Chic Chocolate (1916 – May 1967) born Antonio Xavier Vaz, was a Goan trumpeter who led a Jazz band at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay and was one of Bombay's best known jazz musicians. He was also a
Hindi film
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
music composer and played trumpet in various soundtracks.
Early life and influences
Chic was born Antonio Xavier Vaz in
Aldona
Aldona is a village in the Taluka of Bardez in the Indian state of Goa. It is known for producing several prominent Goans.
Geography
Aldona is located at at an average elevation of .
Aldona, as a comunidade-village, comprises around 16 wards ...
in 1916. He learned music at his local parochial school and, despite the wishes of his mother who wanted him to earn a "respectable" living as a mechanic, he followed his dreams of a life playing music.
Influenced by
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
, Chic styled himself after his great jazz hero—Chocolate's trumpet playing and " scatting" technique were a tribute to Armstrong. His stage presence has been recognized as dramatic, with accounts reporting that the musician would fall on one knee, while raising his instrument to the stars, during the band's crescendo. Chocolate earned the sobriquet, the "Louis Armstrong of India", as he not only played jazz like an African American, but also possessed a similarly dark complexion.
Career
By the mid-40s, after had played in
Rangoon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
and
Mussourie
Mussoorie is a hill station and a municipal board, near Dehradun, Dehradun city in the Dehradun district of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is about from the state capital of Dehradun and north of the n ...
, Chic had established himself as a popular Bombay jazz musician. He started out with a group called the Spotlights and by 1945 had formed his own outfit, ''Chic and the Music Makers'', beating out 12 other bands to win a contract at Green's Hotel, which was owned by the Taj Mahal Hotel. A newspaper article from the time described Chic Chocolate's band as "Bombay’s topflight band". Chic Chocolate occasionally led a two-trumpet barrage at the Green's Hotel with Chris Perry.
Like many Goan musicians of the time, Chic Chocolate played jazz live at the night but his days were spent in the film studios, recording and arranging sound tracks for movies. He had a flourishing career as a music composer in Bollywood movies. In 1951, he began his career as a music director with the movie ''
Nadaan
Nadaan may refer to:
* ''Nadaan'' (1943 film), an Indian Hindi-language film
* ''Nadaan'' (1951 film), an Indian Hindi-language film by Hira Singh
* ''Nadaan'' (1971 film), an Indian Hindi-language drama film by Deven Verma, starring Asha Parekh ...
''. ''Nadaan'' had a popular track list, including songs like Talat Mahmood's ''Aa Teri Tasvir Bana Lu'' and Lata Mangeshkar’s ''Sari Duniya Ko Piichhe Chodkar''.
Chic Chocolate was an integral part of composer
C. Ramchandra
Ramchandra Narhar Chitalkar (12 January 1918 – 5 January 1982), also known as C. Ramchandra or Chitalkar or Anna Sahib, was an Indian music director and playback singer.Samadhi'' and ''Shola Jo Bhadke'' from '' Albela''. However the credit for these songs is due to Chic Chocolate. Their collaboration in the 1952 film '' Rangili'' included the song ''Koi Dard Hamara Kya Samjhe'', sung by Lata Mangeshkar. He is remembered for his work with Naasir in the 1956 film '' Kar Bhala'', and he also collaborated with Madan Mohan.
Chic's lives as jazz man and film musician sometimes merged. He had a cameo appearance in the film '' Albela'', along with his band in a song sequence dressing them in frilly Latinesque costumes. Chic capitalised on the film's success by dressing his band in those costumes in future live performances.
Death
Chic died in May 1967 in Mumbai, aged 51. Shortly after, Chetan Anand’s '' Aakhri Khat'' was released. The bluesy song ''Rut Jawan Jawan'' featured several close-ups of Chic Chocolate playing his trumpet solos from the bandstand. Chic had lived with his wife, Martha and his children in an apartment in
Colaba
Colaba (; or ISO: Kolābā) is a part of the city of Mumbai, India. It is one of the four peninsulas of Mumbai while the other three are Worli, Bandra and Malabar Hill. During Portuguese rule in the 16th century, the island was known as Kolbhat ...
. He also had an illegitimate son by a girlfriend named Catherine before his marriage to Martha.