Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
and blues vocalist of the 1950s and 1960s, although he had limited recording and was overshadowed by
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
, he rivalled
Johnny Desmond
Johnny Desmond (born Giovanni Alfredo De Simone; November 14, 1919 – September 6, 1985) was an American singer who was popular in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
Biography Early years
Desmond was born Giovanni de Simone in Detroit, Michigan. ...
,
Chet Baker
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool".
Baker earned much attention and ...
and
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor who performed Pop music, pop, Swing music, swing, Folk music, folk, rock and roll, and country music.
Darin started ...
Biography
Pace was born in Paterson, New Jersey and served in the Army USO in Germany where he met his wife Anneliese Glaser, they traveled back to the states in 1954. Johnny and Anneliese had three children Monica, Suzanne and John. Discovered by Chet Baker in 1958, his sole album, ''Chet Baker Introduces Johnny Pace'' was recorded in December of that year for
Riverside Records
Riverside Records was an American jazz record company and label. Founded by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer, Jr, under his firm Bill Grauer Productions in 1953, the label played an important role in the jazz record industry for a decade. Riversid ...
.
Pace was backed on the album by the Chet Baker quintet, featuring such major talents as flautist
Herbie Mann
Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz Flute, flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet ...
and drummer
Philly Joe Jones
Joseph Rudolph "Philly Joe" Jones (July 15, 1923 – August 30, 1985) was an American Jazz drumming, jazz drummer.
Biography Early career
As a child, Jones appeared as a featured tap dancer on ''The Kiddie Show'' on the Philadelphia radio stat ...
. Joe Berle is credited as the pianist but it is also noted that
Bill Evans
William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, block chords, innovative chord voicings, a ...
, who was briefly playing with Chet Baker at the time, played on some tracks.
The recording was reissued in 1991 by the
Original Jazz Classics
Original Jazz Classics (or OJC) is a record label that was founded in 1983 as an imprint of Fantasy Records.
Under this name original editions of jazz LPs have been reissued on CD and LP, and formerly on cassette as well. The recordings in the ...
label.
Death
Pace died of cancer in 1979, and was survived by his longtime companion Naida.