Blue Notes: RIP Kenny Ball, Donald Byrd and Alvin Lee
Kenny Ball, who died on March 7 at the age of 82, was probably the best-known face of jazz in Britain for several decades.
Kenny Ball, who died on March 7 at the age of 82, was probably the best-known face of jazz in Britain for several decades.
One of the "Three Bs" - along with Chris Barber and Acker Bilk - of the British traditional jazz boom of the late 1950s and early '60s, he was the band leader who best managed to survive the transformation of the music business that began with The Beatles' breakthrough.
Following a run of hit singles between 1961 and 1964 which included and , Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen stepped sideways into mainstream show business, and became a popular attraction in stage variety shows and on television.
Inspired by Louis Armstrong, Ball sang as well as playing the trumpet with fluency and notable force. He was a better musician than detractors who objected to his popularity as an entertainer were generally prepared to concede.
Ball and his band appeared several times in Hong Kong, and a sound clip, recorded by radio presenter Steve James, of the Jazzmen guesting at Ned Kelly's in 1977, has been uploaded to YouTube by China Coast Jazzmen leader Colin Aitchison.
Ball was still working until shortly before his death, from pneumonia, often appearing with Barber and Bilk as "The Three Bs". The Jazzmen, formed in 1958 although they have undergone many changes in line-up, will continue, fronted by his son, vocalist Keith Ball.
