Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Graham Burbridge was born on October 1, 1933 in Stepney, London, England. He started drumming about the age of six, playing things like British Grenadiers with Boy Scouts Bands. It was only after the war when he was around twelve that he found jazz and progressed from Spike Jones through Spanier, Bunk Johnson to Lennie Tristano. It was a fairly rapid musical education that  sat him on the modern side of the fence in his genre choice.

Graham played drums in the RAF with a Military Band, but also managed to get into the dance band. Back in civilian life in 1954 he worked a daytime job and played in a trio in the evening with Pete Elderfield and Maurice Hinson. His early interests in jazz led him to all the clubs, sitting in whenever he could. One night in Humph’s he was invited to play with the Sandy Brown Band and the next day was asked to join the band full time, and his professional career took off. He played with Brown until Sandy retired.

Joining the Chris Barber Band in 1957 was fortuitous, as the relationship lasted nearly two decades. Off stage Burbridge’s interests ran towards new and antique guns, and building model aircraft, something that had been a part of his life for a long time. His interest in guns was a new endeavor but also helped to re-energize and replace the nervous energy used on stage.

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