Paris toured with Charlie Parker. He also tap-danced from his youth and into his years in the US Army, entertaining his fellow soldiers. He is best known for his recordings of "Skylark" and "'Round Midnight" in the late 1940s-early fifties. Paris performed and/or recorded with Terry Gibbs, Lionel Hampton, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Donald Byrd, Gigi Gryce, Charles Mingus, and others. He won many jazz polls and awards, including those of Down Beat, Playboy, Swing Journal, and Metronome.
Carlo Jackie Paris was born in Nutley, New Jersey to an Italian-American family. His uncle Chick had been a guitarist with Paul Whiteman's famous Orchestra.Jackie was a very popular child entertainer in vaudeville, a pint-sized song and dance man, who shared the stage with — and was encouraged by — such legendary black headliners as Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and The Mills Brothers. Paris played guitar with Nick Jerret's band in the early '40s.
After serving in the army during World War II, Jackie, inspired by his friend Nat King Cole, put together a trio featuring himself on guitar and vocals. "The Jackie Paris Trio" were a smash hit at the Onyx Club on New York's 52nd Street. They played at the club for an unprecedented 26 weeks, perhaps the longest-running residency in the history of Swing Street.
The first song Jackie ever recorded was "Skylark", on one of two sessions made by his trio, for MGM Records in 1947. Composer Hoagy Carmichael once said of Jackie's rendition that "the kid sings the hell out of it."
In 1949, Jackie was the first white vocalist to tour with the famous Lionel Hampton Orchestra. He remembered an occasion when he actually did 78 consecutive one-nighters with the band. When he finally got off the road, he received an offer to join Duke Ellington's Orchestra, but at that time was too exhausted to take it. For years after, Ellington's son Mercer would tell him, "You're the only guy that ever turned down my old man."
Jackie was the first singer to record Thelonious Monk's future jazz anthem "Round Midnight", which was produced by the famous critic Leonard Feather and featured a young Dick Hyman on piano.
Jackie was the only vocalist to ever tour as a regular member of the Charlie Parker Quintet. Unfortunately, no recordings exist of the Parker-Paris combination (although the "Round Midnight" session mentioned above features Parker's bassist and drummer, Tommy Potter and Roy Haynes), but there is a classic photograph of the two working together.
In 1953, Jackie was named Best New Male Vocalist of the Year in the first ever Down Beat Critics Poll. The winning female vocalist was Ella Fitzgerald, who repeatedly named Jackie as one of her favorites.
Charlie Mingus named Jackie as his favorite singer, and used him on several recording sessions over a period of many decades, including 1952's "Paris In Blue" (written expressly for Jackie) and the Mingus classic "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love," on the album Changes Two in 1974. Paris also worked extensively with the famous bassist-composer-bandleader in clubs.
Likewise, Jackie was the only singer ever endorsed by the legendary comic and 20th Century iconoclast Lenny Bruce. Bruce not only split the bill with Jackie on many occasions, he shouted Jackie's praises to all who would listen, saying "I dig his talent. The audience loves him and he gets laughs. He is toooo muccchhh!"
Other major musicians with whom Jackie recorded include Hank Jones, Charlie Shavers, Joe Wilder, Wynton Kelly, Eddie Costa, Coleman Hawkins, Bobby Scott, Max Roach, Lee Konitz, Donald Byrd, Gigi Gryce, Ralph Burns, Tony Scott, Neal Hefti, Terry Gibbs, Johnny Mandel, Oscar Pettiford, and many others.
Some of his best-known albums include Songs By Jackie Paris (EmArcy), Jackie Paris Sings the Lyrics of Ira Gershwin (Time), The Song Is Paris (Impulse!), and many others.
Jackie recorded consistently through the years, from the 1940s up to and beyond the millennium.
In 2001, Jackie played to a standing room crowd — and to a standing ovation — at New York's Birdland, in Times Square. He was virtually the only performer to have appeared at every incarnation of the famed jazz night spot, from the legendary Birdland of the '50s up to the present.
A documentary, Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris, has been made.
Paris died in New York City.
Round Midnight
Jackie Paris Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
'Round midnight, midnight.
I do pretty well, till after sundown,
Suppertime I'm feelin' sad;
But it really gets bad,
'Round midnight.
Memories always start 'round midnight
When my heart is still with you,
And ol' midnight knows it, too.
When a quarrel we had needs mending,
Does it mean that our love is ending.
Darlin' I need you, lately I find
You're out of my heart,
And I'm out of my mind.
Let our hearts take wings'
'Round midnight, midnight
Let the angels sing,
For your returning.
Till our love is safe and sound.
And old midnight comes around.
Feelin' sad,
Really gets bad
Round, round, round midnight
The song "Round Midnight" by Jackie Paris speaks to the complexity of human emotions and the power of memories of those we love. The lyrics paint a picture of the struggles that the singer experiences at night but particularly at midnight. The line "It begins to tell, 'Round midnight, midnight" suggests that something haunting and ominous begins to surface at that hour. The singer admits to feeling sad particularly at suppertime and declaring that it gets really bad around midnight despite doing pretty well during the day. The lyrics suggest that the singer's loneliness is heightened at midnight, perhaps because it's a time when they would typically be with someone they love.
The second verse of the song continues with the theme of memories and how they weigh heavily on the singer's heart. The memories in question are rooted in a past love affair that seem to still bruise the singer's heart. Their heart is still with their past lover, and they cannot seem to shake the memories, particularly around midnight. The lyrics suggest that the memories are so real that midnight "knows" it too. The last few lines are a plea to their lover to come back and mend their quarrel. They declare that our love is safe and sound, we can take our hearts soaring once more in the midnight hour.
Line by Line Meaning
It begins to tell, 'Round midnight, midnight.
The song starts narrating the events that occur around midnight.
I do pretty well, till after sundown,
The singer feels fine until the sun sets, after which he starts feeling sad.
Suppertime I'm feelin' sad;
The time of supper makes the singer feel melancholic.
But it really gets bad,'Round midnight.
The situation aggravates significantly when it gets to midnight.
Memories always start 'round midnight
The singer's memories start haunting him every night around midnight.
Haven't got the heart to stand those memories,
The singer is vulnerable and cannot bear his memories of lost love.
When my heart is still with you,
Despite the singer's efforts, his heart still belongs to his lost love.
And ol' midnight knows it, too.
The singer believes that midnight knows what he's going through.
When a quarrel we had needs mending,
The singer wonders if their past argument means the love has ended.
Does it mean that our love is ending.
The singer is unsure if their love has come to an end with the quarrel.
Darlin' I need you, lately I find
The singer expresses his longing for his lost love.
You're out of my heart,
The singer has come to terms with the fact that his lost love is no longer in his heart.
And I'm out of my mind.
The singer is delirious with sadness over his lost love.
Let our hearts take wings', 'Round midnight, midnight
The singer wishes for his and his love's hearts to take flight around midnight and find each other once again.
Let the angels sing, For your returning.
The singer hopes angels will sing to celebrate his lost love's return.
Till our love is safe and sound.
The singer wants his and his love's relationship to be secure and loving.
And old midnight comes around.
The singer still faces the haunting memories of midnight.
Feelin' sad, Really gets bad Round, round, round midnight
The singer's sadness reaches a peak around midnight and becomes unbearable.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Cootie Williams, Bernard D Hanighen, Theolonious S Monk
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind