Johnny Varro (born 1930) is a pianist with roots in the
swing
Swing or swinging may refer to:
Apparatus
* Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth
* Pendulum, an object that swings
* Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus
* Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse
* Swing rid ...
style of jazz. He is also a leader and arranger.
Commodore Music Shop
Varro was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York. He began studying piano at the age of ten. During his teenage years, he was introduced to jazz by way of the Commodore Music Shop in New York City. There he met the manager Jack Crystal (father of
Billy Crystal), who was running jam sessions on the
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally an im ...
. At these sessions, Johnny met some of the greatest players of the era, such as
Willie "The Lion" Smith,
Big Sid Catlett
Sidney "Big Sid" Catlett (January 17, 1910 – March 25, 1951) was an American jazz drummer. Catlett was one of the most versatile drummers of his era, adapting with the changing music scene as bebop emerged.
Early life
Catlett was born in Eva ...
,
Joe Thomas,
Hot Lips Page,
Joe Sullivan,
Pete Brown
Peter Ronald Brown (born 25 December 1940) is an English performance poet, lyricist, and singer best known for his collaborations with Cream and Jack Bruce.Colin Larkin, ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music'', (Muze UK Ltd, 1997), , p. 80 Bro ...
and others. The experience of sitting in for Joe Sullivan and
Willie "The Lion" Smith was invaluable and soon allowed Johnny to become a hired player.
New York: Bobby Hackett and Eddie Condon
Johnny's first professional job was with
Bobby Hackett touring the East Coast with his quartet. In 1954 he worked at Nick's with
Phil Napoleon and later with
Pee Wee Erwin. In 1957
Eddie Condon
Albert Edwin Condon (November 16, 1905 – August 4, 1973) was an American jazz banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader. A leading figure in Chicago jazz, he also played piano and sang.
Early years
Condon was born in Goodland, Indiana, the son of J ...
asked Johnny to play at
his club as intermission pianist. During that gig, he met more musicians who began calling him for jobs. The Condon gig extended into Johnny becoming Condon's band pianist. The players in Condon's band at this time included
Buck Clayton,
Wild Bill Davison
William Edward Davison (January 5, 1906 – November 14, 1989), nicknamed "Wild Bill", was an American jazz cornetist. He emerged in the 1920s through his work playing alongside Muggsy Spanier and Frank Teschemacher in a cover band where they p ...
,
Pee Wee Russell,
Cutty Cutshall,
Lou McGarity
Robert Louis McGarity (July 22, 1917 – August 28, 1971) was an American jazz trombonist who was a member of the Benny Goodman big band during the late 1930s and early 1940s. After serving in the military, he was a studio musician in New York Cit ...
,
George Wettling
George Godfrey Wettling (November 28, 1907 – June 6, 1968) was an American jazz drummer.
He was born in Topeka, Kansas, United States, and from his early teens was living in Chicago, Illinois. He was one of the young Chicagoans who fell ...
,
Yank Lawson
John Rhea "Yank" Lawson (May 3, 1911 – February 18, 1995) was an American jazz trumpeter known for Dixieland and swing music.
Born John Lausen in 1911, from 1933 to 1935 he worked in Ben Pollack's orchestra and after that became a founding ...
,
Peanuts Hucko
Michael Andrew "Peanuts" Hucko (April 7, 1918 – June 19, 2003) was an American big band musician. His primary instrument was the clarinet, but he sometimes played saxophone.
Early life and education
He was born in Syracuse, New York, United St ...
and others.
For the next several years between the Condon tours, Johnny worked most of the jazz rooms around New York including The Embers, The Roundtable, Condon's Uptown (with
Edmond Hall), The Metropole and many others. Musicians such as
Henry "Red" Allen,
Roy Eldridge,
Coleman Hawkins,
Bobby Hackett,
Charlie Shavers,
Jo Jones
Jonathan David Samuel Jones (October 7, 1911 – September 3, 1985) was an American jazz drummer. A band leader and pioneer in jazz percussion, Jones anchored the Count Basie Orchestra rhythm section from 1934 to 1948. He was sometimes k ...
and
Jonah Jones helped further his musical education.
Dukes of Dixieland and the Gleason Show
In 1965 he moved to Miami Beach and worked on the
Jackie Gleason
John Herbert Gleason (February 26, 1916June 24, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, writer, composer, and conductor known affectionately as "The Great One." Developing a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, he was know ...
Show. He also worked with
Flip Phillips, Billy Butterfield,
Phil Napoleon and toured with the Dukes of Dixieland.
Gatsby's and Swing 7
Then came another move in 1979 to Los Angeles, California, where he lived, played and toured for the next 14 years. He played with
Eddie Miller,
Dick Cathcart,
Tommy Newsom
Thomas Penn Newsom (February 25, 1929 – April 28, 2007) was a saxophone player in the NBC Orchestra on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'', for which he later became assistant director. Newsom was frequently the band's substitute dir ...
,
Red Norvo,
Abe Lincoln,
Bob Havens, and
Jack Sheldon. He also did a five-year solo stint at Gatsby's Restaurant in Brentwood. It was in Los Angeles where the idea was born to organize a swing group covering the styles of the '30s, '40s, and '50s. This group, known as the Swing 7, has played many of the Jazz festivals and parties.
Arbors Records, concerts, and jazz festivals
The last move took him in 1993 to Florida where he now resides, in the Tampa Bay area. He has many recordings on a variety of labels. The most recent recordings have been for
Arbors Records where he has recorded extensively in solo, trio and band format under his own name. He also has recorded many times as a sideman for Arbors. And he can be heard on several recordings on the Nagel-Heyer label (Hamburg, Germany).
He continues to play jazz festivals, jazz parties and concerts in the United States, Switzerland, and Germany. Jazz festivals include San Diego, Sacramento (Emperor in 2003), Odessa, Elkhart, and Roswell.
References and sources
Official Web site*''Jazz Gentry: Aristocrats of the Music World'', Warren Vaché, Sr., Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1999, Chapter 34
*''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'',
Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler, second (revised) edition (Oxford University Press), 1999
*''Richard Cook's Jazz Encyclopedia'',
Richard Cook, Penguin, 2005
Johnny Varro Discography*''The Mississippi Rag,'' September 1994, cover article on Johnny Varro, by Warren Vaché, Sr.
*''Johnny Varro Discography'', produced and published by Gerard Bielderman, October 2012
*''"Sweet & Hot Music Festival" Program'', by Charles Champlin, April 30-September 2, 2002, p.
*''"Sacramento Jazz Jubilee"
Souvenir Program
A programme or program (see spelling differences) is a booklet available for patrons attending a live event such as theatre performances, concerts, fêtes, sports events, etc. It is a printed leaflet outlining the parts of the event scheduled t ...
'', May 23–26, 2003, p. 1
(online)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Varro, Johnny
1930 births
Living people
American jazz pianists
American male pianists
Swing pianists
20th-century American pianists
21st-century American pianists
20th-century American male musicians
21st-century American male musicians
American male jazz musicians
Statesmen of Jazz members
Arbors Records artists