Vernon Ford Story (November 16, 1922 – April 20, 2007) was an American jazz

tenor saxophonist The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

Early life

Story was born in

New Iberia, Louisiana New Iberia (french: La Nouvelle-Ibérie; es, Nueva Iberia) is the largest city in and parish seat of Iberia Parish, Louisiana, Iberia Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The city of New Iberia is located approximately southeast of Lafayette, L ...

. He was encouraged to take up the clarinet as a child by his uncle, Clarence Todd, a professional composer and pianist. Todd wrote music for and performed with many artists, including

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 ...

, clarinet player

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 pianist

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...

. Story’s family moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1930 and by his early teens, he was playing the tenor saxophone with his friends. They formed many small bands and played at local venues in and around

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

Career

In 1946, Rex Stewart, who had just left the Duke Ellington Band, put together a small orchestra to tour Europe as guests of the

Hot Club de France The Hot Club de France is a French organization of jazz fans dedicated to the promotion of "traditional" jazz, swing, and blues. It was founded in 1931 in Paris, France, by five students of the Lycée Carnot. In 1928, Jacques Bureaux, Hugues Pana ...

. Members included

Rex Stewart Rex William Stewart Jr. (February 22, 1907 – September 7, 1967) was an American jazz cornetist who was a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra. Career As a boy he studied piano and violin; most of his career was spent on cornet. Stewart drop ...

on cornet, Sandy Williams on trombone and pianist Don Gais. The group visited

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. They also made many recordings between 1946 and 1949, including one of Story’s signature song, "Vernon’s Story" and another of his compositions, "Storyville." Their first concert was at the

Salle Pleyel The Salle Pleyel (, meaning "Pleyel Hall") is a concert hall in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, designed by acoustician Gustave Lyon together with architect Jacques Marcel Auburtin, who died in 1926, and the work was completed in 1927 by ...

in Paris. They toured major cities Marseilles, Bordeauz and Toulouse, Lyons and Lille. They also in

Béziers Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hos ...

Carcassonne Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the ...

, and

Montauban Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, an ...

. Story and some of the other musicians stayed on in Paris while Rex Stewart went to Germany, though he joined him for venues in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Story played with notable jazz musician in Paris, including guitarist

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...

. Becoming a well-known figure in the Paris jazz community, Story inspired the name of a character in a novel by

Boris Vian Boris Vian (; 10 March 1920 – 23 June 1959) was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer who is primarily remembered for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sulliva ...

. Story arranged venues for subsets of the original band in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, and

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

. He also made a cameo appearance as an American jazz player in a Swedish thriller movie, ''Kvinnan Som Försvann''. The Rex Stewart Band, including Story, played at the first

Nice Jazz Festival The Nice Jazz Festival (, ), held annually since 1948 in Nice, on the French Riviera, is "the first jazz festival of international significance." At the inaugural festival, Louis Armstrong and his All Stars were the headliners. Frommer's calls it ...

in 1948, probably the first formal international jazz festival. Headliners and fellow musicians that he reminisced of included family friend

and English jazz musician, broadcaster and musicologist

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 ...

. Story moved back to the booming tourist center of

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

, in late-1948, playing solo and also with his own band.

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

, who had become a friend when they met during the tour to Europe, often visited him whilst playing gigs in Atlantic City.

Personal life

When interest in the

Bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...

genre declined, Story moved with his family to

Irvington, New York Irvington, sometimes known as Irvington-on-Hudson,Staff (ndg"The Irvington Gazette (Irvington-On-Hudson, N.Y.) 1907-1969"Library of Congress is a suburban village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is loca ...

. He played occasional sessions there and in

Pleasantville, New Jersey Pleasantville is a city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 20,629, which was an increase of 380 from the 2010 census count of 20,249, which reflected an increase of 1,237 ...

, before leaving the professional music business and moving to

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...

, in 1992. Story died in his sleep early on April 20, 2007, in

Rio Vista, California Rio Vista (Spanish: ''Río Vista'', meaning "River View") is a city located in the eastern end of Solano County, California, in the Sacramento River Delta region of Northern California. The population was 7,360 at the 2010 census. Geography Rio ...

. He was 84. Story had combated prostate cancer for many years but he remained strong and active until the final few months of his illness.

Selected discography

* "Buzz Bomb" - Vernon Story and His Tenor Sax accompanied by

Orchestra - Dial Records 755-B - 78 RPM. Probably recorded in 1946. * "I Giganti Del Jazz No. 47" ("Giants of Jazz") - Vernon Story, Johnny Harris, Rex Stewart and Sandy Williams. * "Jazz In Paris, Champs-Élysées, Vol. 1. 1917 to 1949" * "Rex Stewart - 1946-1947" - Rex Stewart Orchestra * "Ellingtonia" -

Orchestra - Dial 215 - Recorded December 9 and 10, 1947 - Includes

* "Rex Stewart - 1948-1949" -

Orchestra - The first track is "Vernon's Story". * "Rex Stewart Memorial Album." - Black Panther B.LP. 001 eissued as Prestige 728 and SV 2006 * "Boy Meets Horn / Don't Get Around Much Anymore" -

and His Orchestra - Blue Star. * "Be-Bop Boogie / Just Squeeze Me" -

and His Orchestra - Blue Star. * "Be Bop Boogie / I Cried For You" -

and His Orchestra - Blue Star. * "Americans In Sweden" - 1951 - Tracks 8-13 with Ted Curry, John Harris, Honey Johnson and Sandy Williams. * "

Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France" - Tracks B5 & B6. * "Swing Classics" - ET 13 -

Hot Lips Page Oran Thaddeus "Hot Lips" Page (January 27, 1908 – November 5, 1954) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader. He was known as a scorching soloist and powerful vocalist. Page was a member of Walter Page's Blue Devils, Artie Sh ...

1951/

1947.

References

External links

Jens "Jesse" Lindgren
{{DEFAULTSORT:Story, Vernon American jazz tenor saxophonists American male saxophonists 1922 births 2007 deaths Bebop saxophonists 20th-century American saxophonists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians American expatriates in France