Jess Stacy

Jess Stacy Alexandria ( born August 11, 1904 in Bird 's Point, Missouri; † January 1, 1995 Los Angeles ) was an American jazz pianist of swing, played a long time with Benny Goodman.

Stacy was born in a small town across from Cairo ( Illinois) on the other side of the Mississippi and played initially on river - steamers ( and in winter with " Tony Catalano 's Iowans " in Davenport, Iowa). The mid-1920s he moved to Chicago, where he played among others with Paul Mares and from 1926 to 1928 in the orchestra of Joe Kayser, and in the speakeasies during the Prohibition era. After that he played much in dance orchestras before he went in July 1935 bis 1939 Benny Goodman (recommended by John Hammond ), with whom he was known as one of the most important swing pianists (eg Carnegie Hall Concert 1938 famous ( unplanned ) solo in " Sing Sing Sing "). 1939/40, he had just his own band and played from 1940 to 1942 with Bob Crosby, 1942/43, again at Goodman and then with Horace Heidt and Tommy Dorsey. In 1945 he founded his own big band ( " Jess Stacy and his All Stars " ), in his temporary wife Lee Wiley ( 1908-1975, Marriage 1943) sang. The band lasted only one year, and after a few months at Goodman Stacy then worked solo in New York, as well as with oldtime jazz musicians like Eddie Condon. In 1947 he moved to California, where his reputation faded ( despite a temporary comeback on the occasion of the re-publication of the Carnegie Hall Concerts 1950). In 1963, he withdrew completely from the music and worked as a representative for the cosmetics company Max Factor. In the 1970s he experienced a comeback, for example, with soundtrack recordings for the film " The Great Gatsby " (1973), successful performances in 1974 at the Newport Jazz Festival and new recordings such as " Stacy Still Swings " 1977.

In 1995, he was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.

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