Keith Ronald Christie (6 January 1931 – 16 December 1980) was an English
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...
. He formed a band with his brother in the late 1940s, and soon after the pair joined the band of
Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton (23 May 1921 – 25 April 2008), also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster from the Lyttelton family.
Having taught himself the trumpet at school, Lyttelton became a professional ...
. Christie served in the military early in the 1950s, then reconvened to lead an ensemble with his brother, the Christie Brothers' Stompers, featuring
Ken Colyer
Kenneth Colyer (18 April 1928 – 8 March 1988) was an English jazz trumpeter and cornetist, devoted to Dixieland, New Orleans jazz. His band was also known for skiffle interludes.
Biography
He was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, but ...
and Dicky Hawdon. In 1953 the group broke up, and Christie went on to work with
John Dankworth
Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE (20 September 1927 – 6 February 2010), also known as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist, clarinettist and writer of film scores. With his wife, jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine, he ...
,
Cleo Laine
Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth (born Clementine Dinah Bullock; 28 October 1927)George Chisholm,
Harry Klein
Harold "Harry" Klein (25 December 1928 – 30 June 2010) was an English jazz saxophonist. As a session musician, he played on recordings by the Beatles.
Early in his career, Klein played with Nat Gonella in the late 1940s. He then played with Bi ...
Vic Ash
Victor "Vic" Ash (9 March 1930, in East London – 24 October 2014) was an English jazz saxophonist and clarinetist. He was of Jewish ancestry.
Biography
Ash began playing professionally in 1951 when, with Tubby Hayes, he joined the band o ...
,
Wally Fawkes
Walter Ernest Fawkes (born 21 June 1924) is a British-Canadian jazz clarinetist and satirical cartoonist. As a cartoonist, he usually worked under the name "Trog" until failing eyesight forced him to retire in 2005 at the age of 81.
Early hist ...
, and
Tommy Whittle
Tommy Whittle (13 October 1926 – 13 October 2013) was a British jazz saxophonist.
Biography
Tommy Whittle was born in Grangemouth, Scotland. He started playing clarinet at the age of 12 before taking up tenor saxophone at 13, guided by Al ...
.
Christie was a member of the trombone section of the
Ted Heath
Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath a ...
Orchestra from 1957 until the late 1960s, playing alongside
Don Lusher
Don Lusher OBE (6 November 1923 – 5 July 2006) was an English jazz and big band trombonist best known for his association with the Ted Heath Big Band. In a career spanning more than 60 years, he played trombone with a number of jazz orchestras ...
. He also played with drummer
Allan Ganley
Allan Anthony Ganley (11 March 1931 – 29 March 2008) was an English jazz drummer and arranger.
Career
Ganley was born in Tolworth, Surrey, England. A self-taught drummer, in the early 1950s Ganley played in the dance band led by Bert Ambrose. ...
, saxophonists
Ronnie Ross
Albert Ronald Ross (2 October 1933 – 12 December 1991) was a British jazz baritone saxophonist.
Life
Born in Calcutta, India, to Scottish parents, Ross moved to England in 1946 and was educated at the Perse School in Cambridge. He beg ...
and
Art Ellefson
Arthur Albert Ellefson (17 April 1932 – 2018) was a Canadian jazz saxophonist who worked in the UK during the 1950s and 1960s.
Biography
Having learned trumpet and euphonium as a boy, he began playing tenor saxophone at 16 and began his career ...
from 1959 to 1962 in the Jazzmakers. He toured the U.S. with
Vic Lewis
Victor Lewis MBE (29 July 1919 – 9 February 2009) was a British jazz guitarist and bandleader. He also enjoyed success as an artists' agent and manager.
Biography
He was born in London, England. Lewis began playing the guitar at the age o ...
in 1960. After a brief reunion with Heath he played with
Jimmy Deuchar
James Deuchar (26 June 1930 – 9 September 1993) was a Scottish jazz trumpeter and big band arranger, born in Dundee, Scotland. He found fame as a performer and arranger in the 1950s and 1960s. Deuchar was taught trumpet by John Lynch, who lear ...
(1964) and
Harry South
Harry Percy South (7 September 1929 – 12 March 1990) was an English jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, who moved into work for film and television.
Career
South was born in Fulham, London. He came to prominence in the 1950s, playing wi ...
(1965–66). In 1970–71 he joined
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing".
From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...
on a tour of Europe. During the 1960s and 1970s, he played with
Tubby Hayes
Edward Brian "Tubby" Hayes (30 January 1935 – 8 June 1973) was an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known for his tenor saxophone playing in groups with fellow sax player Ronnie Scott and with trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar.
Early life
H ...
,
Paul Gonsalves
Paul Gonsalves ( – ) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist best known for his association with Duke Ellington. At the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, Gonsalves played a 27-chorus solo in the middle of Ellington's "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue ...
Stan Tracey
Stanley William Tracey (30 December 1926 – 6 December 2013) was a British jazz pianist and composer, whose most important influences were Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. Tracey's best known recording is the 1965 album ''Jazz Suite Inspir ...
,
Kenny Wheeler
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards.
Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he was also active ...
Ray Premru
Raymond Eugene Premru (June 6, 1934 – May 8, 1998) was an American trombonist, composer, and teacher who spent most of his career in London, England.
Life and career
The son of a Methodist minister, Premru was born in Elmira, New York and gre ...
,
Phil Seamen
Philip William Seamen (28 August 1926 – 13 October 1972) was an English jazz drummer.
With a background in big band music, Seamen played and recorded in a wide range of musical contexts with virtually every key figure of 1950s and 1960s Brit ...
, and
Tony Kinsey
Cyril Anthony Kinsey (born 11 October 1927) is an English jazz drummer and composer.
Early life
Kinsey was born in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, England. He held jobs on trans-Atlantic ships while young, studying while at port with Bill West i ...
.
In the mid-1970s he suffered a fall and recovered, but continuing battles with alcoholism resulted in his death in December 1980, at the age of 49.
Discography
As sideman
With
Tubby Hayes
Edward Brian "Tubby" Hayes (30 January 1935 – 8 June 1973) was an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known for his tenor saxophone playing in groups with fellow sax player Ronnie Scott and with trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar.
Early life
H ...
Ted Heath
Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath a ...
* ''The World of Big Band Blues'' (London, 1959)
* ''Ted Heath Swing Session'' (Decca, 1959)
* ''My Very Good Friends the Bandleaders'' (Decca, 1960)
* ''Big Band Spirituals'' (Decca, 1963)
* ''Swing vs. Latin'' (Decca, 1963)
* ''All Time Top Twelve'' (Decca, 1973)
* ''The Ted Heath Band in Concert'' (Decca, 1977)
With others
*
Sidney Bechet
Sidney Bechet (May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Armstrong. His erratic temp ...
, ''We Dig Dixieland Jazz'' (Musidisc, 1965)
*
Kenny Clare
Kenneth Cloudsley Clare (8 June 1929 – 11 January 1985) was a British jazz drummer.
Early life
Born in Leytonstone, Essex, England, Clare learnt to play the drums at the age of 13.
Career
In 1947, Clare joined the Royal Air Force and playe ...
&
Ronnie Stephenson
Ronnie Stephenson (26 January 1937 – 8 August 2002) was an English jazz drummer. He was one of the most in-demand drummers on the British jazz scene in the 1960s.
Biography
Stephenson was born in Sunderland. As a boy, he wanted to become a ...
, ''Drum Spectacular'' (Columbia, 1967)
*
Mike d'Abo
Michael David d'Abo (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of Manfred Mann from 1966 to their dissolution in 1969, and as the composer of the songs "Handbags and Gladrags" and " Build Me Up But ...
, ''Down at Rachel's Place'' (A&M, 1972)
*
Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame (born Clive Powell; 26 June 1943) is an English R&B and jazz musician. Fame, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still performing, often working with contemporaries such as Alan Price, Van Morrison and Bill Wyman. Fame is the on ...
, ''Sound Venture'' (Columbia, 1966)
* Georgie Fame, ''The Two Faces of Fame'' (CBS, 1967)
*
Sam Fonteyn
Samuel Soden (20 May 1925 – 29 August 1991),''England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007'' known as Sam Fonteyn, was an English composer and pianist, whose most significant output was for the Boosey & Hawkes Music Library, for wh ...
, ''Big Band Spectacular'' (Columbia, 1966)
*
Paul Gonsalves
Paul Gonsalves ( – ) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist best known for his association with Duke Ellington. At the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, Gonsalves played a 27-chorus solo in the middle of Ellington's "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue ...
&
Tubby Hayes
Edward Brian "Tubby" Hayes (30 January 1935 – 8 June 1973) was an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known for his tenor saxophone playing in groups with fellow sax player Ronnie Scott and with trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar.
Early life
H ...
, ''Just Friends'' (Columbia, 1965)
*
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing".
From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...
, ''Benny Goodman in Concert'' (Decca, 1971)
*
Johnny Keating
John Keating (10 September 1927 – 28 May 2015) was a Scottish musician, songwriter, arranger and trombonist.
Biography
Keating was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. After studying piano and trombone, he taught himself how to arrange and compose in ...
, ''Swing Revisited'' (Decca, 1963)
* Dave Lee, ''Jazz Improvisations of Our Man Crichton'' (Colpix, 1965)
*
Vic Lewis
Victor Lewis MBE (29 July 1919 – 9 February 2009) was a British jazz guitarist and bandleader. He also enjoyed success as an artists' agent and manager.
Biography
He was born in London, England. Lewis began playing the guitar at the age o ...
, ''Big Band Explosion'' (Ember, 1964)
*
Bill McGuffie
Bill McGuffie (11 December 1927 – 22 March 1987) was a British pianist, who went on to become a film composer and conductor. He also made several television appearances, most notably in '' Softly, Softly'' as a pub pianist.
Biography
Bill McG ...
, ''The Bill McGuffie Big Band'' (Rediffusion, 1972)
*
Steve Race
Stephen Russell "Steve" Race OBE (1 April 192122 June 2009) was a British composer, pianist and radio and television presenter.
Biography
Born in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, the son of a lawyer, Race learned the piano from the age of five.Spencer L ...
, ''Take One'' (World Record Club, 1965)
* William Russo, ''Russo in London'' (Columbia, 1963)
*
Stan Tracey
Stanley William Tracey (30 December 1926 – 6 December 2013) was a British jazz pianist and composer, whose most important influences were Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. Tracey's best known recording is the 1965 album ''Jazz Suite Inspir ...
, ''The Latin-American Caper'' (Columbia, 1969)
* Stan Tracey, ''We Love You Madly'' (Columbia, 1969)
*
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, ...
&
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ' ...
, ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' (MCA, 1970)
*
Kenny Wheeler
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards.
Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he was also active ...