Sir John Dankworth R.I.P.

[RogerF]

Sir John Dankworth, one of the most important innovators in British jazz died today aged 82. Dankworth with his wife, Dame Cleo Laine, shared an enduring partnership in jazz for over fifty years. A 'breaking news' story on this appears in Jazzwise magazine's online pages here:

http://www.jazzwisemagazine.com/component/content/article/51-2009/11127-jazz-breaking-news-giant-of-british-jazz-sir-john-dankworth-dies-at-82

[Teasing the Korean]

One of my heroes. I will have to spin Zodiac or Modesty Blaise or something.

[J.A.W.]

Sad news. I enjoyed some of the stuff he did in the 1960s.

Edited February 6, 2010 by J.A.W.

[BFrank]

I didn't know that he wrote The Avengers theme.

John Dankworth, legend of British jazz, dies at 82

[jeffcrom]

Sorry to hear this. I spun my Capitol 45 of "Experiments With Mice," which is pretty funny, for a musician friend about two weeks ago.

[Teasing the Korean]

I didn't know that he wrote The Avengers theme.

John Dankworth, legend of British jazz, dies at 82

He wrote the FIRST Avengers Theme.

The more famous theme was composed by Laurie Johnson.

[brownie]

Among various accomplishments, Dankworth wrote the music for several of Joseph Losey's best films including 'The Servant' and 'Accident'.

[A Lark Ascending]

Very sad. And strange as I was browsing the online stores only yesterday trying to see if there was an overview I might get hold of.

He was a bit before my time. When I became interested in music in the 70s he was part of a very 'luvvy' TV series with Cleo, James Galway, John Williams etc so I blanked out on him. But hearing things on the radio from the 50s and 60s has made me realise that there was so much more to him. And that music is wonderfully evocative of that time.

Two very talented kids too. And dedicated to music education. Turned his home in Buckinghamshire into a performance and education centre.

[sidewinder]

Sad news and his presence on the UK jazz scene will be very much missed . A series of fabulous big bands from the 50s through to the 70s in particular and some great big band albums on Fontana and Philips (of which 'Windmill Tilter' is my favourite). Anyone around in this country in the 60s and 70s in particular will have had their sound world from TV very much influenced by his tunes. It was good though that he remained very much active on the concert scene with Dame Cleo, Jacqui and Alec Dankworth over the past few years.

'Windmill Tilter' and 'Full Circle' will be put on the deck in tribute today. RIP Sir John and sympathies to Dame Cleo and family.

Edited February 7, 2010 by sidewinder

[RogerF]

Sir John wrote the first Avengers theme which featured Honor Blackman (as Teasing correctly points out above) but unfortunately the BBC in their haste, played both his theme and the later, better known one composed by Laurie Johnson on the Radio 4 news reports of his death. The irony is that these Avengers shows were broadcast on commercial TV, whilst Dankworth's even better know theme tune 'Tomorrow's World' was a BBC tv show and they didn't play that!

[brownie]

This EMI double CD was a pretty good survey of the Danksworth big band music from 1953 to 1960!

[The Rep]

John Dankworth R.I.P. died 6 th February 2010.

This is very sad news, very sad news. It is not just another great musician dying but what he has done for the british music scene. I first came into contact with John and Cleo when Cleo and her sister ran a small cafe in Hounslow, 4 or 5 miles from London airport. I played in the back garden with Cleo's son Stewart, from a previous relationship. I remember the talk that she was going to audition for John and then the photographs going up on the wall as they became more well known. It was due to this early contact that I followed Johnny Dankworths band and the musicians that past through it, including Ronnie Scott. He was a fan and played with Charlie Parker. In the 1950s he had a band The Dankworth Seven with John on Alto, Jimmy Deuchar played trumpet, Trombone was played by Eddie Harvey, the great Don Rendell on tenor, Bill Le Sage on piano, bass was Eric Dawson and on the drums Tony Kinsey. I think some of the best recordings of Johns bands are those by the Alec & John Generation Big Band. Alec, Johns son, plays the double bass and is much in demand. The story is that on a tour of the USA when Alec was a young boy, he met the comedian Bill Cosby, who gave Alec a double bass and tutor books, he had been trying to learn with. So that is how Alec became a bass player. The work that John and Cleo have done for the young musicians of the UK is beyond calculation and too great to put a value on. They have literally made there home a refuge for young musicians. I think if I was speaking to someone who knew nothing of John as a musician I would direct them to the clarinet solo in Born On A Friday with Cleo Laine, from the live recording at Carnegie Hall 1977. Our best wishes go to John's family and a big thank you to John himself. John Dankworth R.I.P.

The Rep.

[sidewinder]

whilst Dankworth's even better know theme tune 'Tomorrow's World' was a BBC tv show and they didn't play that!

A gem. Kenny Wheeler on flugel too I think. Always wondered who played trombone on that one (Eddie Harvey?)

Here's the music -

Tomorrow's World Theme

Edited February 7, 2010 by sidewinder

[sidewinder]

A moving description of Dame Cleo and the Wavendon show here from The Times:

Wavendon Show

Edited February 7, 2010 by sidewinder

[lesterperkins]

Here is a short video tribute I put together for Sir John Dankworth.

http://www.jazzonthetube.com/videos/sir-john-dankworth/sir-john-dankworth.html

[Jazzjet]

Here is a short video tribute I put together for Sir John Dankworth.

http://www.jazzonthetube.com/videos/sir-john-dankworth/sir-john-dankworth.html

There is a repeat showing of a programme in the Legends series on John Dankworth and Cleo Laine, to be broadcast this coming Sunday ( 21 February ) on BBC 4 at 2200 hrs.

John Dankworth - Legends

You would hope that the BBC could dig out some of their Jazz 625 material as an additional tribute ( looked like some of it was used in the news clip ).

[sidewinder]

You would hope that the BBC could dig out some of their Jazz 625 material as an additional tribute ( looked like some of it was used in the news clip ).

Yes - there were tantalising glimpses in the footage of at least one "Jazz 625" with the full big band and the likes of Kenny Wheeler, Eddie Harvey and Alfie Reese in the lineup, by the looks of it. They need to broadcast that one in full !

There were also excerpts from the Dankworth small group broadcast with Cleo Laine which I think was last broadcast around the time of 'Jazz Britannia'.

[Jazzjet]

The BBC have so far failed to come up with a decent tribute to John Dankworth - pretty shameful when you consider the amount of material they have in their vaults - but the More4 UK channel is airing a programme titled 'The Show Went On' this Saturday ( 10th April ). This, apparently, will recall the life and career of John Dankworth as well as include footage of the concert when Cleo Laine broke news of John's death.

[Michael Weiss]

Had a nice experience playing with Dankworth and Cleo Laine at a Billy Taylor 80th birthday tribute at the Kennedy Center around eight years ago. Real pros.