“In the early 1950s, Johnny Parker, who was not related to the jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, began traveling with the Rhythm & Blues band of Roosevelt Sykes. Johnny Parker also played with the great trumpet stylist and composer Sy Oliver and the singer Etta Jones. He also stepped in for Cat Anderson, the high-note trumpet virtuoso, in the Duke Ellington band. … He later played with such luminaries as Sonny Rollins and Thelonious Monk. In the 1970s he played with the pianist Brooks Kerr and the drummer Sonny Greer in Manhattan venues including the Algonquin Hotel.”
—amNY, April 4, 2006
Photo: amNY