Avery Parrish

Avery Parrish
Birth name	James Avery Parrish
Born	January 24, 1917 Birmingham, Alabama, US
Died	December 10, 1959(1959-12-10) (aged 42) New York City, New York, US
Genres	Jazz, blues
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, arranger
Instrument	Piano
Years active	1930s–1942

James Avery Parrish (January 24, 1917 – December 10, 1959) was an American jazz pianist, composer and arranger.

Early life

Parrish was born in Birmingham, Alabama. His parents were Curley and Fannie G Parrish.

He graduated from Parker High School in Birmingham.

Later life

Parrish studied at the Alabama State Teachers College, where he played in the Bama State Collegians, an ensemble led by Erskine Hawkins. He remained in Hawkins's employ until 1941 and recorded with him extensively. Parrish wrote the music to "After Hours", and a 1940 recording of the tune with Hawkins's orchestra resulted in its becoming a jazz standard. He also wrote arrangements for Hawkins.

Parrish left Hawkins in 1941 and moved to California. He was involved in a bar fight in 1942 which left him partly paralyzed at the age of 24; he was unable to play music for the rest of his life. He worked outside of music until 1953.

Parrish died of unknown causes on December 10, 1959. A contemporary report stated that he "had been found lying in Harlem streets five days before he died at the Harlem Hospital. There were no marks of violence on his body."

In 1979, Parrish was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.