eJazzNews Archive

Pioneer of Jazz and Blues Jay McShann Dies

Originally published on eJazzNews · · Obituaries

On December 7, 2006, eJazzNews reported that Jay McShann, the Kansas City pianist, singer and bandleader, had died that day in a hospital in his adopted hometown after a brief illness, at the age of 90. McShann led the big band in which a young Charlie Parker made his first records, and his “Confessin’ the Blues” was later recorded by the Rolling Stones, among many others.

What the 2006 report said

The obituary called McShann the last of the great Kansas City players and a bluesman at heart, whose music joined swing and blues. It traced his life from Muskogee, Oklahoma, to Kansas City in the mid-1930s and to the big band that by 1940 included Parker, and it argued that his role in launching the singers Walter Brown and Jimmy Witherspoon had been overlooked. It described his move to New York in 1942, his wartime army service, years of relative obscurity and a return to heavy international touring.

The report gave a Canadian angle. Jim Galloway, then artistic director of Toronto’s Downtown Jazz Festival, had brought McShann to the city’s Bourbon Street club in 1972, and McShann recorded close to a dozen albums in Toronto for the Sackville label. Holger Petersen, founder of the Edmonton label Stony Plain, often traveled with him to festivals as tour manager. Petersen remembered “a great uplifting smile and kind words for everyone,” and Galloway said: “His passing marks the end of a line.” McShann was survived by three daughters and a longtime companion.

Kansas City and Charlie Parker

James Columbus McShann was born in Muskogee on January 12, 1916, and taught himself piano. In 1936 a bus stop on the way to Omaha left him in Kansas City, where he found work in the clubs and stayed. He formed his first big band in late 1939 and began recording for Decca in 1941, often with Walter Brown singing; Brown and McShann’s “Confessin’ the Blues” was the band’s biggest hit. Parker played in the band from about 1940 to 1942, and his first recordings were made under McShann’s leadership. The band reached New York’s Savoy Ballroom in 1942 before McShann was drafted in 1944. Later in the decade his small group backed Jimmy Witherspoon. For the music Parker went on to create, see our guide to bebop jazz.

What happened next

McShann had been named an NEA Jazz Master in 1987, was the subject of the 1978 film Hootie’s Blues, and was featured in The Last of the Blue Devils and Clint Eastwood’s Piano Blues (2003). His 2003 Stony Plain album Goin’ to Kansas City had been nominated for Best Traditional Blues Album at the 46th Grammy Awards; eJazzNews reviewed it on its release (see the 2003 review of Goin’ to Kansas City). In April 2007 NPR published his 1980 Piano Jazz program, in which he talked about early Kansas City and meeting Parker. Jim Galloway died on December 30, 2014, at 78.

Where to start listening

  • Blues from Kansas City (MCA): the big band’s Decca recordings from 1941 to 1943.
  • Vine Street Boogie (Black Lion, 1974): a session from the years of his renewed international career.
  • Goin’ to Kansas City (Stony Plain, 2003): his Grammy-nominated late album.

Sources

This page is based on an article from the original eJazzNews archive (2001 to 2018), with background and sources added in 2026. The original text is not republished here. You can read the original as it appeared on eJazzNews via the Internet Archive.
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