Jack Pettis

Jack Pettis, an early preswing jazz pioneer, became a mystery when he dropped out of the music world by 1940 and was not heard from again. His inevitable death went unnoticed and nothing is known about his later life despite extensive research by many curious jazz fans. Pettis was a solid if not overly distinctive player throughout his truncated career. He was self-taught on the C-melody saxophone as a teenager. He worked in Chicago with Elmer Schoebel and Paul Mares