From the Trumpet Kings:

JACK PURVIS
b. Dec. 11, 1906, Kokomo, IN, d. Mar. 30, 1962, San Francisco,
CA
Of all the trumpeters in the Trumpet Kings book, the one with the
most bizarre life was Jack Purvis, a fascinating personality
whose complete story will probably never be found out.  Purvis
was involved in so many odd adventures and escapades in his
life that it is almost as if there were three of him!

First for his musical career.  Purvis’ mother died when he was a
child and he spent several years in a training school where he
trumpet and trombone.  He played in high school orchestras and
dance bands in Kokomo as early as 1921 and gigged in Indiana
in 1923 as a teenager.  Purvis spent a period in Lexington,
Kentucky with the Original Kentucky Night Hawks and in 1926
toured New England with Bud Rice’s band.  Next up was a stint
with Whitey Kaufman’s Original Pennsylvanians (1926-27).  After
a short period playing trombone with Hal Kemp, in July 1928
Purvis visited France with George Carhart’s Band.  Back in the
U.S., in 1929 he rejoined Hal Kemp’s orchestra, this time on
trumpet.

Purvis appeared on records with Kemp, Smith Ballew, the
California Ramblers, the Carolina Club Orchestra, Roy Wilson’s
Georgia Crackers, Ted Wallace and Rube Bloom during 1929-
30.  Most significant were two numbers cut on Dec. 17, 1929
with the Hal Kemp rhythm section (the intriguing “Copyin’ Louis”
and “Mental Strain At Dawn”), and a pair of interracial sessions
that he led in 1930.  The latter utilized such sidemen as
trombonist J.C. Higginbotham, tenor-saxophonist Coleman
Hawkins and bass-saxophonist Adrian Rollini.  Purvis’ playing is
full of fiery bursts, unrealized potential and some crazy
chancetaking, just like his life was.  Although the Louis
Armstrong influence was unashamedly part of his style (few
white trumpeters sounded as much like Satch at that point in
time), Purvis also sounds quite original in spots and, if he had
continued in this direction, he might have been one of the top
trumpeters in jazz.

Purvis left Kemp in early 1930, played a bit with the California
Ramblers and several radio orchestras, recorded with the
Dorsey Brothers, occasionally sat in as fourth trumpeter with
Fletcher Henderson (spontaneously improvising his ensemble
parts) and was mostly with Fred Waring during 1931-32.  Purvis
traveled through the South with Charlie Barnet in 1933.  In Los
Angeles he did some writing for the George Stoll Orchestra and
some studio arranging for Warner Bros. including composing
“Legends Of Haiti” for a 110-piece orchestra!  After being off the
scene, in 1935 he returned to New York, led a quartet, made his
final recordings (with Frank Froeba), toured for a couple weeks
with Joe Haymes’ Orchestra and then dropped out of sight.
But that is only a small part of the Jack Purvis Story.  John
Chilton in his WHO'S WHO OF JAZZ and Dick Sudhalter in
LOST CHORDS (see more about both of these highly
recommended books by clicking their link) have pieced together
some but not all of the details of Purvis’ unique life.  In 1925,
Purvis took time off from his playing with the Original Kentucky
Night Hawks in order to learn how to pilot a plane.  A few years
later, when someone bet Purvis that he could not fly under all of
New York City’s bridges, he reportedly rented a plane and
proved him wrong!

In 1928 when Purvis was hired for the George Carhart band, he
played with the orchestra on the first night of their transatlantic
voyage to France.  He then ran across a couple of famous
aviators, talked them into letting him share their first class cabin
and was not seen by the other musicians for the rest of the trip,
choosing instead to play with the Ted Lewis band which was
entertaining the first class passengers.  After rejoining Carhart’s
group in Paris, a couple weeks later he was spotted by his
roommates making a rather quick exit from their hotel room via
the roof while being chased by French policemen.  He had
apparently conned an American tourist out of his traveler’s
checks!

At one point in time in the late 1920’s, Jack Purvis ran the short-
lived School of Grecian Dancing in Miami.  Because he was
soon wanted by the local police due to moral charges with the ill-
fated school, he had to quit Hal Kemp’s band in Jan. 1930 when
a Florida tour was planned.  By then he had earned the
reputation of setting his hotel rooms on fire and not paying his
bills.

Purvis’ Southern trip with Charlie Barnet was full of colorful
incidents.  Passing through Louisiana, Purvis managed to talk
himself into an appearance with the New Orleans Symphony
playing The Carnival of Venice.  He deserted Barnet for a time in
El Paso, Texas when he decided to work as a pilot by flying
cargo (probably illegal goods) between Mexico and the U.S.  

And during his Los Angeles stay, he was arrested at one point
for standing in the middle of a busy road tunnel and playing his
horn; he told the police that he loved the acoustics!  After his
period with Warner Bros. ended, Purvis worked for a time as a
chef in San Francisco.  There have also been rumors that he
worked as a mercenary in South America and as a chef in Bali
but that has not been confirmed!

In 1937 Purvis walked into a club in San Pedro, California,
carrying a horn and calling himself Jack Jackson (the name of a
British trumpeter).  He told the bandleader (Johnny Catron) that
he had been a ship’s cook on a freighter and that police were
after him about a murder investigation.  A few months later he
was working as a cook in Texas but that job was cut short when
he was sent to prison in June for being involved in a robbery in
El Paso.  In jail, Purvis directed and played piano with a prison
band, the Rhythmic Swingsters, broadcasting on radio station
WBAP regularly in 1938.  Purvis received a conditional pardon
in Aug. 1940 but soon violated it and spent six more years in
prison until being released on Sept. 30, 1946.  Jack Purvis’ later
jobs (he never returned to music) included flying planes in
Florida, working as a carpenter and being a radio repairman in
San Francisco.  He committed suicide in 1962, maybe.
Quite consistent with his bizarre and mysterious life is the fact
that a man who looked like Jack Purvis and was about the right
age showed up at a gig by cornetist Jim Goodwin and they had
long discussions about his life on two occasions.  It was 1968!



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