Ken Colyer

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Kenneth 'Edward' Colyer (April 18, 1928–March 8, 1988) was a British jazz trumpeter and cornetist, devoted totally to New Orleans jazz]]. His band was also known for skiffle interludes[1].

He grew up in Soho in London and was a member of a church choir. When his older brother Bill (born William John Colyer in 1922—still alive) went off to serve in World War II he left his jazz records behind, which hooked Ken. He joined the Merchant Navy at 17, travelled around the world and heard famous jazz musicians in New York and Montreal.

In the UK he played with various bands and joined, in 1949, the Crane River Jazz Band (CRJB) with Ben Marshall, Sonny Morris and Monty Sunshine. The band played at the Royal Festival Hall on 14 July 1951, in the presence of HRH Princess Elizabeth.

Parts of that group merged with other musicians to form the Christie Brothers' Stompers. Ken rejoined the Merchant Navy and jumped ship to get to New Orleans where he played with his idols in the George Lewis Band where he was offered the job of lead trumpeter on a tour but was then put in prison and deported. Bill posted his famous letters from New Orleans on the door of Dobell's Jazz Record Shop—so he returned home to a crusader's welcome.

He was invited to take the trumpet lead for the Chris Barber Band and so formed the first Ken Colyer Jazzmen: Chris Barber, Monty Sunshine, Ron Bowden, Lonnie Donegan and the late Jim Bray (born James Michael Bray, 24 April 1927, in Richmond, Surrey). They made their first recordings on Storyville in 1953.

The next, brief, band in the mid-50s featured Bernard "Acker" Bilk on clarinet.

Then came what most young, now old, fans ("when I was young and easy under the apple boughs" Dylan Thomas) consider their favourite in all of Ken's oeuvre: Mac Duncan (trombone), Ian Wheeler (clarinet), Johnny Bastable (banjo), Ron Ward (bass) and the still remarkable Colin Bowden (drums), later joined by the late Ray Foxley (piano). This band played together untill the early 1960s when the new front-line featured, at various times, Sammy Rimington and Tony Pyke (clarinet), Graham Stewart and Geoff Cole (trombone), Bill Cole (bass) and Malc Murphy (drums).

In 1971, after a bout with stomach cancer, Ken took his doctors' advice to stop leading a band.

He continued with a solo career, enlivening and frightening other bands at home and abroad, into the 1980s. He had a row with Bill at the 100 Club, threw his trumpet down on the stage a la Bunk Johnson and moved to the south of France in his last years. He felt that he was let down by everybody throughout his life, except for the lady Nicole who nursed him in dire straits.

LAKE RECORDS was started by a reissue programme of Ken Colyer albums (from the Decca catalogue) and the current catalogue contains most of his best recordings.

Ken was sometimes seen as a kind of musical Luddite, opposed to all progress in jazz. It is true that, for himself, he only ever wished to play in the New Orleans style but he was more open than many people thought as was shown by his record collection and his playing of the tenor sax. He famously played with the Modern Jazz Quartet and "they did it my way".

He was a European inspiration.

His biography is being written by the eminent musicians Mike Pointon (trombonist, musicologist, broadcaster extraordinnaire) and the superb ragtime pianist Ray Smith (who played at St Paul's Covent Garden for the Celebration Service) and will be published by the Ken Colyer Trust—set up on Ken's death to preserve the music and publish his superb autobiography "When Dreams are in the Dust" now on their website—next year

[edit] Discography

It is believed by some that Ken peaked so early and then gradually burnt himself away ("he was a fool to himself"—Sonny Morris) so his best recordings were in his early years with the CRJB and in New Orleans, followed by the Christie Brothers Stompers ('Rum & Coca Cola'). But for the rest of his life he was capable of very fine playing which at times on recordings can still lead you to tears.

THIS DISCOGRAPHY NEEDS TO BE REDONE PROPERLY:-

Singles
  • Just a closer walk with thee, Tempo Records, A 117, 1956
  • If I ever cease to love ', Tempo Records, A 120, 1956
Albums
  • Decca Skiffle Sessions, Lake Records, LACD 7, ?
  • Live at York Arts Centre (1972), Upbeat, URCD 210, ?
  • "The Crane River Jazz Band"
  • "Club Session with Colyer"

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://music.guardian.co.uk/rock/story/0,,2283223,00.html Accessed 1 June 2008

[edit] External links

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