Advsunilnshah at 07:12, 9 February 2026

2026-02-09T07:12:18Z

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{{Short description|Indian composer and musician (1916–1967)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| background = person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Chic Chocolate
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Chic Chocolate.jpg
| image_upright =
| image_size =
| landscape = 
| alt =
| caption = Chic Chocolate playing the trumpet
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| birth_name = Antonio Xavier Vaz
| alias =
| birth_date = 1916
| birth_place =
| origin =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1967|05||1916|||df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Bombay]]
| genre = [[Jazz]]
| occupation =
| instrument = Trumpet
| discography =
| years_active = 
| label =
| current_member_of =
| past_member_of =
| spouse = 
| partner = 
| website = 
| module =
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}}

'''Antonio Xavier Vaz''' (1916 – May 1967), known professionally as '''Chic Chocolate''', was an Indian [[trumpeter]] who led a [[Jazz]] band at the [[Taj Mahal Palace & Tower|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.

==Early life and influences==
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.<ref name="goanet">{{cite web|title=Chris & Lorna - Love and Longing in Mumbai's Jazz Age|url=http://www.mail-archive.com/goanet@lists.goanet.org/msg24873.html|work=Goanet|publisher=Roland Francis|accessdate=27 June 2012|author=Naresh Fernandes|date=July 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215133149/http://www.mail-archive.com/goanet@lists.goanet.org/msg24873.html|archive-date=15 December 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Influenced by [[Louis Armstrong]], Chic styled himself after his great jazz hero—Chocolate's trumpet playing and "[[Scat singing|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#Gradual changes|crescendo]].<ref name="goanet" /> Chocolate earned the sobriquet, the "Louis Armstrong of India",<ref>{{cite web|author=Shanta Gokhale|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/art-culture/Jazz-like-that/articleshow/11551247.cms |title=Jazz like that|publisher=Time of India|date=2012-01-19 |accessdate=2012-07-08}}</ref> as he not only played jazz like an [[African American]], but also possessed a similarly dark [[complexion]].<ref name="goanet" />

==Career==
By the mid-40s, after had played in [[Rangoon]] and [[Mussourie]], Chic had established himself as a popular [[Bombay]] jazz musician.<ref>{{Cite book|title=American Popular Music in Britain's Raj|last=Shope|first=Bradley|publisher=University of Rochester Press|year=2016|isbn=9781580465489|location=Rochester, NY|pages=13, 83, 144, 163–164}}</ref> 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 Palace & Tower|Taj Mahal Hotel]].<ref name="goanet" /> A newspaper article from the time described Chic Chocolate's band as "Bombay's topflight band".<ref name="n fernandes">{{cite web|title=Remembering Anthony Gonsalves|url=http://www.india-seminar.com/2004/543/543%20naresh%20fernandes.htm|work=Seminar|publisher=Seminar Publications, New Delhi|accessdate=27 June 2012|author=NARESH FERNANDES|year=2004}}</ref> Chic Chocolate occasionally led a two-trumpet barrage at the Green's Hotel with [[Chris Perry (musician)|Chris Perry]].<ref name="goanet" />

Like many Goan musicians of the time, Chic Chocolate played jazz live at the night but his days were spent in the film studios, recording and arranging sound tracks for movies.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16740486 BBC audio slideshow] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108103251/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16740486 |date=8 November 2018 }} about the jazz age in [[Bombay]] and Chic Chocolate</ref> He had a flourishing career as a music composer in [[Bollywood]] movies. In 1951, he began his career as a music director with the movie ''[[Nadaan (1951 film)|Nadaan]]''. ''Nadaan'' had a popular track list, including songs like [[Talat Mahmood]]'s ''Aa Teri Tasvir Bana Lu'' and [[Lata Mangeshkar]]’s ''Sari Duniya Ko Piichhe Chodkar''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chic Chocolate|url=http://www.planetradiocity.com/musicopedia/music_director.php?conid=828&Music-Directors/Composers=Chic%20Chocolate|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091231141852/http://planetradiocity.com/musicopedia/music_director.php?conid=828&Music-Directors/Composers=Chic%20Chocolate|url-status=usurped|archive-date=31 December 2009|work=PlanetRadiocity.Com|accessdate=27 June 2012|author=Staff|year=2012}}</ref>

Chic Chocolate was an integral part of composer [[C. Ramchandra]]'s team. Ramachandra is popularly credited with introducing swing into Bollywood with tunes such as ''Gore Gore O Banke Chore'' from ''[[Samadhi (1950 film)|Samadhi]]'' and ''Shola Jo Bhadke'' from ''[[Albela (1951 film)|Albela]]''. However the credit for these songs is due to Chic Chocolate.<ref>{{cite web|title=Music Arrangers: O Maria! O Maria!|url=http://www.womenonrecord.com/music-makers/media-makers/music-arrangers|work=CMAC Presents Women On Record|publisher=Women On Record|accessdate=27 June 2012|author=Staff|year=2012}}</ref> Their collaboration in the 1952 film ''[[Rangili]]'' included the song ''Koi Dard Hamara Kya Samjhe'', sung by Lata Mangeshkar. He is remembered for his work with Naasir in the 1956 film ''[[Kar Bhala]]'', and he also collaborated with [[Madan Mohan]].

Chic's lives as jazz man and film musician sometimes merged. He had a [[cameo appearance]] in the film ''[[Albela (1951 film)|Albela]]'', along with his band in a song sequence dressing them in frilly Latinesque costumes.<ref>{{YouTube|gmBRR5QH4Do|Chic Chocolate and the Music Makers}} in Deewana Yeh Parwana from [[Albela (1951 film)|Albela]]</ref> Chic capitalised on the film's success by dressing his band in those costumes in future live performances.<ref name="n fernandes" />

==Death==
Chic died in May 1967 in Mumbai, aged 51. Shortly after, [[Chetan Anand (director)|Chetan Anand]]’s ''[[Aakhri Khat]]'' was released. The bluesy song ''Rut Jawan Jawan'' featured several close-ups of Chic Chocolate playing his trumpet solos from the bandstand.<ref>{{YouTube|SPnlHXT6Igk|Chic Chocolate}} in Rut Jawaan Jawaan from [[Aakhri Khat]]</ref> Chic had lived with his wife, Martha and his children in an apartment in [[Colaba]].<ref name="n fernandes" /> He also had an illegitimate son by a girlfriend named Catherine before his marriage to Martha.<ref> {{cite web
|title = Morning you play different, evening you play different
|first= Naresh
|last = Fernandes
|date= 3 January 2015
|url= https://scroll.in/article/698052/morning-you-play-different-evening-you-play-different
|quote = They say Chic performed one of his greatest feats of improvisation offstage. “Chic lived in Marine Lines and had a girlfriend called Catherine, with whom he had a son,” a matter that shocked conservative Catholic sensibilities, one musician recalls. “But then he decided to marry another girl. The wedding was to be the Wodehouse Road Cathederal in Colaba. But Catherine landed up there with her son, so the wedding was shifted hastily to Gloria Church in Byculla”, across town. The befuddled guests waited patiently in the Colaba church, even as Chic said “I do” in the deserted neo-Gothic nave of Gloria church.}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay's Jazz Age, Naresh Fernandes, 2012, {{ISBN|9788174367594}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chocolate, Chic}}
[[Category:Indian jazz musicians]]
[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:1967 deaths]]
[[Category:Musicians from North Goa district]]
[[Category:Indian jazz trumpeters]]
[[Category:Indian film score composers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian composers]]
[[Category:20th-century trumpeters]]
[[Category:Indian male musicians]]
[[Category:Indian male film score composers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male musicians]]
[[Category:Indian male jazz musicians]]

Chic Chocolate - Revision history

Advsunilnshah at 07:12, 9 February 2026