Kenny Ball RIP

[GoldenStreet]

Hero of the halcyon days of trad jazz and beyond, who regularly vied with the Shads for top 10 places during the classic period!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/musi ... -dies.html

Bill

[JimN]

RIP, Kenny.

I always remember his early sixties (staged) reaction on a TV appearance when banjoist Paddy Lightfoot flew down, Peter Pan-style on a wire, from a raised rostrum at the back of a set to a position next to Kenny on the ground at the front.

"Oi... any more of that and it's back to The Shadows for you", he said.

JN

[LANKY]

I've recently been going through a Morecambe and Wise DVD box set in which Kenny Ball is featured heavily - I remember some of those original appearances, and they all seem incredibly fresh and exciting. Just before Kenny's death, I had been reading, on Eric and Ernie's website, a wonderful set of reminiscences by Kenny of his work on Eric and Ernie's show - there was a great rapport between them, and this comes across beautifully on the DVDs. My wife and I saw Kenny and his Jazzmen play only a few years ago in Manchester, and it was memorable, on a bill with Humphrey Lyttelton and Acker Bilk. It really was a golden era for jazz when those guys were having success.

[cockroach]

So sad, another fine musician passes away...RIP Kenny.

I enjoyed the 'trad boom' (Ball, Barber and Bilk, Temperance Seven etc) including not only the pop chart hits like Midnight in Moscow, Summerset, Pasadena etc but also the more 'serious' Dixieland stuff- I have a CD of Kenny and his band and the playing is great all round, and superb on the non-pop stuff.

There was so much great music of many styles around then and in the charts and on radio and TV- late '50's-early '60's- guitar instrumentals, rhythm & blues, rock'n'roll, folk, modern and trad jazz, country, ballads, film and TV themes, comedy etc.