Chester Zardis

Chester Zardis(May 27, 1900, inNew Orleans,Louisiana,United States – August 14, 1990, in New Orleans)was an Americanjazzdouble-bassist.

Zardis played bass from a young age, and studied without his disapproving mother's knowledge, underBilly Marreroof theSuperior Orchestra.In his teens he was involved in a fistfight at a New Orleans theater, which resulted in his being sent to theJones Waif Home.While there he began playing with another of the Home's residents,Louis Armstrong.He joinedBuddy Petit's orchestra at age 16,and worked as a bassist innightclubsand a tubist inbrass bandsin New Orleans in the 1920s, playing withKid Rena,A.J. Piron,Punch Miller,Kid Howard,Jack Carey,Fate Marable,andDuke Dejan's Dixie Rhythm Band.

He was given the nickname "Little Bear" byFats Pichon,a bandleader with whom Zardis played on theriverboatS.S. Capitalin the 1930s.During that decade he also played withCount BasieinNew York City,and recorded withGeorge LewisandBunk Johnson.During theSecond World WarZardis served in theArmy,then worked briefly as asheriffin the Western United States.Upon his return to New Orleans, he played withAndy Anderson,but quit music between 1954 and 1964.Zardis worked as a jailer in Jefferson Parish for several years.

When he returned to active performance, Zardis played often atPreservation Hallwith Lewis andPercy Humphreyamong many others.He continued to be a fixture of theNew Orleans jazzscene up until his death in 1990, including several international tours.

Zardis was a master of the original New Orleans - style slap bass, achieving both clarity of intonation and a strong percussive beat. His skill placed him easily on a par with better known New Orleans slap bassists of his era, such asPops FosterandWellman Braud.Unlike Foster and Braud, however, Zardis remained in his home-town throughout his playing career and consequently was not as widely recorded or appreciated. Playing un-amplified string bass using gut strings in large halls or rooms with quirky acoustics, posed significant challenges to New Orleans bassists. The short-statured Zardis, who was a powerful player and a creative soloist, overcame these handicaps by frequently turning his back to the audience, in order to face his instrument into the back wall of the bandstand, thus bouncing his notes off the wall, and projecting his sound up and over the competing sounds of the louder front-line brass horn players, and out over a room full of loud patrons.He employed this simple trick night after night, during his years performing at Preservation Hall on St. Peter Street in the French Quarter.

Zardis was regularly featured indocumentaries;he is himself the subject of three of them,Liberty Street Blues,Chester Zardis: Spirit of New Orleans,andThree Men of Jazz.

External links

• Biography at Artofslapbass.com