Chic Chocolate

Chic Chocolate (1916 – May 1967) born Antonio Xavier Vaz, was a Goan trumpeter who led a Jazz band at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay and was one of Bombay’s best known jazz musicians. He was also a Hindi film music composer and played trumpet in various soundtracks.

Chic was born Antonio Xavier Vaz in Aldona in 1916. He learned music at his local parochial school and, despite the wishes of his mother who wanted him to earn a "respectable" living as a mechanic, he followed his dreams of a life playing music.

Influenced by Louis Armstrong, Chic styled himself after his great jazz hero—Chocolate's trumpet playing and "scatting" technique were a tribute to Armstrong. His stage presence has been recognized as dramatic, with accounts reporting that the musician would fall on one knee, while raising his instrument to the stars, during the band's crescendo. Chocolate earned the sobriquet, the "Louis Armstrong of India", as he not only played jazz like an African American, but also possessed a similarly dark complexion.

By the mid-40s, after had played in Rangoon and Mussourie, Chic had established himself as a popular Bombay jazz musician. He started out with a group called the Spotlights and by 1945 had formed his own outfit, Chic and the Music Makers, beating out 12 other bands to win a contract at Green's Hotel, which was owned by the Taj Mahal Hotel. A newspaper article from the time described Chic Chocolate’s band as "Bombay’s topflight band". Chic Chocolate occasionally led a two-trumpet barrage at the Green's Hotel with Chris Perry.

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