Jess Stacy

Pianist

Birthday August 11, 1904

Birth Sign Leo

Birthplace Bird's Point, MO

DEATH DATE Jan 1, 1995 (90)

#212569 Most Popular

About

Swing-era jazz artist who was responsible for the famous Sing, Sing, Sing piano solo from the 1938 Goodman Orchestra Carnegie Hall performance.

Before Fame

He was largely self-taught, receiving his only formal training from Professor Clyde Brandt at Southeast Missouri State Teachers College, later Southeast Missouri State University, before joining Peg Meyer's Melody Kings and playing with the group on riverboats traveling the Mississippi River.

Trivia

He was asked to join Benny Goodman's orchestra in 1935, playing with them for four years. He performed with Goodman at the first jazz concert ever held in Carnegie Hall.

Family Life

He was married to the immensely popular jazz singer Lee Wiley for less than three years, and the union's dissolution was anything but amicable.

Associated With

He performed sporadically in the latter part of his life, yet he made significant contributions to Nelson Riddle's soundtrack for The Great Gatsby, the Robert Redford film from 1974.