Nat Jaffe was an American swing jazz pianist. He was married to singer Shirley Lloyd.

Jaffe lived in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 from 1921 to 1932, where he received classical training on piano. Upon his return to the U.S., he began playing jazz music, working with Noel Francis, the Emery Deutsch Orchestra, and as a soloist on 52nd Street. In the late 1930s he played with Jan Savitt

Jan Savitt

Jan Savitt was an American bandleader, musical arranger, and violinist....

, Joe Marsala

Joe Marsala

Joe Marsala was an Italian-American jazz clarinetist and songwriter, born and based in Chicago. He was active during the big band era. Marsala is notable as one of the early employers of drummer Buddy Rich. Among his other musicians included pianist Joe Bushkin and guitarist Jack Lemaire, Carmen...

 and 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...

, and recorded with Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....

 (1938), Charlie Barnet

Charlie Barnet

Charles Daly Barnet was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.His major recordings were "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "Southland Shuffle".-Early life:...

 (1938-39) and 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:...

 (1940). He led his own trio in the early 1940s and recorded in 1945 with Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...

.

Jaffe died in 1945 as a result of complications from high blood pressure at the age of 27

27 Club

The 27 Club—also occasionally known as the Forever 27 Club, Club 27 or the Curse of 27—is the title for a group of popular musicians who all died at the age of 27...

.

Solo (1938)

Three solo piano pieces (Body And Soul, Liza and I Can't Get Started) were recorded on January 31, 1938 and released by Onyx Records in 1974 on 52nd Street; Volume 2, which also features performances by Coleman Hawkins

Coleman Hawkins

Coleman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...

, Ben Webster

Ben Webster

Benjamin Francis Webster , a.k.a. "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young...

 and Don Byas

Don Byas

Carlos Wesley "Don" Byas was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, long-resident in Europe.- Oklahoma and Los Angeles :...

.

With Louis Armstrong (1938)

The line-up of Louis Armstrong's orchestra during a New York recording session on June 24, 1938 included Nat Jaffe on piano, and produced four tracks:

• Naturally (Natch-ra-ly)
• I've Got a Pocketful of Dreams
• I Can't Give You Anything but Love
• Ain't Misbehavin

With Charlie Barnet (1938-1939)

During four recording sessions in New York in 1938 and 1939, Nat Jaffe was part of Charlie Barnet's orchestra. He shared piano credits with Graham Forbes for the 1938 recordings. They recorded the following songs:

May 16, 1938

• Make Believe Ballroom (Theme)
• Prelude In C Sharp Minor
• I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart
• You Go To My Head
• Stop, Look And Listen
• Harmony In Harlem
• Blue Turning Grey Over You
• In-A-Jam
• Chatterbox
• Rock It For Me
• Lullaby In Rhythm

November 5, 1938

• Prelude To A Kiss
• Jump Jump's Here
• Undecided
• You Got Me

January 20, 1939

• I Get Along Without You Very Well
• I'm Prayin' Humble
• Tin Roof Blues
• Knocking At The Famous Door

February 24, 1939

• The Gal From Joe's
• Where Can She Be
• Jump Session
• I Wouldn't Give That For Love
• A New Moon and an Old Serenade
• Swing Street Strut

With Jack Teagarden (1940)

In 1940, Jack Teagarden recorded sixteen sides for Varsity, which were reissued in 1986 by Savoy Jazz. During these sessions, his orchestra included Nat Jaffe on piano. These recordings were:

February 19-27

• If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight
• My Melancholy Baby
• Can't We Talk It Over
• The Blues
• Love For Sale
• You, You Darling
• The Moon And The Willow Tree
• Wham

April 14-16

• Devil May Care
• Night On The Shalimar
• I Hear Bluebirds
• Fatima's Drummer Boy

Late July

• Now I Lay Me Down To Dream
• Wait Til I Catch You In My Dreams
• And So Do I
• River Home

Fats Waller Songs (1944)

On February 26, 1944, he recorded four of eight sides with Sid Jacobs on bass on a memorial album for Fats Waller

Fats Waller

Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...

, with 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...

 recording the other four, for Signature Records

Signature Records

Signature Records was a mid-20th century United States based record label. Noted Signature recording artists included Anita O'Day, Coleman Hawkins, Eddie Lawrence, Ray Anthony, Barbara McNair, Monica Lewis, Dickie Thompson, Jane Harvey, Kay Thompson and Alan Dale. Bob Thiele produced records for...

:

• How Can You Face Me?
• Keepin' Out Of Mischief Now
• (What Did I Do To Be So) Black And Blue
• Zonky

Nat Jaffe Trio (1944)

The Nat Jaffe Trio, with guitarist Remo Palmieri and bassist Leo Guarnieri, made four recordings on December 21, 1944 for Black and White Records:

• Blues In Nat's Flat
• These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You)
• A Hundred Years From Today
• If I Had You

Nat Jaffe and his V-Disc Jumpers (1945)

On January 24, 1945 Jaffe recorded at least one track with this group, featuring Don Byas and Flip Phillips

Flip Phillips

Flip Phillips was an American jazz tenor saxophone and clarinet player. He is best remembered for his work with Jazz at the Philharmonic from 1946 to 1957.-Biography:...

 on tenor saxophone, Charlie Shavers

Charlie Shavers

Charles James Shavers , known as Charlie Shavers, was an American swing era jazz trumpet player who played at one time or another with Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Johnny Dodds, Jimmy Noone, Sidney Bechet, Midge Williams and Billie Holiday...

 on trumpet and Specs Powell

Specs Powell

Gordon "Specs" Powell was a jazz drummer and percussionist who began in the swing era. He also worked in the Bebop and Hard bop idioms....

on drums: The Jeep Is Jumpin.

With Sarah Vaughan (1945)

Jaffe played piano on two of three recorded tracks during a recording session on May 25, 1945 in New York:

• What More Can a Woman Do?
• Mean to Me