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<-- | <!-- NOTE: The introduction to a Citizendium biographical article is usually one or two sentences long, naming the subject of the article (in boldface type; that's what the three quote marks are for), his dates, and the main things he's famous for. --> | ||
'''Ken Colyer''' (1928-1988; nickname 'The Guv’nor') was a British [[jazz]] trumpeter and singer who took part in the revival of classic New Orleans-style jazz in the 1940s and 1950s. | '''Ken Colyer''' (1928-1988; nickname 'The Guv’nor') was a British [[jazz]] trumpeter and singer who took part in the revival of classic New Orleans-style jazz in the 1940s and 1950s. | ||
<-- | <!-- NOTE: I omitted the background history of New Orleans jazz; that should certainly be in a separate article on "Jazz" or "History of Jazz", but doesn't need to be repeated in every article about a jazz musician. --> | ||
<-- | <!-- NOTE: the double [[ ]] square brackets around "jazz", "Rudyard Kipling", "Louis Armstrong", etc., create a hyperlink to the article on that subject. In many cases, those articles do not yet exist, in which case the hyperlink will be displayed in red; if the article exists, the link will be blue. A reader can click on a blue link and read the other article, or can click on a red link and begin writing a new article on that subject. --> | ||
=Early career in England= | =Early career in England= | ||
Revision as of 11:05, 4 May 2011
Ken Colyer (1928-1988; nickname 'The Guv’nor') was a British jazz trumpeter and singer who took part in the revival of classic New Orleans-style jazz in the 1940s and 1950s.
Early career in England
Born in Great Yarmouth, England, Colyer first learned about jazz from phonograph records owned by his elder brother Bill. He had already learned to play a few tunes on the mouthorgan when, at the end of World War II, he joned the Merchant Navy, serving on a tanker, where he practiced trumpet and guitar in his free time. As a sailor he visited Philadelphia, Gibraltar, Italy, Aden, Oman, Haifa, and Copenhagen. He committed to memory a verse of Rudyard Kipling's poem 'The Long Trail' -- he was living its subject mater -- and later set it to music and recorded it with guitar accompaniment.
In 1949 Ken Colyer, and his brother Bill (playing the washboard), joined Ben Marshall's conceived Crane River Jazz Band -- practicing on the banks opposite the house of trumpeter Leo 'Sonny' Morris's father. Colyer and Morris played a two-horn lead based on King Oliver and Louis Armstrong's loose style, with horn playing variations to the lead. In the early days their sound was rough -- until trombonist and saxophonist John R.T. Davies pointed to the existence of musical keys -- and loud.
First visit to New Orleans
In 1952 Colyer signed up as a sailor again to get to New Orleans; now he was pleasing passengers and crew with his playing. Working as a waiter, he came to dislike and disdain the upper crust. He arrived in New York, then Mobile, Alabama, where he jumped ship and finally reached New Orleans with a trumpet mouthpiece. That night he heard and met the George Lewis band, and later in the week sat-in with them, learning all the time. They welcomed him with surprised pleasure: "Ain't that Bunk, George? That's Bunk, man," said pianist Alton Purnell, likening Colyer to the legendary trumpeter Willie 'Bunk' Johnson, as they played Sister Kate. The critic Dick Allen said Colyer was the only white man who contributed something to the band.
Colyer recorded with two local bands including that of bassist Albert Glenny, 90 years old and the last surviving musician who could remember legendary cornetist Charles 'Buddy' Bolden, who had died in 1931. The liveliest of their numbers was Ciribiribin, which Colyer had never played before, and during which he missed the key change.
Return to England
Because he had overstayed his 30-day visa -- and possibly also because he had fraternized with African-Americans -- he was jailed in New Orleans for five weeks. Bailed out (without the aid of the British diplomatic service), he returned home to join a band whose lead trumpeter, Pat Halcox, had dropped out to study. It included Monty Sunshine, the clarinetist from the Crane River band, and trombonist Chris Barber. The band recorded for only a year, but in that time saw one of its numbers, Isle of Capri, enter the Top 5, a first for any jazz record.