Fats Pichon
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{{Infobox musical artist
| Name = Fats Pichon
| Img = FatsPichonLP.jpg
| Img_capt = Fats Pichon playing at the Old Absinthe House, 1950s
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| Background = solo_singer
| Birth_name = Walter Pichon
| Alias =
| Born = [[April 3]][[1906]]
| Died = [[25 February]], [[1967]]
| Origin = {{flagicon|USA}} [[Chicago, Illinois]]
| Instrument = [[Vocals]], [[Piano]]
| Voice_type =
| Genre = [[Jazz]]
| Occupation = [[Singer]], [[Pianist]]
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}}
'''Walter "Fats" Pichon''' ([[April 3]][[1906]] (<!-- his given birthyear; may have been somewhat older -->?) - [[25 February]], [[1967]] in [[Chicago, Illinois]]) was a [[jazz]] [[piano|pianist]], [[singer]], [[bandleader]], and [[songwriter]].
Pichon was born and raised in [[New Orleans, Louisiana]], and began playing piano in his childhood. He also played [[baritone horn]] in [[brass band]]s in his youth, already a professional musician by 1920.
He first went north about 1922, playing at various venues in [[New York City]] and [[New Jersey]] before settling in [[Boston]] for a few years where he studied at the [[New England Conservatory of Music]]. After touring the [[United States]] and [[Mexico]] with various bands in the mid 1920s, he settled again his home town of New Orleans for the later part of the decade, leading bands under his own name at dance halls and on river boats on the [[Mississippi River]]. On visits back to New York he made some recordings, mostly as a vocalist on novelty numbers, with [[Luis Russell]] and other New Orleans groups.
In the 1930s Fats Pichon led what some considered the best [[big band]] in New Orleans; it also made Mississippi Riverboat excursions. Musicians included young [[Dave Bartholomew]]. This band never recorded.
In the 1940s he began a long gig as the house pianist at ''The Old Absinthe House'', a popular venue on Bourbon Street in the [[French Quarter]], where he remained until about 1960, with occasional tours of other parts of the U.S., [[Latin America]], and the [[Caribbean]].
==External links==
*[http://www.answers.com/topic/fats-pichon Answers]
[[Category:1967 deaths|Pichon, Fats]]
[[Category:New Orleans jazz musicians|Pichon, "Fats"]]
[[Category:People from New Orleans, Louisiana]]
[[Category:African American musicians|Pichon, Fats]]
[[Category:Jazz bandleaders|Pichon, Fats]]
[[Category:American jazz pianists|Pichon, Fats]]
[[Category:American jazz singers|Pichon, Fats]]
[[Category:Louisiana Creoles|Pichon, Fats]]