Roy Crimmins is an English 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...

 trombonist, composer and arranger.

Of Irish and Scottish descent, Crimmins turned professional by joining the 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....

 band in 1952. Originally self-taught, Roy was later mentored by the American bass trombonist with the Philarmonia Orchestra, Ray Premru, and the then Ted Heath principal trombonist, 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...

. With a career spanning 50 years, Crimmins has played and collaborated with many notable musicians, including Archie Semple

Archie Semple

Archibald Stuart Nisbet "Archie" Semple was a Scottish jazz clarinetist active principally within the trad jazz idiom....

, 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...

, Freddy Randall

Freddy Randall

Frederick James 'Freddy' Randall was an English jazz trumpeter and bandleader born in Clapton, East London.Randall led the St. Louis Four in 1939, and played as a freelance sideman in the early 1940s. He served in the military during World War II, then played with Freddy Mirfield in a group...

, Harry Gold

Harry Gold

Harry Gold was a laboratory chemist who was convicted of being the “courier” for a number of Soviet spy rings during the Manhattan Project.-Early life:Gold was born in Switzerland to poor Russian Jewish immigrants...

 and Lennie Hastings

Lennie Hastings

Leonard "Lennie" Hastings was an English jazz drummer.Hastings played in military bands during World War II, then played with Freddy Randall and Alex Welsh...

.

Collaborating with Alex Walsh in 1954, the pair started their own band and recorded with American guest stars such as the clarinettist Pee Wee Russell

Pee Wee Russell

Charles Ellsworth Russell, much better known by his nickname Pee Wee Russell, was a jazz musician. Early in his career he played clarinet and saxophones, but eventually focused solely on clarinet....

 and Wild Bill Davison

Wild Bill Davison

Wild' Bill Davison was a fiery jazz cornet player who emerged in the 1920s, but did not achieve recognition until the 1940s...

. The band was active for the following decade, and Crimmins moved to Germany in 1965 where he kept a consistent line-up and a regular group together for an extended period, this time some 13 years. He toured Europe extensively during this era, and had his own television show in Vienna for five years. Using the pseudonym of Roy King, he cut three albums as a band leader beginning in 1975. In the late '70s, Crimmins went back to England and worked once again with Welsh until his death in 1982.

In the mid 1980s, Crimmins was approached by Bob Wilber

Bob Wilber

Bob Wilber is an internationally recognized American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist and band leader living in Chipping Campden, England. Although his scope covers a wide range of jazz, Wilber has been a dedicated advocate of classic styles, working throughout his career to present traditional jazz...

 to join his Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington orchestras, interpreting the original Lawrence Brown, Tricky Sam Nanton and Juan Tizol trombone solos, performing at the Nice and North Sea Jazz Festivals. At this time, Crimmins was approached by the Mayor of Eilat, Israel, to advise on establishing an International Jazz Festival in Eilat. Roy's involvement in this venture led to the renowned Red Sea Jazz Festival

Red Sea Jazz Festival

The Red Sea Jazz Festival is a jazz festival held annually in Eilat, Israel.The Red Sea Jazz Festival was first held in 1987. It is a four-day long event featuring 9-10 concerts per evening, 6 workshops with guest artists and nightly jam sessions. All performances are held outdoors at the Eilat port...

 of today. Soon after, Roy and his family moved to Tel Aviv, Israel where he established the Israel Jazz Ensemble, and was commissioned by Musica Nova (a breakdown group from the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra) to write a concerto, which premiered in the Tel Aviv Museum Concert Hall to great acclaim.

Now retired and living in Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

, Crimmins’ music is still broadcasted regularly.

Original compositions by Roy Crimmins

• Lady Z
• Miriam's Drum
• The Earbender
• Balconies
• To Mr Charles M
• Suite Alice - A suite in five movements (The fourth movement 'The Jabberwocky' text by Lewis Carroll
  Lewis Carroll
  Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
  
  )
• Judi's Jam
• Judi With An I
• Goodnight Sweet Prince
• The Rest Is Silence
• Concerto for Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble
• Special Arrangement: 'The Train and the River' (Guiffre)
• Billy Rose is alive and well and living in Jerusalem - A suite in three movements:
• 1. Entrance to the city
• 2. In the beginning
• 3. And nobody hears (text: Mira Maor)
• Abigail's Lament
• The Cats of Tel Aviv
• The Witch of Ein Dor