Mezzrow, Mezz (09 November 1899–05 August 1972), clarinet and sax player and promoter, was born Milton Miserow (or Misirow) in Chicago, the son of middle-class Jewish parents whose names are not available. Although reared in a well-to-do family on the north side of Chicago, Mezzrow says in his autobiography that he first learned to play the saxophone while serving a jail term in 1917. The story may be more colorful than true, yet it is not inconsistent with the authenticated events one finds in the life of this fascinating jazz figure. Whatever may have been the timing and site of his earliest musical studies, he achieved professional notoriety primarily through his organizational energies and from frequent ventilations of an ever-ready opinion. ...
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Mezzrow, Mezz (1899-1972), clarinet and sax player and promoter
William Thomson
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Mezzrow, Mezz (1899-1972)
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Mezz Mezzrow © William P. Gottlieb; used by permission. William P. Gottlieb Collection, Library of Congress (LC-GLB23-0615 DLC).
