Cyril "Midnight" Blake was a Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

ian jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 trumpeter.

Blake moved to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 about 1918, where he played in a British group called the Southern Syncopated Orchestra. He worked in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 and London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 as a musician throughout the 1920s, and in the 1930s played in the bands of Leon Abbey

Leon Abbey

Leon Abbey was an American jazz violinist and bandleader.In the 1920s his eleven-piece band, known successively as the Charleston Bearcats, the Savoy Bearcats, and Leon Abbey's Band, was considered one of the best in jazz....

, Happy Blake, Rudolph Dunbar

Rudolph Dunbar

Rudolph Dunbar was a Guyanese conductor, clarinetist, and composer.Dunbar was born in Nabaclis, British Guiana. He studied at the Institute of Musical Art . While in New York he was also involved with the Harlem jazz scene...

, Leslie Thompson

Leslie Thompson (musician)

Leslie Anthony Joseph Thompson was a Jamaican jazz trumpeter.Thompson played in the West India Regiment band and played locally in Kingston movie palaces in the 1920s, then moved to London in 1929. In 1930 he began playing with Spike Hughes, where he played trumpet, trombone, and double bass until...

, Joe Appleton

Joe Appleton

Joe Appleton was a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist from the West Indies.Appleton moved to Britain in the 1920s, and he played in dance bands both there and on the Continent through the end of the decade...

, and Lauderic Caton

Lauderic Caton

Lauderic Caton was a Trinidadian guitarist. He was an early proponent of the use of electric guitar in Britain, particularly in jazz music....

. In 1938 he formed his own band, which was centered around Jig's Club in London; he recorded several times with this ensemble. In the 1940s Blake led his band behind Lord Kitchener

Lord Kitchener (calypsonian)

Aldwyn Roberts , better known by the stage name Lord Kitchener , was one of the most internationally famous calypsonians. He was the son of a blacksmith, Stephen, and homemaker, Albertha.-Life:...

 for recordings on Parlophone Records, playing in a calypso

Calypso music

Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...

 style. Late in his life he returned to Trinidad, where he continued to lead bands. He died of an illness in 1951.

External links

• [ Cyril Blake] at Allmusic