Boston Jazz Hero
For a successful commercial attorney Con Chapman has been an incredibly prodigious author, with over five dozen books, plays, and novels in his bibliography. “I was a typesetter in my youth,” he explains, “so I type fast.” Most of his books focused on humor and sports until a decade ago, he began to explore an interest in older jazz styles rooted in his college years.
While he grew up in Sedelia, Missouri, where Scott Joplin resided when writing his ragtime masterpieces, Chapman’s jazz tastes focused on contemporary styles until his move to the East Coast. “I met people who were into earlier styles, and that piqued my interest,” he recalls. “My first published piece, when I was still in school, was a review of the first Smithsonian Collection. But I didn’t return to jazz as a subject until 2014, when I began to research Johnny Hodges’s life.” The ensuing biography, Rabbit’s Blues: The Life and Music of Johnny Hodges, led to two additional titles (Kansas City Jazz: A Little Evil Will Do You Good and Sax Expat: Don Byas) and a determination to see his heroes properly honored.
After publishing the Hodges volume in 2021, Chapman began lobbying the saxophonist’s birthplace, Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a public memorial. With the assistance of Vice Mayor Marc McGovern, Chapman received approval from the city early this year to install a memorial plaque in a public park. The formal unveiling will be held this summer on July 25.
“I was inspired by the statues to historical figures in the Boston Public Garden, but a statue costs $300,000,” Chapman says. “I also learned that, to attach a plaque to a building, you need the owner’s consent. When the current building owner never responded to my requests, I had to obtain a suitable municipal space.”
Chapman will put his experience to work as he pursues his next two objectives, completion of a Harry Carney biography (“I’m 50,00 words into what will be a 75,000-word book”) and public recognition for the great baritone saxophonist from his birthplace, Boston. Truly, the work of a Jazz Hero.
—Bob Blumenthal, JJA Board Member
