Percy France Memorial Website

Percy France was a great “tough tenor” jazz artist who was loved and respected by all who knew him or played with him.  Yet, in life, he never received the attention he deserved from the jazz public. He did have his brushes with the jazz spotlight, with Bill Doggett as part of one of the first organ/tenor combos, and later when he recorded with Jimmy Smith, Sir Charles Thompson and Freddie Roach. But in the end, he was what he wanted to be: A working musician in his hometown of NYC. That this left him in the shadows is illustrated by the fact that the date of his passing appears nowhere on the Internet. Yet, Percy France was respected by peers from his generation and the one before, and he inspired and encouraged many younger musicians later in his life.

I have worked for the last two years to document Percy France’s life and career in jazz, and now I need help to bring my research to the jazz public in the form of a memorial website: www.percyfrance.info is the planned URL.  I have essays specially written about Percy by such writers and musicians as Sascha Feinstein, Allen Lowe, Mike LeDonne, Doug Lawrence, Bill Easley and Phil Schaap, plus remembrances from many more.  Dozens of photos, many from the Leonard Gaskin Papers held by the Smithsonian and completely new to the Web, have also been collected. And most importantly, in assembling a complete Sessionagraphy for the website, I have obtained many recordings from the Gaskin archive documenting some of Percy’s gigs at The West End Café, Flamingo Café and others, as well as recordings made in Europe while on tour with the Oliver Jackson Trio and as part of Sammy Price’s Two Tenor Boogie. There will be selected clips used on the website, within the bounds of Fair Use doctrine. 

I feel that Percy France deserves more than a cookie-cutter, template-based web page and plan to find a web designer to create a modern and engaging website. I seek $1500 at least, with $500-$750 budgeted for the website and the remainder to go towards the still ongoing cost of duplication of materials by the Smithsonian (they charge $50 per cassette and there are 35 more cassettes that are on request at this time - that's $1750 additional future costs).  So donations over and above the cost of website development are greatly appreciated.

Please help me see to it that Percy France is brought out of the shadows in 2021, 30 years after he passed away. I will update this page as I move forward with the website. I am in discussions with two producers of jazz radio programs that are interested in doing 1 hour programs about Percy France when the website is up. With your help, Percy France will have a well-deserved "moment" in 2021.