Truck Parham
American musician (1911–2002)
Charles Valdez "Truck" Parham (January 25, 1911 – June 5, 2002) was an American jazz double-bassist.
Parham was born in Chicago and was first a professional sportsman: he was a boxer and played football with the Chicago Negro All Stars. He played drums before settling on bass, and studied under Walter Page. He was part of Zack Whyte's band in 1932–34, playing primarily in Cincinnati, but was mostly a singer and valet for the band, the latter activity giving rise to his nickname. After returning to Chicago, he played with Zutty Singleton, Roy Eldridge (1936–38), Art Tatum, and Bob Shoffner in the 1930s. In 1940 he joined Earl Hines's orchestra, where he remained for two years; in 1942 he was hired by Jimmie Lunceford and played with him until 1947.
Parham continued to play revival gigs with Muggsy Spanier (1950–55), Herbie Fields (1956–57), Hines again, and Louie Bellson. He spent much of the 1960s working with Art Hodes, and played in numerous Dixieland jazz groups later in his career. Parham never recorded as a leader, though he recorded profusely as a sideman. He continued playing into the 2000s, being a member of Franz Jackson's band in 2000.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Truck Parham” as american musician (1911–2002). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american musician (1911–2002). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q381713. VIAF identifies the subject as 71581552. The Library of Congress control number is n96018134. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1911, 2002, 1932 and 1936.
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This entry incorporates text from “Truck Parham” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.