Mezz Mezzrow
b. Milton Mesirow, 9 November 1899, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 5 August 1972. After playing club dates in and around his home town during the '20s, clarinettist Mezzrow moved to New York where he became a popular figure, partly owing to his other career as a supplier of marijuana. In the '30s he recorded with Sidney Bechet and Tommy Ladnier on the famous sessions organized by French critic Hugues Panassie, and in the '40s formed his own King Jazz record label to record Bechet and other important jazz artists. In the '50s, he moved to France, touring from a Paris base with visiting musicians (who included Lionel Hampton, Lee Collins and Zutty Singleton, recording and enjoying a level of adulation he had never achieved in his own country. A vehement anti-segregationist, Mezzrow wholly identified with black music and musicians, even to the extent of occasionally ‘passing’ for black in order to play with his idols. Much written about, critically by Eddie Condon and hyperbolically by himself, Mezzrow's image suffered and he was often dismissed by jazz commentators. In fact, despite the often outrageous claims he made in his racily extravagant autobiography, Mezzrow did much to foster jazz. In his early years in Chicago he encouraged many young musicians, even if later he claimed to have taught them how to play. He was tireless in setting up record dates and he boldly formed multi-racial bands during a period when such groups were rarely seen or heard. Mezzrow's clarinet style was earthy and at times elementary, but among the many records he made are flashes of a genuine feeling for the blues.