Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen
Kenny Ball & his Jazzmen was a British trad jazz band led by trumpeter Kenny Ball (born Kenneth Daniel Ball, 22 May 1930, Ilford, Essex, England; died 7 March 2013). Formed in 1958, the band was at the forefront of the early 1960s UK jazz revival.
Ball and his band enjoyed the longest unbroken spell of success for bands of their generation. Their traditional 1960s hits like "Samantha" and "Midnight in Moscow" remain popular in dixieland and trumpet circles. Ball's status rivaled contemporaries Acker Bilk and Chris Barber; while a joint album, The Best of Ball, Barber and Bilk, reached #1 in the UK Albums Chart.
In March 1962, Ball and his Jazzmen reached both #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and the UK Singles Chart, with "Midnight in Moscow". In the U.S. Ball's releases appeared on the Kapp Records label, although they remain one-hit wonders in that country. However, such was their popularity in their homeland, that Ball was featured, alongside Cliff Richard, Brenda Lee, Joe Brown, Craig Douglas and Frank Ifield, on the cover of the pop music magazine, NME, in July 1962. His March of the Siamese Children had topped the NME chart in March that year.
They also appeared in the 1963 film, Live It Up!.
Ball continued to tour well into the 2000s. He has charted no fewer than 14 Top 50 hit singles in the UK alone, the most by any jazz artist. All such releases were issued on the Pye record label.
In 2001 Ball was part of the recording of an album on the Decca label. It featured Don Lusher, Acker Bilk, John Chilton and the Feetwarmers, John Dankworth, Humphrey Lyttelton and George Melly, and was entitled British Jazz Legends Together.
The band line-up changed greatly over the years, but the following personnel were in situ when the musical ensemble was at its commercial peak:
* Kenny Ball - (trumpet)
* John Bennett - (trombone) - still in the line-up at the time of Ball's death on 7 March 2013
* Dave Jones - (clarinet)
* Ron Weatherburn - (piano)
* Paddy Lightfoot - (banjo)
* Ron Bowden - (drums)
* Vic Pitts - (bass)
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