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Johnny Acea, piano


Morganized

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I just picked up Leo Parker's "Rollin' with Leo" and noticed the pianist playing on the second tune, Bad Girl. His name is Johnny Acea. Never heard of him. He has a really nice touch.

When I looked him up on AMG there was nothing.

Did he ever lead a session? Did he play with anyone on a regular basis?

Anyone know about Johnny?

Thanks.

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per: http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&s...0cfqxq95ldke~T4

Flying Home: The Best of Verve Years Illinois Jacquet Piano

Kid and the Brute Illinois Jacquet Piano

Happy Cats Joe Newman Piano

Jazz Singer Eddie Jefferson Piano

Have Guitar, Will Travel Grant Green Piano

Rollin' with Leo Leo Parker Piano

Elder Don Don Wilkerson Piano

Latin Bit Grant Green Piano

My Hour of Need Dodo Greene Piano

Strictly Bebop Dizzy Gillespie/Tadd Dameron/Babs Gonzal Piano

Complete Dinah Washington on Mercury, Vol. 1 (1946-19 Dinah Washington Piano

Sear-iously Big Al Sears Piano

1946-1947 Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Piano

Cool Too Count Basie Bunch Piano

Cobb and His Mob in Concert Arnett Cobb Piano

1949-1950 Dizzy Gillespie & His Orchestra Piano

Bean and the Boys [High Note] Coleman Hawkins Piano

Jacquet a la Carte Illinois Jacquet Piano

Queen Sings Dinah Washington Piano

Big Raw Tone Al Sears Piano

Pure Genius: The Complete Atlantic Recordings Ray Charles Arranger

1951-1954 James Moody Piano

Probably some overlap there that I overlooked...and no leader date(s).

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I found this:

Johnny Acea

Full name John Adriano Acea. Born Philadelphia. From late 1930s played trumpet with Sam Price and tenor sax with Don Bagley. In New York he performed and recorded as a pianist with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis in 1947-48, Dizzie Gillespie in 1949-50, and Illinois Jacquet in 1952-54. He recorded with James Moody in 1951 and Al Sears in 1952 and played briefly with Cootie Williams. He also made recordings with Joe Newman in 1954 and 1957 and Eddie Jefferson in 1959.

(From New Groves Dictionary of Jazz)

And this:

Biography by Eugene Chadbourne

The Blue Note catalog is a buffet table that attracts and satisfies an endless series of jazz noshers, and the ones that stay longest and dig deepest into the more obscure salads will wind up discovering this funky Philly pianist. He backed up the superb guitarist Grant Green as well as providing the endless cycles of chord changes required by participants in tenor saxophone battles such as Ben Webster and Illinois Jacquet. Acea also had his jive side, evidenced by his involvement with the zany band of Dizzy Gillespie and its off-the-wall vocalist Babs Gonzales. Acea, who is sometimes mistaken for the rhythm and blues performer Johnny Ace plus a typo, came from a Cuban family who settled in Philadelphia around 1910. Census forms from that city in the '20s indicate there were spelling problems even back then, with both the pianist and his father's name listed as Adrino Acea, which could mean that the performer often credited as John Adriano Acea added an extra letter to his name, or the census taker left one out. Acea was born with rheumatic fever, and the original prediction from doctors was that he would not survive his childhood, let alone the all-night jam sessions that lay ahead. He did much better than anyone expected, became known to most of his friends as simply "John" and picked up several musical nicknames including "Johnny Acey" and "Acey."

While not exactly the most famous jazz pianist to come out of Philadelphia, legends still abound about the man's talent. It is said that he was able to play all of the instruments in the music store, but he quickly picked up a reputation for piano as well as an uncanny knack for backing up singers. He would eventually record with greats such as Gloria Lynne, Diana Washington, Ruth Brown and Patti Page. He played cornet in the army, however, and worked as a trumpeter with the band of pianist Sammy Price when he got out in the late 30s. During the same period, he also played tenor saxophone in the Don Bagley group.

Acea moved to New York City in the early '40s, performing and recording on piano with tenor sax great Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis in 1947 and 1948. He finished out the decade with Gillespie, and in the early '50s began backing up Illinois Jacquet. Acea also actively freelanced on records, in 1951 with the talented James Moody and with another tenor great, Al Sears, the following year. From 1954 through 1957 he played with Joe Newman, contributing the tune "Blues for Slim" to the album Joe Newman and His Band. Acea's composing skills also took him into the world of doo wop and rhythm and blues, genres that melded regularly with jazz in terms of the musicians involved, if not the listeners that were attracted. He wrote music for the Cadillacs, who later became the Coasters, as well as the big bands of both Frankie Laine and Ray Charles. Jacquet recorded the Acea tune "Little Jeff"; Acea paid back the tribute by giving one of his children "Jacquet" as a middle name.

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