(August 6th 1900 - April 17th 1972)

Anthony Parenti was clarinet and saxophone player of Italian decent who was born in New Orleans in 1900. A child music prodigy he started on the violin before transitioning to clarinet and occasionally filling in for Alcide 'Yellow' Nunez with Papa Jack Laine's Orchestra. Parenti later worked with the bands Johnny Dedroit and Nick LaRocca before establishing his own group during the mid-1920s. After visiting New York where he played with Benny Goodman and Fred Rich, Tony Parenti decided to move to the Big Apple permanently at the end of the decade.