In 1964, Parker wrote the song "Lorre", which became a hit in France, and opened his own jazz club "Le Ladybird" on
Rue de la Huchette.[3]
Following a serious car accident that impaired his playing, Parker emigrated to
New York City, where his daughter was to begin university in February 1968.[4]
In America he started a second career as a record producer, but unable to find a suitable drummer he started to perform as a jazz drummer (which was not affected by his shoulder injury). He died of
liver cancer in
New York City, aged 72.[2] His daughter was
Elodie Lauten (1950-2014), a pianist and composer.
Discography
No. 2 Musique Pour Les Dragueurs (Decca, 1960)
Musique Pour Les Tricheurs (Decca, 1960)
Ouah! Ouah! Ouah! Ouah! (Decca, 1960)
Au Tabou No. 4 (Decca, 1961)
Errol Parker Trio (Philips, 1962)
Errol Parker (Brunswick, 1963)
Opus (Brunswick, 1964)
Pretext (Brunswick, 1965)
Minor Talk (Polydor, 1966)
Le Roi Du Jazz Piano (Fontana, 1969)
My Own Bag No. 1 (Sahara, 1972)
My Own Bag No. 2 (Sahara, 1972)
My Own Bag No. 3 (Sahara, 1975)
African Samba (Sahara, 1976)
The Errol Parker Experience (Sahara, 1977)
Baobab (Sahara, 1978)
Doodles (Sahara, 1979)
Solo Concert Live at St Peter's Church (Sahara, 1979)
Graffiti (Sahara, 1980)
Tribute to Thelonious Monk (Sahara, 1982)
The Errol Parker Tentet (Sahara, 1982)
Live at the Wollman Auditorium (Sahara, 1985)
Compelling Forces (Cadence, 1989)
References
^Leonard Feather, Ira Gitler, The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz, 2007, p. 514: "PARKER, ERROL (Raphael Schecroun), dms, pno, comp, arr; b. Oran, Algeria, 10/30/25; d. NYC, 7/2/98. Mother was classical pnst., daughter, Elodie Lauten, a comp. Began on African dms. at age 6, pno. at 14. As Ralph Schecroun, he pl. .. Changed name to Errol Parker '60 in order to avoid litigation while simultaneously rec. as leader for two different labels."
^The New York Times biographical service, Vol. 29, 1998, p. 1036: "Mr. Parker was born Raphel Schecroun in Oran, Algeria, which was then French. He fought in the French Army in World War II, and in Paris he studied sculpture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. A self-taught pianist, he played with Django Reinhardt while in Paris in his mid-20s and later played with James Moody, Don Byas and Kenny Clarke. In 1964 he wrote the song Lorre, a classical-jazz piece that became a hit in France."