Roy Parnell (1943-2006) - Earshot Jazz

Roy Parnell: Jazz club owner and booster
1943-2006
From 1976 to 1980, Roy Parnell operated
a jazz club in Pioneer Square that
veterans of the Seattle scene still speak of
with fondness and respect. He had been
suffering for several years from chronic
scleroderma, a debilitating disease of the
skin that attacks internal organs and the
immune system, and died of pneumonia
on February 18.
Parnell’s hosted national and local
acts at its location at 313 Occidential
Ave S, which was decorated with
the jazz portraits that now hang in
Demetriou’s Jazz Alley, as well as
with living-room-style fixtures such
as lamps and large cushions. Radio
host Jim Wilke told the Seattle
Times: “I don’t know if there ever
was a more comfortable jazz club.
It was always like a party in Roy’s
living room.”
Parnell was raised in Seattle,
went to college in California and
at Central Washington University,
and then in the 1960s and 1970s
worked as a parole officer for King and
Snohomish counties. He was, as Earshot
co-founder and Seattle Times jazz critic
Paul DeBarros put it in an obituary, “a
tall, big-chested, imposing man who
wore a trim beard and carried himself
with the authority of a ship’s captain, the
former county employee did not fit the
stereotype of a jazz-club owner.” That,
because he did not drink, nor particular
like the night life. He was, however, an
entrepreneur, and made good from his
150-seat club, eventually selling it to
musician Marv Thomas, father of multihornman
Jay Thomas, who then sold it
two years later to four investors, including
singer Ernestine Anderson. Renamed
Ernestine’s, the club closed in 1983.
Roy Parnell’s taste in jazz was reflected
in the artists he booked, including many
of the big, mainstream names of the day:
Monty Alexander, Ernestine Anderson,
Chet Baker, Ray Brown, Charlie Byrd,
Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Bob Dorough,
Bill Evans, Dave Frishberg, Dexter Gor-
12 • Earshot Jazz • March 2006
don, Eddie Harris, Earl “Fatha” Hines,
Barney Kessel, Milt Jackson, Blue Mitchell,
Phineas Newborn Jr, Anita O’Day,
Art Pepper, Bud Shank, Sonny Stitt
and Cal Tjader, Joe Williams, and Phil
Woods. He also liked comedians, and
often featured the now-obscure Professor
Irwin Corey.
Many Seattle players were featured at
the club, too, as Parnell hired locals to
Roy Parnell as he appeared in a 1980 profile in the Everett Herald.
fill the rhythm sections for visiting stars.
Those included pianist Dave Peck, bassist
Chuck Deardorf, and multihornman
Floyd Standifer. Peck told the Times: “It
was really influential in the history of the
scene. It was where we could essentially
go to school together. It not only became
a really great gig for us all, but it was the
driving force for us to get better at playing.”
Earlier this year, he told Down Beat
Magazine: “Back in the ‘70s, I might have
thought about moving to New York. But
when I started being house piano player
at [the now defunct] Parnell’s and Jazz
Alley, I got to play with Sonny Stitt for
a week, then I’d be playing with Chet
Baker a couple of weeks later. That was
the bird in the hand.”
Until a few weeks before his death,
Roy Parnell worked in his position as
vice president for human resources at
Crista Ministries, where he had worked
since 1986. The Shoreline nonprofit runs
churches, the relief charity World Concern,
radio stations, and King’s schools.
A memorial celebration was held on
February 27 at Canyon Hills Community
Church, in Bothell. Remembrances can
be sent in his name to King’s School,
19303 Fremont Ave. N., Seattle, WA
98133.
Some of those who played at the club,
and hung out there, recalled the days
there, including Jane Peck, who as Jane
Lambert often sang at the club.
Chuck Deardorf, bassist, Cornish
College instructor
Roy was a fair minded guy who
started a jazz club at just the right
time in Seattle; the Pioneer Banque
was slowly fading, the only other
place for locals was the Other Side
of the Tracks in Auburn, run by
Victory Music. Parnell’s was comfortable
– low cushions and tables,
lots of wood, and a relaxed vibe
for the musicians. Many musicians
of my generation (Dave Peterson,
Dave Peck, Dean Johnson, Dave
Coleman, Marc Seales, etc.) as
well as veterans such as Barney
McClure, Dean Hodges, and Bob
Nixon among others got a chance to
work with many jazz legends there; Chet
Baker, Joe Williams, Zoot Sims, Monty
Alexander, Charlie Rouse, even Professor
Irwin Corey. Roy also opened the club for
weekly jam sessions, local groups got an
opportunity to work, and made sure the
musicians always got paid.
Mark Solomon, entertainment agent
I had heard about Parnell’s jazz club
even before I moved to Seattle in 1979
from my then girlfriend who lived in
Seattle and loved the place. In fact the
only picture I had of her was taken
at Parnell’s. I worked at KUOW and
KPLU after I arrived and taped many
performances live at Parnell’s. After Roy
sold the club to Marv Thomas, I was the
booking manager at the club and virtually
lived there for a year and a half. After the
demise of the club I worked with Roy
booking music for a short-lived club on
the eastside named Roxy’s.
Roy’s intention in starting Parnell’s
was to create a club that felt like a living