Mezz Mezzrow

Milton Mesirow, much better known as Mezz Mezzrow (9 November, 1899 - 5 August, 1972) was an American Jewish jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist from Chicago, Illinois.

Related Topics:
9 November - 1899 - 5 August - 1972 - American - Jewish - Jazz - Clarinet - Saxophonist - Chicago, Illinois

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He financed a recording session with Tommy Ladnier and Sidney Bechet session and recorded a number of times with Bechet. He briefly acted as manager for Louis Armstrong.

Related Topics:
Tommy Ladnier - Sidney Bechet - Louis Armstrong

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However, he was more well-known for his drug-dealing than his musical prowess. In fact, he was so well-known in the jazz community for selling marijuana that "Mezz" became slang for marijuana.

Related Topics:
Marijuana - Slang

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He praised and admired the African-American style. In his autobiography "Really The Blues", Mezzrow writes that from the moment he heard jazz he "was going to be a Negro musician, hipping the world about the blues the way only Negroes can."

Related Topics:
African-American - Really The Blues

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Mezzrow married a black woman and lived in Harlem and called himself a "voluntary Negro." When he served a prison sentence for dealing marijuana, he insisted to the guards that he was a black and was transferred to the segregated prison's black section.

Related Topics:
Harlem - Black

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Mezzrow was lifelong friends with French jazz critic Hugues Panassié and consequently spent the last 20 years of his life in Paris. Mezzrow is best known for his autobiography, Really the Blues, published in 1946.

Related Topics:
Hugues Panassié - Paris - Autobiography - 1946

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