Leo Parker (April 18, 1925 - February 11, 1962) was an American jazz musician who played baritone saxophone.
Born in Washington, D.C., Parker studied alto saxophone in high school. By 1944 he was living in New York and sitting-in at Minton’s with among others Eddie ‘Lockjaw’ Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Max Roach. It was because of his appearances at the club that he was invited to take part in what is considered to be the first bebop recording date on the 16th February 1944 for the Apollo label. Later that year, he joined the trail-blazing Billy Eckstine band eventually sitting in a section with Sonny Stitt, John Jackson and Dexter Gordon who were known as “The Unholy Four” possibly because of their extra-musical activities. It was whilst in Eckstine’s band that Parker switched to baritone and began to garner notice.
In January 1947 he recorded four sides with Fats Navarro for Savoy where he proved to be a fluent and mature soloist with a big sound. 1947 was also the year he joined Illinois Jacquet who had just signed an exclusive recording contract with RCA. The Jacquet group who appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1948 was one of the most popular in the country. He remained with the band off and on until 1954. Joe Newman who was in the band was similarly impressed, “Leo Parker was undoubtedly the best baritone player I had heard at that time. He didn’t sound like a baritone. He played it like a tenor more or less and he had such fire in him whatever he played. Plus he played good ballads.”
For most of 1947 Parker was busy in the studios whenever Jacquet was on the road. His recording of Mad Lad with Sir Charles Thompson in the late summer helped raise his profile sufficiently for him to start working with his own groups around town. It became his nickname and his inspired performance was something of a hit.
In October while working with Gene Ammons in Chicago they recorded four titles for the Aladdin label with Junior Mance who was making his recording debut. His first date as a leader later that month was for Savoy with Ammons again together with Howard McGhee.
After 1948 his career was frequently interrupted by the personal problems that were so common among musicians of his generation. A 1957 Nat Hentoff survey of 409 NYC jazz musicians found that 16% were regular heroin users and over half smoked marijuana. He continued working intermittently around NYC, Washington and Chicago and in 1953 his booking office – Universal Attractions – placed the following item in Down Beat’s Band Directory: “Leo Parker, after a short recent stint with Gene Ammons is now out on his own with a six-piece group playing many R&B locations, one-niters and some clubs. Band is gutty, frenetic and features Oscar Pettiford’s brother Ira on bass and trumpet”.
In 1954 he recorded with Bill Jennings who had worked extensively with Louis Jordan but nothing else is known of his activities for the remainder of the ‘50s possibly due to problems with drug abuse. He managed to get his career back on track thanks to Ike Quebec who arranged for him to make two Blue Note albums in 1961 which find him in top form.
He started getting brief club engagements again and things seemed to be improving for him, however, on the 11th. February 1962 after arranging a further recording session with Blue Note he returned to his hotel in New York City where he suffered a heart attack and died while running a bath. He was 36. He remains an unjustly neglected figure. Anyone discovering Leo Parker now for the first time is in for a big treat.
(Edited mainly from Jazz Profiles)