Jess Stacy

Jess Alexandria Stacy (born Jesse Alexander Stacy; August 11, 1904 a small town across the Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois, to Frederick Lee Stacy, a railroad engineer, and Sara (Alexander) Stacy, a seamstress. His first piano teacher was Mabel Irene Bailey, who played piano for silent movies. In 1918, Stacy moved to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He received his only formal music training with Clyde Brandt, a professor of piano and violin at Southeast Missouri State Teachers College (now Southeast Missouri State University) while sweeping at Clark's Music Store.

By 1920, Stacy was playing piano in Peg Meyer's jazz ensemble at Cape Girardeau High School, the Bluebird Confectionary, and the Sweet Shop. Schoolmates called them the Agony Four. By 1921, the band was known as Peg Meyer's Melody Kings and started touring the Mississippi River on the Majestic and other riverboats.

Career

In the early 1920s, Stacy moved to Chicago, where he performed with Paul Mares, After leaving the Goodman Orchestra, Stacy joined the Bob Crosby Orchestra and the Bob Crosby Bob-Cats. His career declined to club work. After his career's brief revival in the 1970s, he again retired from music and lived with his third wife, Patricia Peck Stacy. Eddie Condon, Bud Freeman, George Gershwin, Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday, Gene Krupa, Jack Teagarden, and Horace Heidt.

Personal life Stacy had a tumultuous love life as a young man. His first wife was Helen Robinson; both were young when they married in 1924. Stacy worked at night in clubs and slept during the day while Robinson worked. She needed more security than Stacy was willing to provide, and Stacy was unwilling to work at a radio station for steady employment. This did not change when the couple had a son, Frederick Jess. They divorced and Robinson married a friend of Stacy, saxophonist Phil Wing.

His second wife was jazz singer Lee Wiley. The couple was described by their friend Deane Kincaide as "compatible as two cats, tails tied together, hanging over a clothesline."

Awards and honors Stacy was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1996.

Discography As leader Piano Moods (Columbia, 1950) Jess Stacy (Brunswick, 1956) Tribute to Benny Goodman (Atlantic, 1956) Stacy Still Swings (Chiaroscuro, 1974) Stacy's Still Swinging (Chiaroscuro, 1977) Blue Notion (Jazzology, 1983) Stacy and Sutton (Affinity, 1986)

As sideman Benny Goodman, The Complete RCA Victor Small Group Recordings, (RCA Victor, 1997)