R.I.P Kenny Ball

[flyfisher]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21700146

This is starting to feel like a bad year for losing musicians.

[Happy Jack]

They all are, mate.

[yepmop]

Really sad day, Kenny Ball great Jazz Musician.

[flyfisher]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1362662888' post='2002925']
They all are, mate.
[/quote]

True. I should have said this years seems worse than others for some reason.

[seashell]

RIP Ken :-(

[tonyf]

Whilst not my bag, my folks used to have a lot of his stuff in their record collection so I've heard quite a bit of Kenny's work over the years.

With him and Alvin Lee going over the past day or so, I'd concur with everyone else that it seems like a bad year.

RIP Kenny.

[Earbrass]

I remember [i]The Green Leaves of Summer [/i] being played a lot on the Dansette when I was a nipper. I am also reminded of an edition of [i]I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue [/i]in which Humph was explaining the rules of a "spot the connection" round - "For example, if I said Alan [b]Ball[/b], Kenny [b]Ball[/b] and Johnny [b]Ball[/b], the obvious connection is that none of them has ever fully mastered the trumpet". RIP to them both.

[Hutton]

I remember my wife and I dancing to Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen when they had a gig at Scarborough in the 70s. Kenny was a great musician and entertainer. A sad loss.

[paul_5]

Bugger.

[Phantomnin]

Saw him live twice, although last one was twenty years ago. Very good trad player and a real character.

[steve-bbb]

There was a radio 2 special on him only a couple of weeks ago and very entertaining it was too

[goingdownslow]

Always blowing his own trumpet.
R.I.P. Kenny.

[seashell]

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1362678277' post='2003288']
There was a radio 2 special on him only a couple of weeks ago and very entertaining it was too
[/quote]

Yes I caught this by accident when driving home from a rehearsal. Really good.

[Roger2611]

My dad brought him to Northampton to play at Spinney Hill Hall when I was a kid, I didn't really appreciate what a top musician he was at the time, my dad would have been saddened by the loss of another jazz great

[leftyhook]

Loved it when he played "KING OF THE SWINGERS" when i was a kid. It was sometimes the nearest I got to experiencing Jungle Book until the odd snippet Disney Christmas special.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Remember him being on TV a lot when I was a kid. Shame, he seemed like a real character

[bassace]

I played with him twice. Not only a very good musician but he had a very good recall of past gigs and people he had known, some of them fifty years ago. He struck me as someone who had a genuine interest in other people. A nice guy.

[seashell]

[quote name='bassace' timestamp='1362690828' post='2003535']
I played with him twice. Not only a very good musician but he had a very good recall of past gigs and people he had known, some of them fifty years ago. He struck me as someone who had a genuine interest in other people. A nice guy.
[/quote]

That's good to hear.
And I've just remembered I saw him play! It was at Sunbury on Thames regatta in the early seventies when I was a kid. :-)

[dudewheresmybass]

I saw him at a show about 25 years ago.
An amazing musician, with an amazing band. Got to meet him afterwards, and was struck with what a down to earth nice guy he was. I was about 15 at the time and he was so inspiring musically and personally

Edited March 8, 2013 by dudewheresmybass