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John Dankworth

Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, known in his early career as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist and clarinetist. He was the husband of jazz singer Cleo Laine.

Born in Woodford, Essex, he grew up, within a family of musicians, in Walthamstow in its suburb of Highams Park and attended 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 army, he began a career on the British jazz scene. In 1949 he attended the Paris Jazz Festival and played with Charlie Parker. Parker's comments about Dankworth led to the engagement of the young British jazzman 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 (trumpet), Eddie Harvey (trombone), Don Rendell (tenor sax), Bill Le Sage (piano), Eric Dawson (bass) and Tony Kinsey (drums). After three successful years, the group was wound up, although it re-formed for several reunions over the years. Dankworth formed his big band in 1953.

The band was soon earning plaudits from the critics and was invited to the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival. The New York Times critic said of this appearance "... Mr. Dankworth’s group ... showed the underlying merit that made big bands successful many years ago - the swinging drive, the harmonic colour and the support in depth for soloists that is possible when a disciplined, imaginatively directed band has worked together for a long time. This English group has a flowing, unforced, rhythmic drive that has virtually disappeared from American bands."

The band performed at the Birdland jazz club in New York and shortly afterwards shared the stage with the Duke Ellington Orchestra for a number of concerts. Dankworth’s band also performed at a jazz event at New York’s Lewisohn stadium where Louis Armstrong joined them for a set. By now, Cleo Laine's singing was a regular feature of Dankworth's recordings and public appearances and they married in 1958.

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Extended Analysis

John Dankworth: What The Dickens! / Off Duty!

Read "John Dankworth: What The Dickens! / Off Duty!" reviewed by Duncan Heining


John DankworthWhat The Dickens! / Off Duty!Dutton Vocalion2012 (1963/1969)This reissue contains two very different prospects. Off Duty!is really Dankworth-lite. What The Dickens!, by contrast, is the real thing and one of four fine suites the orchestra recorded in the '60s-that's counting wife Cleo Laine's Shakespeare and All That Jazz(Fontana, 1964) here as well. Dankworth's work often invites admiration in critics first and only pleasure and deeper satisfactions later. Perhaps to some, he ...

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Big Band Report

Farewell, Sir John

Read "Farewell, Sir John" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Some of us are old enough to remember when Sir John Dankworth was simply Johnny Dankworth, and quite simply one of the finest jazz musicians Great Britain has ever produced. Johnny became Sir John in 2006 when he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, nine years after his wife, the marvelous singer Cleo Laine, was made a Dame of the British Empire.

As befits a Knight of the Realm, Dankworth, who died February 6 at age 82, wore many hats during ...

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Video / DVD

Johnny Dankworth: What the Dickens!

Johnny Dankworth: What the Dickens!

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

One of Britain's finest jazz musicians, arrangers and composers was Johnny Dankworth. The alto saxophonist and big band leader was best known here as the husband of singer Cleo Laine. The pair married in 1958 and made the rounds of variety shows for years. But Dankworth was a giant in his own right and one of the U.K.'s most inventive arranger-composers. His recording career began in 1944 and by the late 1940s he was recording bebop. Once the 12-inch LP ...

TV / Film

Documentary: Johnny Dankworth

Documentary: Johnny Dankworth

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Jazz in Britain has a glorious and robust past. From the 1920 and '30s up until World War II in 1939, jazz in the U.K. was largely sweet and hotel in dance-band style. Bands were formal and highly accomplished. Remember, Cherokee was by Ray Noble, the English bandleader, composer and arranger who recorded it first in 1938. He also wrote The Touch of Your Lips, I Hadn't Anyone Till You and The Very Thought of You among many other songs. ...

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Obituary

John Dankworth, RIP

John Dankworth, RIP

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey


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Obituary

Saxophonist Sir John Dankworth Dies

Saxophonist Sir John Dankworth Dies

Source: All About Jazz

Sir John Dankworth, a totemic figure of the British jazz scene who worked as a musical director for artists including Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald, has died at the age of 82. The saxophonist, whose career spanned more than half a century, died yesterday in King Edward VII hospital, London. He had been ill for several months. Dankworth enjoyed a parallel career as a film and television composer, and wrote the theme tune for television shows The Avengers and ...

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Performance / Tour

Cleo Laine with John Dankworth Group in Concert at Pepperdine University

Cleo Laine with John Dankworth Group in Concert at Pepperdine University

Source: All About Jazz

Hear the fabulous Cleo Laine with the John Dankworth Group in concert at Pepperdine University in Malibu.

Friday, September 18!

Cleo Laine is a singer who has done just about everything. She's played everywhere - English dance halls to London's Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie to the Blue Note Cafe. She's been on stage, on Broadway, to London's West End, done opera and the BBC.

The London-born Laine can sing opera or jazz with her set of multi-octave pipes. A star ...

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Event

Cleo Laine & John Dankworth To Perform for Boston Area Fundraiser

Cleo Laine & John Dankworth  To Perform for Boston Area Fundraiser

Source: All About Jazz

Jazz Vocalist Cleo Laine and Saxophonist John Dankworth To Appear At The 13th Annual Barry L. Price Center Fundraiser Friday, October 22, 2004 Holiday Inn-Brookline Greater Boston's annual gala for the Barry L. Price Rehabilitation Center will this year feature singer Cleo Laine and saxophonist John Dankworth on Friday, October 22 at the Holiday Inn-Brookline (1200 Beacon Street, Brookline, Massachusetts; wheelchair accessible). This annual evening fundraiser featuring dinner and a gala party ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

John Dankworth: What...

Dutton Vocalion
2012

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Big Band, 1920s-1970s

Challenge Jazz
2004

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Symphonic Fusions

Challenge Jazz
1986

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Fair Oak Fusions

Challenge Jazz
1982

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And London...

Challenge Jazz
1973

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Johnny Dankworth /...

Challenge Jazz
1972

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