Posted on 03/07/2013 1:30:19 PM PST by the scotsman
'Jazz trumpeter Kenny Ball has died at the age of 82 after suffering from pneumonia, his manager has confirmed.
He was best known as the lead trumpet player in the band Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen in the late 1950s and 1960s and for his regular TV appearances with comic duo Morecambe and Wise. Ball's manager, Les Squire, said that the musician passed away on the morning of 7 March.
"If he could have been on stage tomorrow, he would have been," he said.
Squire said Ball had been ill for a number of weeks and that he had been holding off on bookings until he was better. His son Keith has been fronting his father's band at their recent performances and will do so again on Friday at a scheduled concert in Grantham, Lincolnshire that will also feature Acker Bilk, Chris Barber and their respective bands.'
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
‘He played the trumpet in bands led by Charlie Galbraith, Sid Phillips, Eric Delaney and Terry Lightfoot before forming his own trad jazz band in 1958.[1] His dixieland band was at the forefront of the early 1960s UK jazz revival.[3]
In 1961 their recording of Cole Porter’s ‘Samantha’ became a hit,[1] and in March 1962 they reached No. 2 on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and the UK Singles Chart, with “Midnight in Moscow”.[3] The record sold over one million copies, earning gold disc status.[4] Further hits ensued, including a version of ‘March of the Siamese Children’ from ‘The King and I’, which topped the pop music magazine, New Musical Express chart in March that year,[1] and such was their popularity in the UK that Ball was featured, alongside Cliff Richard, Brenda Lee, Joe Brown, Craig Douglas and Frank Ifield, on the cover of the New Musical Express in July 1962, although in the U.S. they remained a ‘one-hit wonder’.’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Ball
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn8Os8nig74
CORRECTION:
Headline should have read ‘dies aged 82’. Not 83.
alrighty then...I’ll raise you one interview, a few bars of “Saints”, and a hotty Brit presenter ;-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L37dA_yXGK0
The thing is, musicians of this caliber were legendary and had careers spanning decades, not just a hit record or two. Somehow I can’t see a Justin Beeber filling these shoes, and the world is poorer for it.
I just found his album MIDNIGHT IN MOSCOW at a Salvation Army store a few weeks ago. Love that music!
The hottie is Kate Silverton. The nice blonde weathergirl is Carol Kirkwood.
I love Acker Bilk. Stranger on the Shore and his 70’s hit Aria are two of the most beautiful pieces of music ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIhueRNDapM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cEr4CCtllA
RIP.
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