Ken Rattenbury (10 September 1920 – 9 April 2001) was an English jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer and author born in Spilsby, Lincolnshire to Sidney, a postmaster. and Maude (

nee Nee or NEE may refer to: Names * Née (lit. "born"), a woman's family name at birth before the adoption of another surname usually after marriage **The male equivalent "né" is used to indicate what a man was originally known as before the adopt ...

Miller), a homemaker. He would go on to serve in the British Army from 1940 to 1946 as a

private first class Private first class (french: Soldat de 1 classe; es, Soldado de primera) is a military rank held by junior enlisted personnel in a number of armed forces. French speaking countries In France and other French speaking countries, the rank (; ) ...

. He received a World War II Victory Medal, Defence Medal, and the British Expeditionary Forces medal.

Jazz career

He first joined a jazz band playing the piano in 1933. While in the Service, he took up the trumpet and toured the European Theatre of World War II leading his own band. In 1946 he had a stint with

Stars in Battledress Stars in Battledress (SiB) was an organisation of entertainers who were members of the British Armed Forces during World War II. History In Britain, during the Second World War, entertainment was considered an essential to keep morale high. I ...

, and after being demobilized lived in the English Midlands. He mostly did freelancing until he formed his own band in 1951. He wrote an extended jazz suite in honor of

Bix Beiderbecke Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke (March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical app ...

, called ''Mirror to Bix'', and had George Chisholm and Steve Racein him group. During 1963 and 1964, he composed and broadcast two thirty-minute jazz suites, ''The Seven Ages of Man'' and ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'', and again had some of the greats of jazz play with him, Kenny Baker and had Michael Hordern reciting the famous Shakespearean soliloquy, "All the world's a stage ..." in the ''Seven Ages'' suite. He then worked for EMI to produce full-length albums of incidental music to stories by

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

and

The Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

. He then established the ''Jazz Four''. He got his M.A. from

University of Keele Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a Public university#United Kingdom, public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University Coll ...

in 1984. Rattenbury is most notable for his

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

biography, but also had been commissioned by the BBC in the 1960s to compose two half-hour jazz suites titled ''The Seven Ages of Man'' and ''The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner''.

Personal life

He married Elsie May Cross on 8 May 1941. He appeared on BBC Light Programme on Friday nights. With Ted Heath in the early 1960s he wrote and performed 30 minute jazz soliloquies.

Works

* ''Duke Ellington, Jazz Composer'' Yale University Press, 1990; * ''Jazz Journey 1925-94'', 1995; autobiography

Notes

;Bibliography *

External links

Obituary in ''The Last Post''
1920 births 2001 deaths Alumni of Keele University English jazz pianists English jazz trumpeters Male trumpeters English writers People from Spilsby 20th-century British pianists 20th-century English musicians 20th-century trumpeters 20th-century British male musicians 20th-century British musicians British male jazz musicians British Army personnel of World War II British Army soldiers British male jazz pianists {{jazz-trumpeter-stub