Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Harry Percy South was born on September 7, 1929 in Fulham, London, England. He came to prominence in the 1950s, playing with Joe Harriott, Dizzy Reece, Tony Crombie, and Tubby Hayes. In 1954, he was in the Tony Crombie Orchestra with Dizzy Reece, Les Condon, Joe Temperley, Sammy Walker, Lennie Dawes, and Ashley Kozak.

Returning from a Calcutta, India tour with the Ashley Kozak Quartet, he spent four years with the Dick Morrissey Quartet, where he both wrote and arranged material for their subsequent four albums. He formed the Harry South Big Band in 1966 with Latin, ballads and straight-forward swingers.

By the mid-1960s, he began working with British rhythm & blues singer and organist Georgie Fame, recording the album Sound Venture. He composed and arranged for Humphrey Lyttelton, Buddy Rich, Sarah Vaughan, and Jimmy Witherspoon and was musical director and arranger for Annie Ross.

He branched out into session work, writing themes for television and music libraries. He is credited with the arrangements used for Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Works Vol. 1 (1977). In 1981, he again arranged for Annie Ross and Georgie Fame in a collaboration on what was to be Hoagy Carmichael’s last recording, In Hoagland.

Pianist, composer and arranger Harry South, who was honored with an album released by the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, died on March 12, 1990 in Lambeth, London at the age of 60.

More Posts: arranger,composer,history,instrumental,jazz,music,piano