John Chellis Conner

Who is John Chellis Conner?

John Chellis "Jack" Conner was an American marimbist.

Conner was born in Kahoka, Missouri in 1913. At the age of six he began his studies of piano and percussion instruments. By the age of twelve, he was playing regularly on the radio with the KMOX Junior Orchestra. As a young artist he was a member of the International Marimba Symphony Orchestra during their European tour in 1935. Before pursuing a solo career, he was a member of both the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and the St. Louis Municipal Opera Orchestra and was regularly heard on major St. Louis radio stations.

He served overseas with the USO in the European theater and he later toured South America with the Xavier Cugat Orchestra. As one of the first percussionists to take the marimba and vibraphone into the classical world as solo instruments, he made his New York debut at Town Hall in 1950. After hearing Conner’s artistry on the instruments, Darius Milhaud, the French composer, was inspired to compose a concerto for Conner to perform. This Concerto for Marimba and Vibraphone was given its world premier with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 1948 with Vladimir Golschmann conducting.