Title: The Jackie Jocko Music Collection

Date Span: c. 1940-2018

Acquisition Number: N/A

Creator: Jackie Jocko

Donor: Dave Granville and Marilyn Sozanski

Date of Acquisition: 07/2018

Extent: 6 boxes

Language: English

Location: Archives & Special Collections Department, E. H. Butler Library, SUNY Buffalo State

Processed: 2019, Hope Dunbar, Elizabeth Acevedo

Access: The Jackie Jocko Music Collection is open for research. 

Reproduction of Materials: 
See Archivist for information on reproducing materials from this collection, including photocopies, digital camera images, or digital scans, as well as copyright restrictions that may pertain to these materials. 

Even though all reasonable and customary best-practices have been pursued, this collection may contain materials with confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the SUNY Buffalo State assumes no responsibility.

Preferred Citation: 
[Description and dates], Box/folder number, The Jackie Jocko Music Collection, Archives & Special Collections Department, E. H. Butler Library, SUNY Buffalo State.

Biographical Note:
Jackie Jocko (born John Giaccio; 21 January 1929 - 8 August 2019) was a musician, singer, and songwriter from Buffalo, New York. His albums included: “Lover, Come Back to Me” (1952), “Jackie Jocko – Mr. Excitement – From Coast to Coast” (1961), and “Like Wow!” (1962). Following an active national music career, he returned to Buffalo in 1972, and was locally most well-known for the 20 years he played at E.B. Green’s Steakhouse. He was inducted into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame in 1997.

Born in the Buffalo, New York North Fillmore neighborhood, he began playing piano by ear at two years old. He took classical piano lessons at age nine and was playing in taverns on Hertel Avenue by the age of 12. In his teens he played piano with a 10-piece orchestra at Buffalo venues, such as the Kleinhans Music Hall and the Statler Hotel. He met his partner and drummer, Joe Peters, in 1948. They would play together for the next 70 years until Joe's death in March of 2016. Jocko described Peters as, “his partner in life and music.” Jocko and Peters played their first show together at Carl’s Lounge on Jefferson Avenue near Genesee Street. Jocko left Buffalo at the age of 18 with Peters. He received his first record contract from Bill Randall of WERE Station in Cleveland, and a major record deal in 1952 from Mercury Records to produce “Lover, Come Back to Me.” He also spent some time in 1952 as the headliner for New York’s famous Birdland night club. In 1962, he signed with Strand Records to produce “Jackie Jocko – Mr. Excitement – From Coast to Coast” in 1961 and “Like Wow!” in 1962. Jocko and Peters developed a show together following the records and played for five years at the Sahara in Las Vegas, two years at Harrah’s in Reno, and two years touring Hawaii.

Jocko and Peters returned home to Buffalo, New York in 1972 and played at the Cloister on Delaware Avenue, the Everglades on Hertel Avenue, and St. George’s Table in the Westbrook Hotel. Jocko invested in a restaurant named Jocko’s Supper Club on Broadway, but later shifted to Fanny’s, a former club on Sheridan Drive in Amherst, New York. His last location was E.B. Green’s where he would play for the next 20 years until 2016.

Note: the above text falls under the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA) and the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL).

Scope and Contents:
Sheet music, vinyl albums produced or featuring Jackie Jocko, correspondence, news clippings, photographs, publicity, and lyrics. A bibliography of commercial vinyl albums and songbooks not retained in the collection is included at the end of the inventory.

Arrangement:
The collection is grouped by category. The majority of the collection is sheet music divided into two sections; one with heavy annotations, one with light or no annotations, and then alphabetized by song name. Other collection categories include correspondence, photographs, and news clippings grouped chronologically.