Alfred William Bigden (1 March 1932 – 12 October 2007) was a British drummer mainly active from the 1960s to the early 2000s. Bigden had been "drummer for such stars as

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and Tony Bennett", as well as for Stéphane Grappelli on at least one of his albums.

Biography

Born to Alf & Sarah Bigden with younger sister Margaret and younger brother Colin. Grew up mainly in Dagenham, Essex. In demand as a session drummer throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Bigden played on albums for Alan Hawkshaw, Don Lusher,

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, Pete Moore and Ray Davies, amongst others. Referring to Bigden, Hawkshaw once said in an interview that "Alf was an amazing drummer; he could more or less put his hand to anything". Don Lusher also commented that "It was Alf Bigden, then

Ronnie Verrell Ronald Thomas Verrell (21 February 1926 – 22 February 2002) was an English jazz drummer. He played in two of the United Kingdom's "most famous" big bands, the Ted Heath Orchestra and the Syd Lawrence Orchestra. Verrell also worked extensi ...

. Yes – any way of drumming you like, they've got it".

BBC work

Alongside the session work, Bigden also played in then BBC musical director Ronnie Hazlehurst's 'house orchestra', playing on Hazlehurst's compositions and arrangements for the BBC throughout the 1970s and 1980s, on such pieces as the beginning and end themes to '' Only Fools And Horses'' (as well as appearing in the episode "

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" in 1989 as a drummer in the Mardi Gras club), '' The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin'', '' Are You Being Served?'', '' To the Manor Born'' and the main theme and incidental music for '' The Two Ronnies'', amongst others. As the BBC's 'house drummer' throughout most of the 1970s and 1980s, Bigden also played in the orchestra for the

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, when it was hosted by the BBC (and arranged by Hazlehurst) in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

and

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

. He also played in the orchestra for many of the

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s over the same period.

Film scores

Amongst other credits, Bigden played the drums on many of the James Bond scores, with Henry Mancini for the Pink Panther movies, as well as ''

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'', '' The Dam Busters'' and '' The Dirty Dozen''.

Later work

Bigden was active as a drummer and tutor until shortly before his death at the age of 75, on 12 October 2007 at his home in Holland-on-Sea.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bigden, Alf 2007 deaths 1932 births British session musicians British male drummers People from Stepney People from Tendring (district) 20th-century British male musicians 20th-century British musicians