Avery Parrish

Parrish was born in Birmingham, Alabama.[2] His parents were Curley and Fannie G Parrish.[1] Avery had at least one brother, who became an educator.[3]

Parrish graduated from Parker High School in Birmingham.[4] According to a gossip columnist in 1935, Parrish was at that time married to singer Velma Middleton.[5][6]

Parrish studied at the Alabama State Teachers College, where he played in the Bama State Collegians, an ensemble led by Erskine Hawkins.[2] He remained in Hawkins's employ until 1942,[7] 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.[8]

In August 1942 Parrish was injured in a car crash that killed Marcellus Green, one of Hawkins's trumpeters.[9] They were in a group of five in the vehicle, driving between Pittsburgh and Chattanooga to gigs when it overturned.[10] Parrish left Hawkins later that year[7][11] and moved to California.[2] He was a commercially successful solo pianist there.[12] He was involved in a bar fight in 1943[13] – he was hit in the head by a bar stool[12] – which put him in hospital for a few months.[14] This left him partly paralyzed; he was unable to play music for the rest of his life.[2]

Parrish died of unknown causes[2] on December 10, 1959.[1][15] 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."[4] Author and music executive Arnold Shaw stated that Parrish suffered "a fall down a flight of stairs".[12] At the time, Parrish was living with his mother on Saint Nicholas Avenue and "working as a porter for a local bottling company."[16] He was buried in Ferncliff Cemetery, New York.[16] He was survived by his mother and a brother, Julian.[16]

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