Muggsy Spanier

Francis Joseph "Muggsy" Spanier (November 9, 1901 – February 12, 1967) was an American jazz cornetist based in Chicago. He was a member of the Bucktown Five, pioneers of the "Chicago style" that straddled traditional Dixieland jazz and swing.

Life and career Spanier was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Katherine Helen (O'Reilly) and William Spanier, a certified public accountant. His parents were from France and Ireland, respectively. At thirteen, he began playing the cornet and played with Elmer Schoebel in 1921. He borrowed the sobriquet of "Muggsy" from John "Muggsy" McGraw, the manager of the New York Giants baseball team. In the early 1920s, he played with the Bucktown Five.

In 1929, he became a member of a band led by Ted Lewis, then spent two years with Ben Pollack.

"Relaxin' at the Touro" is a fairly straightforward 12-bar blues, with a piano introduction and coda by Joe Bushkin. The pianist recalled, many years later: "When I finally joined Muggsy in Chicago (having left Bunny Berigan's failing big band) we met to talk it over at the Three Deuces, where Art Tatum was appearing." Muggsy was now playing opposite Fats Waller at the Sherman hotel and we worked out a kind of stage show for the two bands. Muggsy was a man of great integrity. "We played a blues in C and I made up a little intro. After that I was listed as the co-composer of 'Relaxin' at the Touro'".

Personal life In 1950, in Chicago, Spanier's second marriage was to Ruth Gries O’Connell. He became the stepfather of her sons, Hollywood film writer and director Tom Gries (died 1977) and Charles Joseph Gries, later professionally known as Buddy Charles, a pop and jazz vocalist and pianist in Chicago. When Spanier was performing at a concert in Chicago in 1956, Buddy Charles was performing at the nearby Black Orchid nightclub. Spanier was heard to exclaim "that's my boy."

Muggsy Spanier died of an apparent heart attack in Sausalito, California, in February 1967, after years of ill health. He was 65. In his obituary he was described as "an expert on Chicago mobsters, almost all of whom were jazz patrons."