Song for Sunday: Return From the Ashes
For those of a certain age, John Dankworth will always be stood slightly behind the massive perm of his missus Cleo Laine, quietly huffing on his tenor sax as he accompanied her on a spot on whichever light entertainment show Brucie or Tarby were hosting that particular week; but there is far more to him than that-not least some cracking easy beat albums! A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in the 1940's, John's modern jazz combo was the top of the pile in the UK for the whole length of the 50's and well into the next decade. When top stars like Oscar Peterson or Ella Fitzgerald visited these shores, they turned to one man for the backing, and for good reason. The later 1950's saw his first moves in scoring for film, which proved to be a popular sideline for many years and extended into the world of theater and stage shows. To offset the increasing amount of variety bookings with his wife, his own work seems to have taken a more highbrow path in the 70's with commissions from the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Shakespeare Company to name but two. Awarded the OBE in the early 80's Dankworth's work subsequently took him across the globe as musical director for just about every major orchestra on the planet, and to this very day he is still very active in the field.
- Lords of Lounge Volume 5, Vinyl Vulture
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