Lightfoot At Lansdowne

Description

Terry Lightfoot formed his first band in 1956 and many top players, and later band leaders, passed through its ranks including Kenny Ball, Alan Elsdon, the legendary Sonny Morris, Graeme Bell, and Cream's Ginger Baker.

Although he had previously been a member of Chris Barber's amateur band and the Yorkshire Jazz Band, the trumpeter on these recordings, Dicky Hawdon, caused a stir by joining the Lightfoot band because he had been playing more modern styles of jazz alongside Johhny Dankworth and Tubby Hayes by 1961. Trombonist Roy Williams was a burgeoning talent and his period with the Lightfoot band was just prior to him joining the Alex Welsh band and seriously establishing himself as a world class trombonist - a position he holds today.

Terry Lightfoot himself is a fluent and articulate player. His band was immensely popular as is borne out by the fact that they released 10 singles and 5 LPs in a four year period from 1960 to 1964 (roughly the same as the chart-topping Acker Bilk band). The Lightfoot band produced accessible, swinging traditional jazz to a high standard and with eye on the commercial market. Terry Lightfoot still leads a popular band today that pulls in audiences all over the UK with a reputation which was built on recordings such as this in the 1960s.