Joe Mooney born 14 March 1911

Joe Mooney (March 14, 1911 – May 12, 1975) was an American jazz and pop accordionist, organist, and vocalist. If you like jazz with a swinging pop feel, you need to know about Joe Mooney. The singer, who had four different recording careers (one in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s) isn't well known today. But Mooney remains an inspiration and favorite of jazz legends who have made a career out of good taste. 

Mooney was born in Paterson, New Jersey, United States. He went blind when he was around 10 years of age. Mooney's first job, at age 12, was playing the piano for requests called in to a local radio station. He and his brother, Dan, played together on radio broadcasts during 1926, and recorded between 1929 and 1931 as the Sunshine Boys and the Melotone Boys; both sang while Joe accompanied on piano. They continued performing together on WLW in Cincinnati until 1936, after which time Dan Mooney left the music industry. 

In 1937, Mooney began working as a pianist and arranger for Frank Dailey,  a role he reprised with Buddy Rogers in 1938. From 1939 – 1940, he played the accordion, arranged and recorded with Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra. He also played and arranged for  Vincent Lopez, Larry Clinton Les Brown, and The Modernaires. He put together his own quartet in 1943; he sang and played accordion with accompaniment on guitar, bass, and clarinet. This group experienced considerable success in the United States in the last half of the 1940s. 

                                   

It was during this period that Mooney was in a terrible auto accident that left him with a fractured hip. After 18 months recuperating in the hospital, Mooney returned to Paterson and worked local clubs as a singer, accompanying himself on accordion, organ and piano. He then formed a Nat King Cole-ish pop quartet  that featured a clarinet, guitar and bass. Mooney's vocals were relaxed and savvy, and the group had great success on 52d Street, eventually recording for Decca and touring. 

The swing-oriented combo became very popular during 1946-49. In 1946, a newspaper columnist wrote that Mooney's music "has the most cynical hot jazz critics describing it in joyous terms such as 'exciting,' 'new,' 'the best thing since Ellington,' and as new to jazz as the first Dixieland jazz band was when it first arrived.'" As for Mooney himself, the columnist wrote that he "played in virtuoso fashion ... a fellow who knows not only his instrument, but jazz music, both to just about the ultimate degree." In 1947 he also played accordion on a recording with Buddy Rich and Ella Fitzgerald. In the late 1940s Mooney recorded briefly on piano with Georgie Auld and Red Rodney. 

In 1951 Mooney formed a trio with Pizzarelli and Bob Carter on bass that played clubs and recorded. Mooney moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but a year later, he joined the experimental Sauter-Finegan Orchestra as its male vocalist. Mooney recorded several sides with the band for RCA, including the minor jukebox hit Nina Never Knew. Despite Mooney's potential, RCA never signed Mooney to an extensive contract, and the singer-keyboardist returned to gigging. He recorded with Johnny Smith in 1953, moved to Florida in 1954 and gradually switched to organ. In the mid-1950s, Mooney recorded an album for Atlantic that included a revamped Nina Never Knew. But the album did little to advance his visibility or his career. Unsure what to make of Mooney as pop act at a time when rock and r&b were catching on, Atlantic passed. 

Back in Florida, Mooney spent the next seven years performing locally. Then in 1963, Mooney staged a comeback of sorts, recording two of his finest albums. These albums for Columbia were The Greatness of Joe Mooney, released in 1964, and The Happiness of Joe Mooney, released a year later. Both albums were arranged by guitarist Mundell Lowe, and they document Mooney's genius for simplicity and cool swing. 

Unfortunately, the soft-sung Greatness and Happiness had the misfortune of coming out just as the Beatles were coming in and pop was increasingly dominated by belters like Tony Bennett and Barbra Streisand. As a result, Columbia never promoted the LPs or Mooney, who retreated disappointed once again to Florida. Occasionally he would travel to New York for television work or to record, but he mostly worked in Florida, including at his club The Grate Joy. He died at age 64, on May 12, 1975, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after a stroke. 

(Edited from Wikipedia, AllMusic & The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz)