Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Kenneth Colyer was born on April 18, 1928 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, but grew up in Soho, London, and served as a member of his church choir. Listening to his elder brother’s jazz records which influenced him. He joined the Merchant Navy at 17, travelled around the world and heard famous jazz musicians in New Orleans, Louisiana^.

In the UK, Colyer played with various bands and joined the Crane River Jazz Band in 1949  with Ben Marshall, Sonny Morris, Pat Hawes, John R. T. Davies, Julian Davies, Ron Bowden and Monty Sunshine. Rejoining the Merchant Navy, and jumping ship in Mobile, Alabama, he travelled to New Orleans, where he played with his idols in George Lewis’ band. Though offered the job of lead trumpeter on a tour, he was caught by the authorities, detained and deported.

Ken went on to join the Chris Barber Band and made their first recordings on the Storyville in 1953. Parting company the following year, then briefly joined a band in the mid-1950s with clarinetist Acker Bilk and trombonist Ed O’Donnell.

Then he put together his own band with Mac Duncan, Ian Wheeler, Johnny Bastable, Ron Ward, Colin Bowden and Ray Foxley. This band played together until the early 1960s before incorporating a new lineup.

After a bout with stomach cancer in 1972 he stopped being a bandleader but continued to work, occasionally associated with Chris Blount’s New Orleans Jazz Band. A biography, Goin’ Home, was compiled by Mike Pointon and Ray Smith. Trumpeter and cornetist Ken Colyer, who was known for skiffle interludes and devoted to New Orleans jazz, passed away on March 8, 1988.

More Posts: bandleader,cornet,history,instrumental,jazz,music,trumpet