Pete Jolly

“He's the greatest jazz piano player in the world." - Chuck Berghofer, The Wrecking Crew

Born in 1932, Jolly grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, which had a strong jazz scene pre-World War II. A prodigy who started playing accordion at age three, Jolly demonstrated his skills on that instrument on the Hobby Lobby TV show at age seven. He became an adept pianist as a youngster, as well, and at age 13 met and befriended the soon-to-be virtuoso jazz and rock guitarist Howard Roberts. When Roberts moved to Los Angeles in 1952, Jolly followed him and began to establish himself there, playing with Shorty Rogers' band and garnering many studio session dates. Jolly released the first of about a dozen studio albums in 1955 with Duo, Trio, Quartet for RCA Victor.

In the early sixties, Herb Alpert discovered Jolly in a club on Sunset Boulevard called Sherry's, playing piano alongside Chuck Berghofer on the bass. Alpert signed Jolly to his A&M label, and Pete released three albums for it: Herb Alpert Presents Pete Jolly (1968), Give A Damn (1969), and Seasons (1970).