Johnny Dankworth

about

Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE (20 September 1927 – 6 February 2010), also known as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist and clarinetist, and writer of film scores. With his wife, jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine, he was a music educator and also served as her music director. Born in Woodford, Essex, he grew up, within a family of musicians, in Highams Park, a suburb of Chingford, and attended Selwyn Boys' (Junior) School in Highams Park and later Sir George Monoux Grammar School in Walthamstow. He had violin and piano lessons before settling eventually on the clarinet at the age of 16, after hearing a record of the Benny Goodman Quartet. Soon afterwards, inspired by Johnny Hodges, he learned to play the alto saxophone. After studying at London's Royal Academy of Music (where his jazz interests were frowned upon) and then national service in the RAF, during which he played alto sax and clarinet for RAF Music Services, he began a career on the British jazz scene. He attended the Paris Jazz Festival in 1949 and played with Charlie Parker. Parker's comments about Dankworth led to the engagement of the young British jazz musician for a short tour of Sweden with the soprano-saxophonist Sidney Bechet. Dankworth was voted Musician of the Year in 1949. In 1950, Dankworth formed a small group, the Dankworth Seven, as a vehicle for his writing activities as well as a showcase for several young jazz players, including himself (alto sax), Jimmy Deuchar (trum

top songs

albums

Johnny Dankworth / Let's Slip Away - Film And TV 1960 - 1973

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Greatest Hits Of The 60s

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The KPM 1000 Series - Volume 2

The Very Best Of

Johnny Dankworth / Let's Slip Away - Film And TV 1960 - 1973 (2CD Set)

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KPM 1000 Series: Impact and Action (Volume 2)

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Pure 60s

1953-1958

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Best Of The Sixties [EMI] (Disc 6)

The Classic Years

The Best Of Johnny Dankworth

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60s

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