Charles Valdez "Truck" Parham (January 25, 1911 – June 5, 2002) was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 double-bassist.

Parham played professional sports early in his career; he was a boxer

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 and played football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 with the Chicago Negro All Stars. He played drums before settling on bass, and studied under Walter Page

Walter Page

Walter Sylvester Page , nicknamed "Hoss," was an African American jazz bassist and leader of the Oklahoma City Blue Devils jazz orchestra from 1925–1931...

. He played in the Midwest territory band

Territory band

Territory bands were dance bands that crisscrossed specific regions of the United States from the 1920s through the 1960s. Beginning in the 1920s, the bands typically had 8 to 12 musicians. These bands typically played one-nighters, 6 or 7 nights a week at venues like VFW halls, Elks Lodges,...

 of Zack Whyte

Zack Whyte

Zack Whyte was an American jazz bandleader, best known for leading the territory band the Chocolate Beau Brummels.Whyte studied at Wilberforce University, where he played banjo with Horace Henderson and arranged pieces for him. He led his own Cincinnati-based bands from the early 1920s, and put...

 in 1932-34, playing primarily in Cincinnati. After returning to Chicago, he played with Zutty Singleton, Roy Eldridge

Roy Eldridge

Roy David Eldridge , nicknamed "Little Jazz" was an American jazz trumpet player. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos and his strong influence on Dizzy Gillespie mark him as one of the most exciting musicians of the swing era and a...

 (1936–38), Art Tatum

Art Tatum

Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind.Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time...

, and Bob Shoffner

Bob Shoffner

Bob Shoffner was an American jazz trumpeter.Shoffner grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and played drums and bugle before settling on trumpet at age eleven. He played trumpet in a military band while serving in the U.S. Army from 1917-1919, and then played with Charlie Creath and Tommy Parker in...

 in the 1930s. In 1940 he joined 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...

's orchestra, where he remained for two years; in 1942 he was hired by Jimmie Lunceford

Jimmie Lunceford

James Melvin "Jimmie" Lunceford was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era.-Biography:...

 and played with him until 1947.

Parham continued to play revival gigs with Muggsy Spanier

Muggsy Spanier

Francis Joseph Julian "Muggsy" Spanier was a prominent cornet player based in Chicago. He was renowned as the best trumpet/cornet in Chicago until Bix Beiderbecke entered the scene....

 (1950–55), Herbie Fields

Herbie Fields

Herbie Fields was a jazz musician. He attended New York's famed Juilliard School of Music and served in the U.S. Army from 1941–1943.-Career:...

 (1956–57), Hines again, and Louie Bellson

Louie Bellson

Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni , better known by the stage name Louie Bellson , was an Italian-American jazz drummer...

. He spent much of the 1960s working with Art Hodes

Art Hodes

Arthur W. Hodes , known professionally as Art Hodes, was an American jazz pianist.-Biography:...

, and played in numerous Dixieland jazz

Dixieland Jazz

Dixieland Jazz was a Canadian music television series which aired on CBC Television in 1954.-Premise:The series host was Trump Davidson, a cornet player. He also hosted a radio music series on CBC's Trans-Canada Network.-Scheduling:...

groups later in his career. Parham never recorded as a leader, though he recorded profusely as a sideman.