...
. In 1918 Stacy moved to Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Cape Girardeau is a city located in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties in Southeast Missouri in the United States. It is located approximately southeast of St. Louis and north of Memphis. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 37,941. A college town, it is the home of Southeast Missouri...
. There Stacy received his only formal music training studying under Professor Clyde Brandt, a professor of piano and violin at Southeast Missouri State Teachers College (now Southeast Missouri State University
Southeast Missouri State University
Southeast Missouri State University, is a public, accredited university located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, United States, near the banks of the Mississippi River. The institution, having started as a normal school, has a traditional strength in teacher education...
), while sweeping up nights at Clark's Music Store.
By 1920 Stacy was playing piano in saxophonist Peg Meyer’s jazz ensemble at Cape Girardeau High School and at the Bluebird Confectionary on Broadway and Fountain and also at the Sweet Shop on Main Street. Originally labeled by schoolmates as "The Agony Four," "..... that band took them out of Cape Girardeau where, according to Stacy, 'everyone was square as a bear'".
By 1921 the ensemble was known as Peg Meyer's Melody Kings
Peg Meyer's Melody Kings
The Peg Meyer’s Melody Kings were a late 1910s through early 1920s Missouri Swing band.The band got its start in 1919 during lunch hour at Cape Central High School gym, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The band was initially called the Agony Four . It consisted of four players: Jess Stacy , Martell...
and started touring the Mississippi River on 'The Majestic' and other riverboats.
Early career
At some unknown date in the early 1920s Stacy moved 'upriver' to Chicago, Illinois, where he received notice performing with Paul MaresPaul Mares
Paul Mares , was an American early dixieland jazz cornet & trumpet player, and leader of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings.Mares was born in New Orleans. His father, Joseph E...
, leader of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings
New Orleans Rhythm Kings
The New Orleans Rhythm Kings were one of the most influential jazz bands of the early-to-mid 1920s. The band was a combination of New Orleans and Chicago musicians who helped shape Chicago Jazz and influenced many younger jazz musicians....
, playing a sub-genre of jazz which came to be called “Chicago-style”. Stacy cites his main influence at the time as Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
and, especially, pianist Earl Hines
Earl Hines
Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was an American jazz pianist. Hines was one of the most influential figures in the development of modern jazz piano and, according to one source, is "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz".-Early...
, pianist for both Louis Armstrong and the Carroll Dickerson
Carroll Dickerson
Carroll Dickerson was a Chicago and New York-based dixieland jazz violinist and bandleader, probably better known for his extensive work with Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines or his more brief work touring with King Oliver....
band. Stacy would frequently go to wherever Hines was playing and later even played with Hines' band as 'relief piano player' when allowed [as did Nat "King" Cole and Teddy Wilson
Teddy Wilson
Theodore Shaw "Teddy" Wilson was an American jazz pianist whose sophisticated and elegant style was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.-Biography:Wilson was born in Austin, Texas in...
] but during this period Stacy was mainly playing with Floyd Towne’s dance orchestra.
Stacy’s big break came in 1935 when Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
asked Stacy to join his band. Stacy left Floyd Towne, moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and spent the four years from 1935-1939 with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. He reached a personal peak when he performed with Goodman at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
on 16 January 1938, the first jazz concert ever played at the venue. The Carnegie Hall performance has gained legendary status in part owing to an unplanned piano solo by Stacy during "Sing, Sing, Sing”. Following a Goodman/Krupa duet, Stacy received a nod from Goodman to take a solo. Some believe that Stacy did not gain the recognition he rightly deserved because Teddy Wilson
Teddy Wilson
Theodore Shaw "Teddy" Wilson was an American jazz pianist whose sophisticated and elegant style was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.-Biography:Wilson was born in Austin, Texas in...
was the regular pianist for the Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
quartet, the most acclaimed of Goodman's bands. Stacy did though play with such players as Bix Beiderbecke
Bix Beiderbecke
Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke was an American jazz cornetist, jazz pianist, and composer.With Louis Armstrong, Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s...
, Eddie Condon
Eddie Condon
Albert Edwin Condon , better known as Eddie Condon, was a jazz banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader. A leading figure in the so-called "Chicago school" of early Dixieland, he also played piano and sang on occasion....
, Bud Freeman
Bud Freeman
Lawrence "Bud" Freeman was a U.S. jazz musician, bandleader, and composer, known mainly for playing the tenor saxophone, but also able at the clarinet. He had a smooth and full tenor sax style with a heavy robust swing. He was one of the most influential and important jazz tenor saxophonists of...
, George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
, Lionel Hampton
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...
, Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
, Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...
, Jack Teagarden
Jack Teagarden
Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden , known as "Big T" and "The Swingin' Gate", was an influential jazz trombonist, bandleader, composer, and vocalist, regarded as the "Father of Jazz Trombone".-Early life:...
and, later, Horace Heidt
Horace Heidt
Horace Heidt was an American pianist, big band leader, and radio and television personality. His band, Horace Heidt and His Musical Knights, toured vaudeville and performed on radio and television through the 1930s and 1940s.-Biography:Born in Alameda, California, Heidt attended Culver...
.
A 1939 review of 'Jess Stacy' (Commodore 1503) stated:
"These two five-minute blues are probably the finest solos ever recorded by Jess Stacy and the best coupling ever issued by Milt Gabler on his Commodore label. When this most sensitive, intelligent and polished of piano players goes to work in the simple, traditional blues form, the result is likely to be more individual than authentic; and that was the case here. On the slow blues, "EcStacy", and a faster one named "The Sell Out", Stacy has lavished all his musical sincerity, his harmonic invention and delicate melodic ideas, all performed with uniquely fine touch and really incisive phrasing. "EcStacy" is quiet, and the chords ring out like chimes; in "The Sell Out", Stacy's foot acts as bass drum and the swing is very easy and sure. Instead of the sterility which afflicts so many of the "advanced" jazz players, there is the sincere, personal emotion, and integrity, of a uniquely talented musician. Much intellect went into this music, and in places you can almost hear Jess' rapid thinking".
After leaving the Goodman Orchestra, Stacy joined the Bob Crosby
Bob Crosby
George Robert "Bob" Crosby was an American dixieland bandleader and vocalist, best known for his group the Bob-Cats.-Family:...
(Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
's brother) Orchestra and his famous small jazz group the Bob Crosby
Bob Crosby
George Robert "Bob" Crosby was an American dixieland bandleader and vocalist, best known for his group the Bob-Cats.-Family:...
Bob-Cats. During his period with the latter band Stacy received yet wider acclaim. He won the national Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
piano polls in 1940, 1941, 1942, and 1943. Stacy would later be credited with revitalizing the dying band. When the Crosby band broke up, Stacy rejoined Goodman in 1942 for a short period before joining the Tommy Dorsey
Tommy Dorsey
Thomas Francis "Tommy" Dorsey, Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing", due to his smooth-toned trombone playing. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey...
Orchestra.
Stacy spent six months with the Tommy Dorsey
Tommy Dorsey
Thomas Francis "Tommy" Dorsey, Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing", due to his smooth-toned trombone playing. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey...
band. He then left to put together a big band of his own, named the Jess Stacy Band and recorded with vocalist Lee Wiley
Lee Wiley
Lee Wiley was an American jazz singer popular in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.Wiley was born in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. While still in her early teens, she left home to pursue a singing career with the Leo Reisman band. Her career was temporarily interrupted by a fall while horseback riding...
, to whom he was married. But by then "big band" music was losing popularity, and the band suffered economically. The band did not last long and Wiley and Stacy would later divorce.
Later career
In 1950 he moved to Los Angeles California. As with many jazz 'stars', his career declined to mostly club work. Finally one evening, while working the piano bar in Leon's Steak House, Stacy walked out in the middle of a number after a drunken woman, while requesting the "Beer Barrel Polka" for the third time that evening, spilled a beer in his lap. Stacy declared that he was 'done' with the music business and he retired from public performances.Unusually for a 'jazzer', Stacy chose to leave the music industry and take regular jobs until he was able to retire. For a time Stacy worked as a salesman, then warehouseman, then postman, for Max Factor cosmetics.
Later, he would be "re-discovered" as fame of his past career became known. However Stacy was selective in his performances - he played for Nelson Riddle
Nelson Riddle
Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s...
on the soundtrack of The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby (1974 film)
The Great Gatsby is a 1974 romantic drama film distributed by Newdon Productions and Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by David Merrick, from a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola based on F...
(1974). The same year as the film's release he was invited to play at the Newport Jazz Festival
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It was established in 1954 by socialite Elaine Lorillard, who, together with husband Louis Lorillard, financed the festival for many years. The couple hired jazz impresario George Wein to organize the...
in New York and, as a result, was asked to record twice for the Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro Records
-Artists:*Nat Adderley*Howard Alden*George Barnes*Louie Bellson*Gene Bertoncini*Eubie Blake*Ruby Braff*John Bunch*Don Cherry*Buck Clayton*Eddie Condon*Johnny Costa*Kenny Davern*Wild Bill Davison*Lou Donaldson*Dorothy Donegan*John Eaton*Don Ewell...
label, in 1974 and, in 1977, Stacy Still Swings. The years after that included compilations and some club work. Stacy’s final performance was broadcast on Marian McPartland
Marian McPartland
Margaret Marian McPartland, OBE is an English-born jazz pianist, composer, writer, and the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio, NPR.-Early life:...
’s Piano Jazz
Piano Jazz
Piano Jazz is a weekly one hour radio show produced and distributed by National Public Radio. It began on June 4, 1978 and has always been hosted by jazz pianist Marian McPartland. It is the longest running cultural program on NPR. The show features a single guest, and usually consists of about an...
for National Public Radio on December 1, 1981. After his brief and 'selective' revival in the 1970s, Stacy again retired from the music scene and lived a quiet existence with his third wife, Patricia Peck Stacy.
Personal life
Stacy had a tumultuous love life as a young man. His first wife was Helen Robinson. Both were very young when they married in 1924. Stacy worked nights playing in clubs and slept during the day while Robinson worked days. She needed more security than Stacy was willing to provide, and Stacy was unwilling to work at a radio station in secure employment. This did not change when the couple had a child, Frederick Jess. The couple would later divorce and Robinson would go on to marry a friend of Stacy's, Phil Wing, the embodiment of all she had wanted Stacy to be.Stacy's second wife was the beautiful and wild Lee Wiley
Lee Wiley
Lee Wiley was an American jazz singer popular in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.Wiley was born in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. While still in her early teens, she left home to pursue a singing career with the Leo Reisman band. Her career was temporarily interrupted by a fall while horseback riding...
, a jazz singer of considerable acclaim at the time and subsequently. The couple was described by their friend Deane Kincaide as being as "compatible as two cats, tails tied together, hanging over a clothesline." After being married less than three years, the couple divorced in 1948. Lee's response to Stacy's desire to get a divorce was, "What will Bing Crosby be thinking of you divorcing me?" while Stacy said of Wiley, "They did not burn the last witch at Salem." Lee Wiley then married a retired business man, Nat Tischenkel, in 1966 and died of stomach cancer in 1975. Stacy did not attend her funeral.
Stacy's third wife was Patricia Peck. They had been friends and dating for a decade when they married on September 8, 1950. Stacy and Peck lived in Los Angeles and were married very happily for forty-five years.
Death and legacy
Stacy died of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
on January 1, 1995.
Since his death Stacy has gained new attention and honors. In 1996 he was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame, and in 1998 a biography of him Jess Stacy: The Quiet Man of Jazz. a Biography and Discography was published.
Further reading
- Meyer, Raymond F. “Peg”. Backwoods Jazz in the Twenties. Edited and with an introduction by Frank Nickell. Published by Center for Regional History and Cultural Heritage Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau Missouri, c. 1989.
- Levin, Floyd. Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians (Berkely: University of California Press, 2000.)
- Kenney, W. H. Jazz on the River. University of Chicago Press, 2005. ISBN 0226437337X
- Keller, Keith. Oh, Jess: A Jazz Life. The Mayan Music Corporation, 1989. ISBN 8788043088X
- Coller, Derek. Jess Stacy: The Quiet Man of Jazz. G H B Jazz Foundation, 1998. ISBN 0963889044X