Duncan Campbell (musician)
Encyclopedia
Duncan Campbell is a world renowned trumpet player, famously playing with Ted Heath and his Orchestra
, Ronnie Scott
, Syd Lawrence
and the BBC Big Band
. He is married to June Pressley, Elvis Presley's
cousin and regular of the Ivy Benson Band.
, a small Scottish village near Glasgow
. Interested in music from a young age, he would often listen to his father play the cornet
, as well as listening to his father's collection of Jazz records on a wind up gramophone. His collection consisted of the works of Louis Armstrong
, Henry Red Allen, Paul Whiteman
, Count Basie
and Harry Lauder
. The first classicial record he bought was by Frederick Delius
and titled ‘On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring’. Duncan recalls: "I used to play it looking out of the window on a very rainy day and even now, when I play that song in the car I have to stop and cry. It’s so good and yet, so sad."
Whilst his father was out at work, Duncan taught himself to play on his father's cornet, and as he left school with no qualifications, he decided music was the next step in his life. By this point, he had already joined the Boys Brigade and the Scouts. Whereas he liked the Scouts uniform, it was the brass band of the Boys Brigade that Duncan really enjoyed, later playing with the Salvation Army Band
with his father; Duncan playing the cornet and his father playing the tenor horn.
Duncan later joined Lou Praeger's orchestra at the Hammersmith Palais. Wally Smith, Don Lusher
and his ex-wife Eileen Orchard were also a member of Praeger's band, cutting lots of records with HMV
. When everyone had gone home, Duncan used to play 'Lover Man, Where can you be?' by Sarah Vaughan
in the Band Room at the Hammersmith Palais. Many years later, he would work with Sarah Vaughan.
Praeger and his orchestra were invited by the Queen Mother to play at Buckingham Palace, where they were all introduced personally to each member of the Royal Family. Around this time, Praeger would also write solos for Duncan to play which were later recorded on the old wax type records. Nevertheless, Duncan later joined the Tito Burns
Band; front line up was Duncan on trumpet, Ronnie Scott
on tenor sax and Johnny Dankworth on alto sax. He toured the country with them before joining Teddy Foster's Band, and later Cyril Stapleton's
, band on lead trumpet. Finally, Duncan joined Ted Heath and his Orchestra
, where he never missed a gig or recording in its fifty years of performances.
, started, it was mainly instrumental and relied upon drummer Jack Parnell
and compere Paul Carpenter for vocals. Ted Heath also had a number of singers, including Lita Roza
, Dickie Valentine
and Dennis Lotis. Duncan Campbell started on third trumpet, and contributed to the world-class drive of the famous Heath brass section. He played many jazz solos on record and in concert, as well as being one the band's on-stage clowns, providing comedy interjections and falsetto vocals on numbers such as 'Tequila'.
, who would tour Britain at the same time as Heath toured the U.S. The tour was a major negotiated agreement with the British Musicians' Union and the American Federation of Musicians, which broke a 20 year union deadlock. Heath contracted to play a tour that included Nat King Cole
, June Christy and the Four Freshmen that consisted of 43 concerts in 30 cities (primarily the southern states) in 31 days (7,000 miles) climaxing in a Carnegie Hall
concert on May 1, 1956. At this performance, the band's instrument truck was delayed by bad weather. The instruments finally arrived just minutes before the curtain rose. The band had no time to warm up or rehearse. They went on stage "cold". There were so many encore calls at the Carnegie Hall performance that Nat King Cole (who was backstage, but not on the bill) had to come out on stage and ask people to leave.
’s ‘The Mirror Crack’d,’ starring Elizabeth Taylor
, Kirk Douglas
and Tony Curtis
.
In the West End, Duncan had also worked on several shows such as Bubbling Brown Sugar
, and the Andrew Lloyd Webber
show Song and Dance
with Wayne Sleep
, which ran for two years. After this, Duncan worked on the Steven Spielberg
film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
. More recently, Duncan has worked on the film Entrapment
with Sean Connery
.
, describing the revival as "a breath of fresh air". He was also a staff player in the BBC Radio Orchestra
and BBC Big Band
, till he retired from the BBC aged 60. In the 1990s, Duncan had made three trips to Japan
with the Ray McVay Band, performing The Glen Miller Show with singers and dancers. In 2003, he bought himself a new trumpet; "It wasn’t far short of the price of my first house. I’ve been a full time musician since I was sixteen years old, so at eighty one I am more than happy just to have come this far. I still just love playing so I’ll keep on playing as long as the chops keep going!"
Ted Heath (bandleader)
Ted Heath, musician and big band leader, led Britain's greatest post-war big band recording more than 100 albums and selling over 20 million records...
, Ronnie Scott
Ronnie Scott
Ronnie Scott was an English jazz tenor saxophonist and jazz club owner.-Life and career:Ronnie Scott was born in Aldgate, east London, into a family of Russian Jewish descent on his father's side, and Portuguese antecedents on his mother's. Scott began playing in small jazz clubs at the age of...
, Syd Lawrence
Syd Lawrence
Syd Lawrence , was a British bandleader from Chester, England, who became famous in the UK for his orchestra's Big Band sound, which drew on the 1940s style of music of Glenn Miller and Count Basie amongst others....
and the BBC Big Band
BBC Big Band
The BBC Big Band, originally known as the BBC Radio Big Band is a British big band run under the auspices of the BBC. Widely regarded as the UK’s leading and most versatile jazz orchestra, the band broadcasts exclusivley on BBC Radio, particularly on BBC Radio 2's long running series Big Band Special...
. He is married to June Pressley, Elvis Presley's
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
cousin and regular of the Ivy Benson Band.
Early life
Duncan Campbell was born May 1926 in SpringburnSpringburn
Springburn is an inner city district in the north of the Scottish city of Glasgow, home to various working and middle-class households.Springburn developed from a small rural hamlet at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Its industrial expansion began with the establishment of a chemical...
, a small Scottish village near Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. Interested in music from a young age, he would often listen to his father play the cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
, as well as listening to his father's collection of Jazz records on a wind up gramophone. His collection consisted of the works of Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Henry Red Allen, Paul Whiteman
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...
, Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
and Harry Lauder
Harry Lauder
Sir Henry Lauder , known professionally as Harry Lauder, was an international Scottish entertainer, described by Sir Winston Churchill as "Scotland's greatest ever ambassador!"-Early life:...
. The first classicial record he bought was by Frederick Delius
Frederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
and titled ‘On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring’. Duncan recalls: "I used to play it looking out of the window on a very rainy day and even now, when I play that song in the car I have to stop and cry. It’s so good and yet, so sad."
Whilst his father was out at work, Duncan taught himself to play on his father's cornet, and as he left school with no qualifications, he decided music was the next step in his life. By this point, he had already joined the Boys Brigade and the Scouts. Whereas he liked the Scouts uniform, it was the brass band of the Boys Brigade that Duncan really enjoyed, later playing with the Salvation Army Band
Salvation Army Band
A Salvation Army brass band is a brass band affiliated with a Corps, Division or Territory of the Salvation Army. In society, a Salvation Army band playing in public places during Christian events in the calendar such as Christmas has become a part of seasonal customs particularly in the...
with his father; Duncan playing the cornet and his father playing the tenor horn.
Professional career
At sixteen, Duncan joined his father's band, but left to travel with the super bands playing the ballrooms in Glasgow. He played with about five bands, whose performance was broadcast on the radio most Saturday nights. One particular band belonged to Charlie Pressley, Duncan's future father-in-law.Duncan later joined Lou Praeger's orchestra at the Hammersmith Palais. Wally Smith, Don Lusher
Don Lusher
Don Lusher OBE was a jazz and big band trombonist best known for his association with the Ted Heath Big Band...
and his ex-wife Eileen Orchard were also a member of Praeger's band, cutting lots of records with HMV
HMV
His Master's Voice is a trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone...
. When everyone had gone home, Duncan used to play 'Lover Man, Where can you be?' by Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
in the Band Room at the Hammersmith Palais. Many years later, he would work with Sarah Vaughan.
Praeger and his orchestra were invited by the Queen Mother to play at Buckingham Palace, where they were all introduced personally to each member of the Royal Family. Around this time, Praeger would also write solos for Duncan to play which were later recorded on the old wax type records. Nevertheless, Duncan later joined the Tito Burns
Tito Burns
Tito Burns was a British musician and impresario, who was active in both jazz and rock and roll.-Biography:...
Band; front line up was Duncan on trumpet, Ronnie Scott
Ronnie Scott
Ronnie Scott was an English jazz tenor saxophonist and jazz club owner.-Life and career:Ronnie Scott was born in Aldgate, east London, into a family of Russian Jewish descent on his father's side, and Portuguese antecedents on his mother's. Scott began playing in small jazz clubs at the age of...
on tenor sax and Johnny Dankworth on alto sax. He toured the country with them before joining Teddy Foster's Band, and later Cyril Stapleton's
Cyril Stapleton
Cyril Stapleton was an English violinist and jazz bandleader.Born in Mapperley, Nottingham, Stapleton began playing violin at age 7, and played on local radio at the age of 12. He performed on the BBC Radio often in his teenage years, and played in film orchestras accompanying silent films...
, band on lead trumpet. Finally, Duncan joined Ted Heath and his Orchestra
Ted Heath (bandleader)
Ted Heath, musician and big band leader, led Britain's greatest post-war big band recording more than 100 albums and selling over 20 million records...
, where he never missed a gig or recording in its fifty years of performances.
The Ted Heath era
When Ted Heath and his musicTed Heath (bandleader)
Ted Heath, musician and big band leader, led Britain's greatest post-war big band recording more than 100 albums and selling over 20 million records...
, started, it was mainly instrumental and relied upon drummer Jack Parnell
Jack Parnell
John Russell Parnell was an English bandleader and musician.-Biography:Parnell was born into a theatrical family in London....
and compere Paul Carpenter for vocals. Ted Heath also had a number of singers, including Lita Roza
Lita Roza
Lita Roza was a British singer. Her 1953 number one hit record " That Doggie in the Window?" afforded Roza the privilege of being the first British female singer to top the UK Singles Chart, and the first Liverpudlian to do so.-Biography:Born Lilian Patricia Lita Roza in Liverpool, Lancashire,...
, Dickie Valentine
Dickie Valentine
Dickie Valentine was an English pop singer in the 1950s.-Early life:Valentine was born Richard Maxwell , though Valentine was known as Richard Bryce as his mother later married Bryce and gave her young son the same name. He was born in Marylebone, London...
and Dennis Lotis. Duncan Campbell started on third trumpet, and contributed to the world-class drive of the famous Heath brass section. He played many jazz solos on record and in concert, as well as being one the band's on-stage clowns, providing comedy interjections and falsetto vocals on numbers such as 'Tequila'.
Carnegie Hall
In April 1956 Heath arranged his first American tour. This was a ground breaking reciprocal agreement between Heath and Stan KentonStan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
, who would tour Britain at the same time as Heath toured the U.S. The tour was a major negotiated agreement with the British Musicians' Union and the American Federation of Musicians, which broke a 20 year union deadlock. Heath contracted to play a tour that included Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
, June Christy and the Four Freshmen that consisted of 43 concerts in 30 cities (primarily the southern states) in 31 days (7,000 miles) climaxing in a Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
concert on May 1, 1956. At this performance, the band's instrument truck was delayed by bad weather. The instruments finally arrived just minutes before the curtain rose. The band had no time to warm up or rehearse. They went on stage "cold". There were so many encore calls at the Carnegie Hall performance that Nat King Cole (who was backstage, but not on the bill) had to come out on stage and ask people to leave.
Stage and Film
Duncan had expressed that the Ted Heath Band was good discipline, but after Heath's death in 1969, Duncan had reservations that the band would never be the same again, leaving to pursue session work that was available on television and the odd gig. However, by this time Duncan had already started a musical career in film, most notably in Agatha ChristieAgatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
’s ‘The Mirror Crack’d,’ starring Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
, Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
and Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama...
.
In the West End, Duncan had also worked on several shows such as Bubbling Brown Sugar
Bubbling Brown Sugar
Bubbling Brown Sugar is a musical revue written by Loften Mitchell based on a concept by Rosetta LeNoire and featuring the music of numerous African-American artists who were popular during the Harlem Renaissance, 1920–1940, including Duke Ellington, Eubie Blake, Count Basie, Cab Calloway and Fats...
, and the Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
show Song and Dance
Song and Dance
Song and Dance is a musical comprising two acts, one told entirely in "Song" and one entirely in "Dance", tied together by a love story.The first part is Tell Me On A Sunday, with lyrics by Don Black and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, about a young British woman's romantic misadventures in New York...
with Wayne Sleep
Wayne Sleep
Wayne Philip Colin Sleep OBE is a British dancer, director, choreographer and panelist. He was a Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet and has appeared as a Guest Artist with several other ballet companies.-Early life:...
, which ran for two years. After this, Duncan worked on the Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 American adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second film in the Indiana Jones franchise and prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark . After arriving in India, Indiana Jones is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone...
. More recently, Duncan has worked on the film Entrapment
Entrapment
In criminal law, entrapment is conduct by a law enforcement agent inducing a person to commit an offense that the person would otherwise have been unlikely to commit. In many jurisdictions, entrapment is a possible defense against criminal liability...
with Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
.
Later career
Duncan later rejoined Ted Heath's Orchestra under lead by Don LusherDon Lusher
Don Lusher OBE was a jazz and big band trombonist best known for his association with the Ted Heath Big Band...
, describing the revival as "a breath of fresh air". He was also a staff player in the BBC Radio Orchestra
BBC Radio Orchestra
The BBC Radio Orchestra was a broadcasting orchestra based in London, maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation from 1965 until 1991....
and BBC Big Band
BBC Big Band
The BBC Big Band, originally known as the BBC Radio Big Band is a British big band run under the auspices of the BBC. Widely regarded as the UK’s leading and most versatile jazz orchestra, the band broadcasts exclusivley on BBC Radio, particularly on BBC Radio 2's long running series Big Band Special...
, till he retired from the BBC aged 60. In the 1990s, Duncan had made three trips to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
with the Ray McVay Band, performing The Glen Miller Show with singers and dancers. In 2003, he bought himself a new trumpet; "It wasn’t far short of the price of my first house. I’ve been a full time musician since I was sixteen years old, so at eighty one I am more than happy just to have come this far. I still just love playing so I’ll keep on playing as long as the chops keep going!"