Zez Confrey: Biography

• Overview
• Discography
• Biography
• Related Artists

• Eubie Blake
• Fats Waller
• Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport
• George Hamilton Green
• Frank Crumit
• Arthur Schutt
• Roy Bargy

• Scott Joplin
• Claude Debussy
• Maurice Ravel

• George Gershwin

• Lawrence "Piano Roll" Cook
• Phil Ohman
• Paul Whiteman

Birth Name:

Edward Elzear Confrey

Born:

Dec 31, 1969 in Peru, IL

Died:

Nov 22, 1971 in Lakewood, NJ

Genres:

Music, Easy Listening Music, Classical Music

Decades Active:

1910's|1920's|1930's|1940's

It's been many years -- indeed, several decades -- since the piano "novelties" of Zez Confrey were heard in parlors and living rooms throughout America; but, as the Grammy nomination for a 1999 Naxos-released CD of Confrey's piano music demonstrates, there are still plenty for whom this music is tasty.

Born Edward Elzear Confrey, he learned the piano as a child and, as a young man, studied classical music at the Chicago Musical College. In 1915, he formed a band with his brother, but its activities were ended when the U.S. entered World War I and Confrey joined the Navy. While serving, Confrey played in a duo with a violinist named Benny Kabelski, who would later go on to achieve great fame as comedian Jack Benny. After the war, Confrey was active as both pianist and bandleader, his piano playing being heard by thousands across America both on live radio and through the 171 piano rolls that he made. He played for a time in the Paul Whiteman Band and in 1924, performed his most famous piano bon-bon, Kitten on the Keys, at the famous Paul Whiteman-organized concert at which George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue was premiered. Changes in popular musical style and taste did nothing to hinder Confrey from making a series of recordings during the 1930s (mostly for Victor Records and Brunswick), but he could not stay on the cutting edge during the 1940s and in the late '50s, he disappeared from the scene altogether.