Jarvis, Jane

Jane Jarvis (1915-2010) was a jazz pianist, also known for her work as the organist for the New York Mets, and as a programming executive for Muzak. She was born Luella Jane Nossette in Vincennes, Indiana, and was prodigious in piano performance from a young age. She began study as a private student at Vincennes University at five years old, and continued her musical training throughout her teenage years in Chicago at Bush Conservatory, Chicago Conservatory, and DePaul University School of Music.

At the age of 12, Jarvis was hired as a staff pianist for radio station WJKS in Gary, Indiana. Her parents, Charles Nossette and Luella Johnson, were killed in a train accident the following year. She traveled around the Midwest as a young adult, performing at jazz clubs and touring with jazz ensembles, and married three times before settling in Milwaukee with her husband Kenneth Jarvis and their children. Her broadcasting career continued at WTMJ in Milwaukee, where she worked as a staff pianist and hosted her own show, Jivin' with Jarvis . From 1954 to 1962, she was the stadium organist for the Milwaukee Braves.

Following her last divorce, Jarvis relocated to New York City in 1962 and was hired in a clerical position at Muzak. Working her way through the ranks, she was appointed Director of Music Programming in 1971. She soon began composing, arranging, and producing records for Muzak, often hiring jazz musicians for the recording sessions. In 1973, she was named Vice President of the company. Following Jarvis's move to New York City, she was also hired by the New York Mets to work as organist and music director at Shea Stadium in Queens. Jarvis played organ for all Mets home games between 1964 and 1978, and was known by Mets fans as the "Queen of Melody."

Jarvis left Muzak in 1978, and the Mets shortly thereafter, to focus on her career as a jazz pianist. She accompanied jazz musicians such as Lionel Hampton, Roy Eldridge, and Clark Terry. In 1983, she began performing at Zinno, a West Village club, with bassist Milt Hinton, and continued playing regular engagements there into the late 1990s. Jarvis was a founding member, and the only female musician, of the American Federation of Jazz Society's group Statesmen of Jazz. She performed as a solo act, with the Statesmen of Jazz, and as leader of the Jane Jarvis Trio (with Benny Powell and Earl May) at concerts and festivals throughout the United States, Japan, and Europe during the 1980s and 1990s. Though she relocated to Cocoa Beach, Florida, Jarvis continued to perform in New York, as well as throughout central Florida, until her return to New York City in 2003.

Jarvis continued her composing and arrangement work after leaving Muzak, and was credited with over 300 compositions throughout her career. She began releasing studio jazz albums at the age of 70-including Cut Glass (1990), Jane Jarvis Jams (1995), and Atlantic-Pacific (1999)-in addition to appearing on organ compilations and Statesmen of Jazz albums.

Jane Jarvis died in 2010 at the age of 94.

Sources:

Keepnews, Peter. "Jane Jarvis, Player of Jazz and Mets Music, Dies at 94." New York Times, January 31, 2010, A28.

Kennedy, Gary W. "Jarvis, Jane." In Grove Music Online . Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/J601800 (accessed August 31, 2011).

From the guide to the Jane Jarvis papers, 1896-2004, 1972-1999, (The New York Public Library. Music Division.)

Jane Jarvis was born Luella Jane Nossette in Vincennes, Indiana on October 31, 1915. She was a jazz pianist, who also performed as an organist for the New York Mets and worked as a programmer for Muzak. She played the organ for the Milwaukee Braves Baseball Team at County Stadium for eight years, before being hired by the New York Mets Baseball Team as organist at Shea Stadium in 1964. A year previous she gained employment with Muzak, where she rose to vice-president responsible for programming and recording. In that position, she hired and composed with Lionel Hampton, Clark Terry and other jazz musicians. Jane Jarvis ended her employment at Muzak in 1978 and the Mets organization a year later to focus on her career as a jazz pianist. In the 1980s she performed regularly at the West Village jazz club Zinno, where she often played alongside bassist Milt Hinton. She was a founding member of the Statesmen of Jazz, with whom she traveled abroad and recorded. Ms. Jarvis died at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey on January 25, 2010.

From the guide to the Jane Jarvis Papers, 1920s-2001, 1980s-1990s, (University of Idaho Library Special Collections and Archives)