Zez Confrey - Life and Career

Life and Career

Confrey was born in Peru, Illinois, United States, the youngest child of Thomas and Margaret Confrey. After World War I he became a pianist and arranger for the QRS piano roll company. He also recorded for the AMPICO Company, which made piano rolls for their reproducing player piano mechanisms, which were installed in pianos such as the Mason&Hamlin, and Chickering to name a few. His novelty piano composition "Kitten on the Keys," released in 1921, became a hit, and he went on to compose many other pieces in the same genre. This piece was inspired by a cat at his grandmother's house that he discovered prancing up and down the piano keyboard. "Dizzy Fingers" (1923) was Confrey's other ragtime biggest seller.

After the 1920s he turned more and more toward composing for jazz bands. He retired after World War II but continued to compose occasionally until 1959. He died in Lakewood, New Jersey after suffering for many years from Parkinson's disease. He left behind more than a hundred piano works, miniature operas, and songs, plus numerous piano rolls, music publications, and recordings.