John Dickson "Peck" Kelley (October 22, 1898 – December 26, 1980) was an American

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. He was best known for his 1920s band Peck's Bad Boys, which included

Jack Teagarden Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden (August 20, 1905 – January 15, 1964) was an American jazz trombonist and singer. According to critic Scott Yannow of Allmusic, Teagarden was the preeminent American jazz trombone player before the bebop era of the 19 ...

, and

Pee Wee Russell Charles Ellsworth "Pee Wee" Russell (March 27, 1906 – February 15, 1969), was an American jazz musician. Early in his career he played clarinet and saxophones, but he eventually focused solely on clarinet. With a highly individualistic and sp ...

Early life

John Dickson "Peck" Kelley was born in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

on October 22, 1898.

Career

Peck's Bad Boys

During the 1920s, Kelley was a popular bandleader who led his own band, Peck's Bad Boys. The group included several jazz musicians that would go on to forge successful recording careers of their own, players such as

Louis Prima Louis Leo Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and trumpeter. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he forme ...

, Terry Shand,

Wingy Manone Joseph Matthews "Wingy" Manone (February 13, 1900 – July 9, 1982) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, singer, and bandleader. His recordings included " Tar Paper Stomp", "Nickel in the Slot", "Downright Disgusted Blues", "There'll Come a ...

Leon Roppolo Leon Joseph Roppolo (March 16, 1902 – October 5, 1943) was an American early jazz clarinetist, best known for his playing with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. He also played saxophone and guitar. Life and career Leon Roppolo (nicknamed "Rap" and ...

and

. Despite the apparent success of this group, no recordings survive from this period.

Reluctance to travel or record

Kelley rarely played anywhere outside of Texas. Early in his career he did perform in

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

and

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, but the politics of the

worker's union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

at the time combined with the overall hassle of obtaining permits prompted him to return to Texas. Throughout his career Kelley repeatedly turned down offers by other musicians of the day to play outside of Texas - offers from artists such as

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

Jimmy Dorsey James Francis Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. He recorded and composed the jazz and pop standards "I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary People ...

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...

and

Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist. As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s, ...

. However, he did perform in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

(1925),

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

(1927) and

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

(1934). Kelley joined the Dick Shannon

quartet In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...

with Glen Boyd on Bass Fiddle in 1957, from which the only studio recordings from this musician survive. These were made in Houston in June 1957.Balliett, Whitney (2000). ''Collected works: a journal of jazz 1965-2000''. Granta Books. p. 634. Although Kelley enjoyed playing at the sessions, and subsequently listening to the tapes, he refused to allow them to be released. They were eventually released in 1983 (after Kelley's death) by

Commodore Records Commodore Records was an American independent record label known for producing Dixieland jazz and swing. It is also remembered for releasing Billie Holiday's hit "Strange Fruit". History Commodore Records was founded in the spring of 1938 by Milt ...

as the "Peck Kelley Jam Sessions, Volumes 1 & 2". However, some private recordings of this same period have been released on the Arkadia record label.

Personal life

Throughout his career Kelley wished to remain anonymous, a private man who did not wish fame for himself. It is commonly accepted by jazz historians that the 1940s

Will Bradley Wilbur Schwichtenberg (July 12, 1912 – July 15, 1989), known professionally as Will Bradley, was an American trombonist and bandleader during the 1930s and 1940s. He performed swing, dance music, and boogie-woogie songs, many of them written b ...

hit "

Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar" is a song written in 1940 by Don Raye, Hughie Prince, and Ray McKinley. It follows the American boogie-woogie tradition of syncopated piano music. Background The title adopts 1940s' hipster slang coined by Raye ...

" is in reference and tribute to Kelley. Eventually Peck became blind and developed

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

, dying on December 26, 1980, at 82.

Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelley, Peck 1898 births 1980 deaths American jazz pianists American male pianists 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians