Pete Jolly

Emerging as a formidable pianist on the West Coast during the 1950s, Pete Jolly maintained a steady presence in Los Angeles across more than four decades. He took up the accordion at age three before shifting to piano five years later and landed his first professional gig at twelve. After his family relocated to Phoenix in 1946, he entered the Musicians Union the next year and began logging frequent club dates. A 1954 visit to Los Angeles led him to sit in at the Lighthouse, an appearance that secured his place in Shorty Rogers' Giants from 1954 to 1956. Three albums under his own name appeared on Victor in 1956, including infrequent jazz accordion solos on selected tracks; during the late 1950s he also performed with Buddy DeFranco, Terry Gibbs, Richie Kamuca, Chet Baker, and Art Pepper, among others, before scoring an unexpected success with "Little Bird" in 1963. Although studio demands occupied much of his time through the 1960s, Jolly continued to lead his trio—bassist Chuck Berghofer and drummer Nick Martinis—in local venues for over thirty years. In addition to RCA, his recordings as a leader have appeared on Metrojazz, MGM, Ava, Charlie Parker Records, Columbia, A&M, Atlas, Holt, and V.S.O.P.