Randolph Colville was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 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...

 swing clarinettist, saxophonist, bandleader

Bandleader

A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....

 and arranger born in Glasgow, Scotland, perhaps best-known for his work with the Keith Nichols

Keith Nichols

Keith Nichols is a jazz multi-instrumentalist and arranger, a player of the piano, trombone, reeds, and accordion.Born in Ilford, Essex, UK, Nichols was a child actor and an award winning accordionist in his youth. Keith tends to play mostly ragtime tunes, gaining notoriety in the 1970s in London...

 Midnite Follies Orchestra

Midnite Follies Orchestra

Midnite Follies Orchestra was formed in Britain in 1978 by jazz musicians Keith Nichols and Alan Cohen, dedicated to recreating standards by some of jazzs' greats. The orchestra more or less disbanded in the 1990s...

.

Colville began his studies at Robert Gordon's College

Robert Gordon's College

Robert Gordon's College is a private co-educational day school in Aberdeen, Scotland. The school caters for pupils from Nursery-S6.-History:...

 in 1958, and graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music

Royal Northern College of Music

The Royal Northern College of Music is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Chorlton on Medlock, at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester and is one of four conservatories associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music...

 in Manchester, England, teaching clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

 there years later. Colville soon became a regular of the Manchester music scene, playing with a number of local groups throughout the 1960s.

In 1974 Colville headed up his own version of the legendary Saints Jazz Band along with saxophonist Dave Mott and trumpeter Doug Waley. In 1975 a Colville-led quartet

Quartet

In music, a quartet is a method of instrumentation , used to perform a musical composition, and consisting of four parts.-Western art music:...

 assisted American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 Teddy Wilson

Teddy Wilson

Theodore Shaw "Teddy" Wilson was an American jazz pianist whose sophisticated and elegant style was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.-Biography:Wilson was born in Austin, Texas in...

 on his tour of Britain that year.

In the 1980s Colville became a member of the Midnite Follies Orchestra

Midnite Follies Orchestra

Midnite Follies Orchestra was formed in Britain in 1978 by jazz musicians Keith Nichols and Alan Cohen, dedicated to recreating standards by some of jazzs' greats. The orchestra more or less disbanded in the 1990s...

, a band co-led by Keith Nichols

Keith Nichols

Keith Nichols is a jazz multi-instrumentalist and arranger, a player of the piano, trombone, reeds, and accordion.Born in Ilford, Essex, UK, Nichols was a child actor and an award winning accordionist in his youth. Keith tends to play mostly ragtime tunes, gaining notoriety in the 1970s in London...

 and Alan Cohen. Over his career Colville worked and recorded with several artists, including Humphrey Lyttelton

Humphrey Lyttelton

Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton , also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster, and chairman of the BBC radio comedy programme I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue...

, Yank Lawson

Yank Lawson

John Rhea "Yank" Lawson was a jazz trumpeter known for Dixieland and swing music....

, Billy Butterfield

Billy Butterfield

Billy Butterfield was a band leader, jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and cornetist.He studied cornet with Frank Simons, but later switched to studying medicine. He did not give up on music and quit medicine after finding success as a trumpeter. Early in his career he played in the band of Austin Wylie...

, Ralph Sutton

Ralph Sutton

Ralph Earl Sutton was an American jazz pianist born in Hamburg, Missouri. He was a stride pianist in the tradition of James P. Johnson and Fats Waller....

 and Al Casey.