Edwin "Eddie" Mordue was a British jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 saxophonist whose career spanned 70 years.

Born in South Shields

South Shields

South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne and Wear, England, located at the mouth of the River Tyne to Tyne Dock, and about downstream from Newcastle upon Tyne...

 in January 1928, Edwin Mordue moved to London in 1941 aged 13 and toured with 'Archie's Juvenile Band'. During the Second World War he player tenor saxophone

Tenor saxophone

The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...

 with the Eric Winstone

Eric Winstone

Eric Winstone was an English big band leader and composer.Playing piano in his spare time from a job as Westminster Gas and Coke Company led him to form his first band in 1935...

 Band where he met singer Julie Dawn, who he married after the war. The couple went on to record and perform with Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

, Gene Kelly

Gene Kelly

Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...

 and Sammy Davis, Jr.

Sammy Davis, Jr.

Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities....

. Eddie joined the Jack Nathan Band in 1951, a regular at the London Palladium

London Palladium

The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety...

 and the emerging West End jazz scene, then worked as a freelance loaning his sound to the benefit of Nat King Cole

Nat King Cole

Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...

 and Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...

's last-ever concert.

Many recordings followed in the 60's including tracks with Dusty Springfield

Dusty Springfield

Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...

, Alexis Korner

Alexis Korner

Alexis Korner was a blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a Founding Father of British Blues"...

 and Shirley Bassey

Shirley Bassey

Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...

. Eddie remarried in 1967, his wife, Gudrun, bore him 3 sons.

During the 70's Eddie played on a number of television shows including Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...

, The Generation Game

The Generation Game

The Generation Game was a British gameshow produced by the BBC in which four teams of two competed to win prizes...

, The Two Ronnies

The Two Ronnies

The Two Ronnies is a British sketch show that aired on BBC1 from 1971 to 1987. It featured the double act of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, the "Two Ronnies" of the title.-Origins:...

, The Morecambe and Wise Show and Roy Castle

Roy Castle

Roy Castle OBE was an English dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television presenter and musician. He attended Honley High School, where there is now a building in his name...

's Record Breakers

Record Breakers

Record Breakers was a British children's TV show, themed around world records and produced by the BBC and originally presented by Roy Castle with twin brothers Norris McWhirter and Ross McWhirter. It was broadcast on BBC1 from 15 December 1972 to 21 December 2001...

 where he played the worlds smallest sopranino saxophone

Sopranino saxophone

The sopranino saxophone is one of the smallest members of the saxophone family. A sopranino saxophone is tuned in the key of E, and sounds an octave above the alto saxophone. This saxophone has a sweet sound and although the sopranino is one of the least common of the saxophones in regular use...

. He also recorded on a number of film soundtracks including 'The Pink Panther

The Pink Panther (1963 film)

The Pink Panther is a 1963 American comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and co-written by Edwards and Maurice Richlin, starring David Niven, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Capucine, and Claudia Cardinale...

 with Henry Mancini

Henry Mancini

Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...

 and the James Bond

James Bond

James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 films with John Barry

John Barry (composer)

John Barry Prendergast, OBE was an English conductor and composer of film music. He is best known for composing the soundtracks for 12 of the James Bond films between 1962 and 1987...

.

In his later years Eddie performed in concert halls and theatres on tour with the Ted Heath and Glen Miller tribute bands.

Edwin Mordue died January 2011.

External links

• http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/local-news/jazz_master_dies_at_83_1_3037564
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1341616/Julie-Dawn.html