José Melis

Best known for trading barbs with headliner Jack Paar during a five-year stint as bandleader of NBC's The Tonight Show, pianist/arranger Jose Melis also cut a series of Latin-influenced easy listening recordings. Born Jose Melis Guiu in Havana, Cuba, on February 27, 1920, he studied at the Havana Conservatory of Music before continuing his education in Paris via Cuban government scholarship. At 16, he relocated to the U.S., where he graduated from the Julliard School of Music. While there Melis began moonlighting as a lounge pianist, and during World War II he served as musica...