Kenny Ball
Encyclopedia
Kenny Ball is an English
jazz
musician
, best known as the lead trumpet
player in Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen.
in bands
, whilst also working as a salesman and for an advertising agency. He played the trumpet in bands led by Charlie Galbraith, Sid Phillips
, Eric Delaney
and Terry Lightfoot
before forming his own trad jazz
band in 1958. His dixieland
band was at the forefront of the early 1960s UK
jazz revival.
In 1961 their recording of Cole Porter's
'Samantha' became a hit, and in March 1962, Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen reached both #2 on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100
chart
, and the UK Singles Chart
, with "Midnight in Moscow". The record
sold over one million copies, earning gold disc
status.
Further hits ensued, including a version of 'March of the Siamese Children' from 'The King and I', which topped the pop music
magazine
, New Musical Express
chart
in March that year, and such was their popularity in the UK that Ball was featured, alongside Cliff Richard
, Brenda Lee
, Joe Brown
, Craig Douglas
and Frank Ifield
, on the cover of the New Musical Express in July 1962, although in the U.S. they remained a 'one-hit wonder'.
In January 1963, New Musical Express reported that the biggest trad jazz event to be staged in Britain
had taken place at Alexandra Palace
. The event included George Melly
, Diz Disley
, Bilk, Barber, Alex Welsh
, Ken Colyer
, Monty Sunshine
, Bob Wallis
, Bruce Turner
, Mick Mulligan
and Ball. The same year, Ball became the first British jazzman to become an honorary citizen of New Orleans
., and appeared in the 1963 film
, Live It Up!
, featuring Gene Vincent
.
In 1968 the band appeared with Louis Armstrong during his last European tour. Ball later appeared on the BBC Television
's highly rated review of the sixties music scene Pop Go The Sixties
, performing "Midnight In Moscow" with his Jazzmen on the show broadcast on BBC 1, on January 1, 1970, and his continued success was aided by guest appearances on every edition of the first six series of the BBC's Morecambe and Wise
Show. He later claimed that the peak of his career was when Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen played at the reception for the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.
Ball and his band have enjoyed one of the longest unbroken spells of success for bands of their generation. Their traditional, 1960s hits like "Samantha" and "Midnight in Moscow
", remain popular in dixieland and trumpet circles today, and his status rivals contemporaries Acker Bilk and Chris Barber
. Their joint album
, The Best of Ball, Barber and Bilk, reached #1 in the UK Albums Chart
.
Ball continued to tour well into the 2000s. He has charted fourteen 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
, Bilk, John Chilton
and the Feetwarmers, John Dankworth
, Humphrey Lyttelton
and Melly, and was entitled British Jazz Legends Together.
was at its commercial peak:
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...
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...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, best known as the lead trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
player in Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen.
Career
Ball began his career as a semi-professional sidemanSideman
A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform or record with a group of which he or she is not a regular member. They often tour with solo acts as well as bands and jazz ensembles. Sidemen are generally required to be adaptable to many different styles of music, and so able to fit...
in bands
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
, whilst also working as a salesman and for an advertising agency. He played the trumpet in bands led by Charlie Galbraith, Sid Phillips
Sid Phillips (musician)
Isador Simon "Sid" Phillips was an English jazz clarinetist, bandleader, and arranger.Phillips learned violin and piano as a child, and played reeds in his teens as a member of his brother's European band. He got into the music business as a publisher and director for the Edison-Bell Gramophone...
, Eric Delaney
Eric Delaney
Eric Delaney was an English drummer and bandleader, popular in the 1950s and early 1960s.-Career:Delaney was born in Acton, London. Aged 16, he won the Best Swing Drummer award and later joined the Bert Ambrose Octet which featured George Shearing on piano...
and Terry Lightfoot
Terry Lightfoot
Terry Lightfoot is a British clarinettist and bandleader, and together with Chris Barber, Acker Bilk and Kenny Ball was one of the leading members of the trad jazz generation of British jazzmen.-Early life:Lightfoot started his musical career as a vocalist during school-life, singing popular songs...
before forming his own trad jazz
Trad jazz
Trad jazz - short for "traditional jazz" - refers to the Dixieland and Ragtime jazz styles of the early 20th century in contrast to any more modern style....
band in 1958. His dixieland
Dixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
band was at the forefront of the early 1960s UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
jazz revival.
In 1961 their recording of Cole Porter's
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
'Samantha' became a hit, and in March 1962, Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen reached both #2 on the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
, and the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, with "Midnight in Moscow". The record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
sold over one million copies, earning gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
status.
Further hits ensued, including a version of 'March of the Siamese Children' from 'The King and I', which topped the pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
, New Musical Express
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
in March that year, and such was their popularity in the UK that Ball was featured, alongside Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
, Brenda Lee
Brenda Lee
Brenda Mae Tarpley , known as Brenda Lee, is an American performer who sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 37 US chart hits during the 1960s, a number surpassed only by Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ray Charles and Connie Francis...
, Joe Brown
Joe Brown (singer)
Joe Brown, MBE is an English entertainer.He has worked as a rock and roll singer and guitarist for more than five decades. He was a stage and television performer in the late 1950s and a UK recording star in the early 1960s...
, Craig Douglas
Craig Douglas
Craig Douglas is an English pop singer, who was popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s...
and Frank Ifield
Frank Ifield
Francis Edward Ifield is an early Australian-English easy listening and country music singer. He achieved considerable success in the early 1960s, especially in the UK Singles Chart, where he had four Number 1 hits between 1962 and 1963....
, on the cover of the New Musical Express in July 1962, although in the U.S. they remained a 'one-hit wonder'.
In January 1963, New Musical Express reported that the biggest trad jazz event to be staged in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
had taken place at Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace is a building in North London, England. It stands in Alexandra Park, in an area between Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Wood Green...
. The event included George Melly
George Melly
Alan George Heywood Melly was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for The Observer and lectured on art history, with an emphasis on surrealism.-Early life and career:He was born in Liverpool and was educated at Stowe...
, Diz Disley
Diz Disley
Diz Disley was an Anglo-Canadian jazz guitarist and graphic designer. He is best known for his jazz guitar playing, strongly influenced by Django Reinhardt, and for his collaborations with the violinist Stéphane Grappelli....
, Bilk, Barber, Alex Welsh
Alex Welsh
Alex Welsh was a Scottish jazz musician, who played the cornet, trumpet and sang.-Biography:Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Welsh started playing in the teenage 'Leith Silver Band' and gigged with Archie Semple's 'Capital Jazz Band'. After moving to London in the early 1950s, Welsh formed his own band...
, Ken Colyer
Ken Colyer
Kenneth Colyer was a British jazz trumpeter and cornetist, devoted totally to New Orleans jazz. His band was also known for skiffle interludes.-Biography:...
, Monty Sunshine
Monty Sunshine
Monty Sunshine was an English jazz clarinetist, whose main claim to fame was his clarinet solo on the track "Petite Fleur", a million seller for the Chris Barber Jazz Band in 1959...
, Bob Wallis
Bob Wallis
Robert 'Bob' Wallis was a British jazz musician, who had a handful of chart success in the early 1960s, during the UK traditional jazz boom.-Biography:...
, Bruce Turner
Bruce Turner
Bruce Turner was an English saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader.Born Malcolm Bruce Turner in Saltburn, he learned to play the clarinet as a schoolboy and began playing alto sax while serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II...
, Mick Mulligan
Mick Mulligan
Peter Sidney "Mick" Mulligan was an English jazz trumpeter and bandleader, best known for his presence on the trad jazz scene....
and Ball. The same year, Ball became the first British jazzman to become an honorary citizen of New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
., and appeared in the 1963 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Live It Up!
Live It Up! (film)
Live It Up! is a British music-film released in 1963. It was filmed at Pinewood Film Studios in London, England and featured Gene Vincent, Jenny Moss, The Outlaws, Patsy Ann Noble, The Saints and Heinz Burt among others...
, featuring Gene Vincent
Gene Vincent
Vincent Eugene Craddock , known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-A-Lula", is considered a significant early example of rockabilly...
.
In 1968 the band appeared with Louis Armstrong during his last European tour. Ball later appeared on the BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
's highly rated review of the sixties music scene Pop Go The Sixties
Pop Go The Sixties
Pop Go The Sixties! was a one-off, seventy five-minute TV special originally broadcast in colour on 31 December 1969, to celebrate the major pop hits of the 1960s. The show was a co-production between the United Kingdom's BBC and Germany's ZDF broadcasters...
, performing "Midnight In Moscow" with his Jazzmen on the show broadcast on BBC 1, on January 1, 1970, and his continued success was aided by guest appearances on every edition of the first six series of the BBC's Morecambe and Wise
Morecambe and Wise
Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, usually referred to as Morecambe and Wise, or Eric and Ernie, were a British comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984...
Show. He later claimed that the peak of his career was when Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen played at the reception for the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.
Ball and his band have enjoyed one of the longest unbroken spells of success for bands of their generation. Their traditional, 1960s hits like "Samantha" and "Midnight in Moscow
Moscow Nights
"Moscow Nights" or "Midnight in Moscow" is a Russian song, and one of those best known outside its homeland.The song was originally created as "Leningradskie Vechera" by composer Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi and poet Mikhail Matusovsky in 1955 , but at the request of the Soviet Ministry of Culture, the...
", remain popular in dixieland and trumpet circles today, and his status rivals contemporaries Acker Bilk and Chris Barber
Chris Barber
Donald Christopher 'Chris' Barber is best known as a jazz trombonist. As well as scoring a UK top twenty trad jazz hit he helped the careers of many musicians, notably the blues singer Ottilie Patterson, who was at one time his wife, and vocalist/banjoist Lonnie Donegan, whose appearances with...
. Their joint album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, The Best of Ball, Barber and Bilk, reached #1 in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
.
Ball continued to tour well into the 2000s. He has charted fourteen Top 50 hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
in the UK alone, the most by any jazz artist. All such releases were issued on the Pye
Pye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
.
In 2001 Ball was part of the recording of an album on the Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
label. It featured 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...
, Bilk, John Chilton
John Chilton
John James Chilton is a British jazz trumpeter and writer. During the 1960s he also worked with pop bands, including The Swinging Blue Jeans and The Escorts....
and the Feetwarmers, John Dankworth
John Dankworth
Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE , known in his early career as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist and clarinetist...
, Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton , also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster, and chairman of the BBC radio comedy programme I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue...
and Melly, and was entitled British Jazz Legends Together.
The Jazzmen
The line-up has changed greatly over the years, but the following personnel were in situ when the musical ensembleMusical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
was at its commercial peak:
- Kenny Ball - (trumpet)
- John BennettJohn Bennett-Arts & entertainment:* John Bennett , British actor from the film The Fifth Element* John Bennett , British composer and organist* John Bennett , drummer of the UK doom metal band The Prophecy...
- (tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
) - still in the present day line-up - Dave Jones - (clarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
) - Ron Weatherburn - (pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
) - Paddy Lightfoot - (banjoBanjoIn the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
) - Ron Bowden - (drumDrumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s) - Vic Pitt - (bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
)(bass guitar)
Discography
- The Big Ones Kenny Ball Style - Kapp Records (KS-3340)
- Midnight in Moscow - Kapp Records (KL-1276) - 1962