Marty Napoleon (June 2, 1921 – April 27, 2015) was an American jazz pianist and vocalist who was the last surviving instrumentalist to have been a member of the Louis Armstrong All-Stars. He was a popular and versatile performer blessed with an ability to fit easily into a variety of jazz genres.
Napoleon was born Matthew Napoli, in Brooklyn, New York, to Sicilian immigrant parents. He later legally changed his name. All the immediate family, including his many uncles and cousins, had some degree of musical talent and he grew up surrounded by music and musicians. His father, Marty (originally Matteo Napoli), played the banjo; his mother, Jenny (originally Giovanina Giamporcaro), played the guitar and sang; his elder brother Teddy Napoleon, also a pianist, was with the drummer Gene Krupa’s group for many years; two sisters were vocalists; and his brother, Andy, was a drummer. Marty first thought to play the trumpet, only changing to piano due to a heart ailment. Listening to Teddy practice furthered his interest and a year’s piano lessons probably helped, but he confessed that for years his reading skills were poor.
Nevertheless he turned professional aged 17 and was soon working for a local dance-band leader, Bob Astor, who used him for summer jobs. He became a pretty versatile player whose style generally fell between swing and bop. Marty then had stints with his uncle’s band The Memphis Five in addition to groups led by Chico Marx, Joe Venuti, Charlie Barnet and Gene Krupa (1945). As a pianist and singer, he was part of saxophonist Charlie Ventura’s Big Four group in the early 1950s that included drummer Buddy Rich and bassist Chubby Jackson.One of his Marty’s favourite memories involved the exuberant band put together by Chico Marx, the onetime Marx Brother of stage and movie fame. Mr. Napoleon recalled that it was hard for Marx to escape his vaudeville roots. “When he did ‘Beer Barrel Polka’ he would roll an orange on the keyboard,” the pianist told The
Washington Post in 1984. “One time he threw the orange at me, and I threw it to the drummer, George Wettling. The next day everybody in the band had an orange and oranges were flying all over the stage. Chico loved it. ‘Leave it in,’ he said. ‘It’s great.’ ”
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| Marty and wife Bebe. |
New York Times music critic John S. Wilson once noted Marty Napoleon’s “driving, propulsive playing” and its “enlivening” effect on small groups. This was readily apparent on his work with Armstrong, whom Marty accompanied for the first time in 1952 and 1953 — until his wife threatened divorce because of a tour that lasted seven months.
He said Armstrong’s manager kept throwing him more money until the amounts became too high for him to turn down. “After a while, it got to be really nice with the band because I was making better money, and we’d go to Chicago for four weeks, and I’d have my wife and kids come out,” he told Newsday. Ion 1954 Marty appeared in Armstrong’s outfit for “The Glenn Miller Story,” which was a biopic about the big-band leader.
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| Nat Cole & Marty 1953 |
"Let The Good Times Rock 'N' Roll" from above 1959 album.
All along, Napoleon maintained a prolific recording career that included dates opposite saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, trumpeter Charlie Shavers and Henry “Red” Allen, among others. Marty also led many of his own trios and quartets on the nightclub and jazz festival circuits, and he played with many promising younger players, such as trumpeter Bria Skonberg.
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He rejoined Louis Armstrong during the trumpeter's twilight years (1966-1968 and on and off in 1968-1971). They played over much of the world, including Cuba and England, and popped up on TV shows hosted by Danny Kaye, Dick Cavett and Jackie Gleason. Armstrong biographer Ricky Riccardi once called Mr. Napoleon
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“the most exciting pianist the All Stars ever had. No one else could quite pound the piano like that and send the audience into such frenzy.” One highlight was a rollicking swing version of “Sunrise, Sunset,” from the musical “Fiddler on the Roof.”
He rejoined Louis Armstrong during the trumpeter's twilight years (1966-1968 and on and off in 1968-1971). They played over much of the world, including Cuba and England, and popped up on TV shows hosted by Danny Kaye, Dick Cavett and Jackie Gleason. Armstrong biographer Ricky Riccardi once called Mr. Napoleon
“the most exciting pianist the All Stars ever had. No one else could quite pound the piano like that and send the audience into such frenzy.” One highlight was a rollicking swing version of “Sunrise, Sunset,” from the musical “Fiddler on the Roof.”Marty semi-retired in the 1980s and lived in a retirement home in Glen Cove, Long Island, but emerged occasionally to play guest slots with New York swing bands, radiating bonhomie and clearly relishing the chance to play and sing. In 1992, Marty did a one-man Concert at Carnegie Hall. He was selected to play with Lionel Hampton at the historic Frank Sinatra Show at Carnegie Hall and topped that by playing at The White House for President Ronald Reagan.
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He made his final recording at the age of 90 and proudly claimed: “I have never worked at anything else except playing the piano.” He died in Glen Cove on April 27, 2015 (aged 93). His wife, “Bebe”, the former Marie Giordano, died in 2008.
(Edited from New York Times, The Guardian, Wikipedia & AllMusic)
Here is a feature performance from a concert in London (1968). Louis Armstrong introduces Marty Napoleon who plays 'Sunrise, Sunset' from Fiddler on the Roof.