Johnny Parker (6 November 1929 – 11 June 2010) was a British

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

pianist.

Early life

Parker was born in

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and E ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England. In 1940, his family moved to

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, where Parker was exposed to

American Forces Network The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which i ...

broadcasts, and first heard

boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pian ...

piano at a

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

base. Parker returned to Beckenham after the Second World War and worked a

paper round A paperboy is someoneoften an older child or adolescentwho distributes printed newspapers to homes or offices on a regular route, usually by bicycle or automobile. In Western nations during the heyday of print newspapers during the early 20th ...

to be able to buy records by pianists such as Pete Johnson and

Albert Ammons Albert Clifton Ammons (March 1, 1907 – December 2, 1949) was an American pianist and player of boogie-woogie, a blues style popular from the late 1930s to the mid-1940s. Life and career Ammons was born in Chicago, Illinois. His parents were pi ...

Career

While in Beckenham, Parker regularly cycled the

Bexleyheath Bexleyheath is a town in south-east London, England. It had a population of 31,929 as at 2011. Bexleyheath is located south-east of Charing Cross, and forms part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is identified in the London Plan as one of ...

to watch George Webb's Dixielanders perform. Around this time, he joined the Catford Rhythm Club and played at regular sessions. He became the

resident Resident may refer to: People and functions * Resident minister, a representative of a government in a foreign country * Resident (medicine), a stage of postgraduate medical training * Resident (pharmacy), a stage of postgraduate pharmaceuti ...

pianist, performing at the club until 1948, when he was called up for

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

. He served with the

Royal Army Ordnance Corps The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equip ...

as an ammunitions examiner, while accompanying jazz musicians such as

Beryl Bryden Beryl Audley Bryden (11 May 1920 – 14 July 1998) was an English jazz singer, who played with Chris Barber and Lonnie Donegan. Ella Fitzgerald once said of Bryden that she was "Britain's queen of the blues". Life and career Bryden was bor ...

and Mike Daniels. After his stint in the armed forces, Parker enrolled at

Regent Street Polytechnic The University of Westminster is a public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first polytechnic to open in London. The Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in Aug ...

, and from 1950 to 1951 played in

Mick Mulligan Peter Sidney "Mick" Mulligan (24 January 1928 – 20 December 2006) was an English jazz trumpeter and bandleader, best known for his presence on the trad jazz scene. Biography He was born in Harrow, Middlesex, England. Mulligan began playing ...

's band. Later in 1951 Parker joined the band of

Humphrey Lyttelton Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton (23 May 1921 – 25 April 2008), also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster from the Lyttelton family. Having taught himself the trumpet at school, Lyttelton became a professional ...

and was the pianist on the trumpeter's 1956 hit record "

Bad Penny Blues "Bad Penny Blues" is a fast instrumental blues written by Humphrey Lyttelton and recorded with his band in London on 20 April 1956. Popular success It was originally released as Parlophone ER 4184 and became a hit record in Britain at the time ...

". Parker's piano riff has been cited as similar to and a possible influence on

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

's piano playing for "

Lady Madonna "Lady Madonna" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. In March 1968, it was released as a mono single, backed with "The Inner Light". The song was recorded on 3 a ...

". He stayed with Lyttleton for six years, performing with

Sidney Bechet Sidney Bechet (May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Armstrong. His erratic temp ...

and supporting

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 ...

and

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 ...

. In 1965 Parker appeared with the Lyttelton band in a televised programme featuring American blues shouter

Big Joe Turner Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. (May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American singer from Kansas City, Missouri. According to songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." His greatest fame was due to ...

. After a failed attempt to start his own band, Parker took a position inspecting components at an aircraft assembly plant. He continued playing in jazz bands alongside artists such as

Alexis Korner Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner (19 April 1928 – 1 January 1984), known professionally as Alexis Korner, was a British blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a founding father of British blues". A major in ...

Diz Disley William Charles "Diz" Disley (27 May 1931 – 22 March 2010) was an Anglo-Canadian jazz guitarist and banjoist. He is best known for his acoustic jazz guitar playing, strongly influenced by Django Reinhardt, for his contributions to the UK trad ...

Cyril Davies Cyril Davies (23 January 1932 – 7 January 1964) was an English blues musician, and one of the first blues harmonica players in England. Biography Born at St Mildred's, 15 Hawthorn Drive, Willowbank, Denham, Buckinghamshire, he was the son ...

, and

Long John Baldry John William "Long John" Baldry (12 January 1941 – 21 July 2005) was an English musician and actor. In the 1960s, he was one of the first British vocalists to sing the blues in clubs and shared the stage with many British musicians including t ...

. Parker worked on-and-off in inspection until early 1969, when he joined

Kenny Ball Kenneth Daniel Ball (22 May 1930Larkin C., ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music''. (Muze UK Ltd, 1997), p. 29; ) – 7 March 2013) was an English jazz musician, best known as the bandleader, lead trumpet player and vocalist in Kenny Ball and ...

's Jazzmen. Parker had a spinal operation in December that year, but recovered within months and returned to regular touring. He performed with Ball until 1978. Parker led his own jazz groups around London and toured the Middle East. He retired in 2005 citing long-term health problems. He died on 11 June 2010.

Personal life

Parker was married twice. He had four children – two (Rebecca and Robert) from his marriage to Maureen Wallis, and two (Abigail and Beverly) from his marriage to South African singer

Peggy Phango Peggy Phango (28 December 1928 – 7 August 1998) was a South African actress and singer, who from the 1960s was based in England. Early life Peggy Phango was born at Orlando, Soweto, Orlando, Transvaal Province, Transvaal, South Africa. She tra ...

. Phango, who was the

first cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, " ...

Miriam Makeba Zenzile Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including African popular music, Afropop, jazz, a ...

, died in 1998.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Johnny 1929 births 2010 deaths British jazz pianists People from Beckenham 20th-century pianists 20th-century British musicians All-Stars (band) members Blues Incorporated members 20th-century British Army personnel Royal Army Ordnance Corps soldiers