Little Jack Little

Among singing piano players, you find the growlers with deep, lusty voices; the female nightingales with their falsettos; old crooners with their expansive, wizened sound; Little Jack Little has a vocal style that really challenges one who attempts a pithy description.  It's charming, to be sure, disarming, pleasant.

But who is the man, and where did he get that name?  Was he a pirate?  A puppet?

He was born John Leonard, and in a move that would have to be considered bold for a short man, he adopted the last name Little early in his show-biz, ivory-tickling career.  From there, it was a short (see what I did there?) leap to "Little Jack Little" and that's the name we know today.

Little was a vaudevillian, a bandleader, a USO entertainer (his partner being Ray Bolger of Wizard of Oz fame) and radio show host.

On his self-titled radio show of the early 1930's, Little Jack sang peaceful, gentle piano numbers, which he'd introduce in hushed tones.  He'd give the title of the song, pause, say, "Here 'tis," and begin.  In this collection, you'll hear "Dizzy Fingers," "Indian Love Call," "Should I?" "Collegiate Love," "Hello, Baby, Hello," "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy," "Mistakes," and many other Roaring Twenties chesnutts.  Each episode features four to five numbers, each with its signature at the end, "yours very truly, Little Jack Little."