Peck Kelley

Peck Kelley ( born October 22, 1898 in Houston, Texas as John Dickson Kelley, † December 26, 1980 ) was a legendary American jazz pianist, although he was active for most of his career in his hometown of Houston and its surrounding areas.

Life and work

Kelley learned self-taught classical piano and discovered in 1917 the jazz style. In 1921 he founded his band Peck Kelley's Bad Boys, played in the later -famous musicians such as Louis Prima, Pee Wee Russell and Jack and Charlie Teagarden. Jack Teagarden was still working from 1921 to 1925 occasionally with Kelley. Other members of his later formation Peck 's Bad Boys were the clarinetist Pee Wee Russell and Leon Rappolo. In 1922 his band in the Garden of Tokyo Ballroom in Galveston (Texas ) on; In 1925 he played allegedly in St. Louis, 1927 in Shreveport and in 1934 in New Orleans. Offers by Paul Whiteman, the Dorsey Brothers, and Bob Crosby he struck out.

Musicians as Jack Teagarden or Ben Pollack always mentioned the virtuoso skills of playful Kelley, who was known only to a few other musicians, however; 1939 John Hammond wrote in Down Beat a worthy article under the title ". Peck Kelley is not a rumor" in 1940 also reported that Collier's Weekly about him.

From 1948, he has performed mainly as a solo pianist. Only in 1957 made ​​his first recordings for the label Commodore with a combo; the two records were not published until after the death of the pianist ( Peck Kelley Jam Vol 1 & 2). Shortly thereafter, still privately Recorded solo and duo recordings (Out of Obscurity ) published on the label Arcadia. In old age he became blind and was diagnosed with Parkinson's.

Lexigraphic entries

• Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather & Brian Priestley: Jazz Rough Guide, Metzler, Stuttgart 1999; ISBN 978-3-476-01892-2