Tommy Whittle
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
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.
Whittle was born in Grangemouth, Scotland and started playing clarinet at age 12 before taking up the 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...
at 13. He moved to Chatham, Kent at 16 and in 1943 started playing in the dance hall band of Claude Giddins in nearby Gillingham. During the 1940s, Whittle played with Johnny Claes
Johnny Claes
Octave John "Johnny" Claes was a racing driver from Belgium. Before his fame as a racing driver, Claes was also a jazz trumpeter and successful bandleader in Britain.-Early life and jazz career:...
, Lew Stone
Lew Stone
Lew Stone was a British dance band leader and arranger. He was well known in Britain during the 1930s.Stone learned music at an early age and became an accomplished pianist. In the 1920s, he worked with many important dance bands...
, Carl Barriteau
Carl Barriteau
Carl Alrich Stanley Barriteau was a jazz clarinetist.Barriteau was raised in Maracaibo, Venezuela. He played tenor horn in Trinidad from 1926 to 1932, then played clarinet in a local police band from 1933 to 1936. At the same time, he also played in Port of Spain with the Jazz Hounds and the...
and Harry Hayes
Harry Hayes
Harry Hayes may refer to:*Juán Enrique Hayes , Argentine footballer*Enrique Ricardo Hayes, Argentine footballer and son of Juán Enrique Hayes*Harry Hays , Canadian politician*Harry T. Hays , American army officer...
. In 1946 he joined Ted Heath's band, playing with him until 1952 when he moved on to play in Tony Kinsey's small group at the 51 Club in London. Later in the 1950s he joined Cyril Stapleton
Cyril Stapleton
Cyril Stapleton was an English violinist and jazz bandleader.Born in Mapperley, Nottingham, Stapleton began playing violin at age 7, and played on local radio at the age of 12. He performed on the BBC Radio often in his teenage years, and played in film orchestras accompanying silent films...
's BBC Show Band where he became featured as a soloist in nationwide broadcasts. In April 1954 he formed his own quintet with Harry Klein and Dill Jones, later touring with a ten piece band for 14 months. He then led various small groups as well as doing Jazz club work. In 1955 he was voted Britain's top tenor-sax player in the New Musical Express poll and topped the Melody Maker poll the following year. During the 1950s he took his sextet to France and the USA and in 1956 took a quartet (with Eddie Thompson
Eddie Thompson (musician)
Eddie Thompson b. London 31 May 1925, d. 6 November 1986 was a British jazz pianist.After studying at the same school for the blind as George Shearing, Thompson recorded with Victor Feldman in the late 1940s. In the 1950s he worked with Tony Crombie, Vic Ash, Freddy Randall and Tommy Whittle and...
, Brian Brocklehurst and Jackie Dougan
Jackie Dougan
Jackie Dougan was a British jazz drummer.A member of Tommy Whittle's and Eddie Thompson's groups in the 1950s, he joined the Dick Morrissey Quartet in the early 1960s...
) to the USA in exchange for a visit by Gerry Mulligan
Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also...
. He also briefly deputized in the Stan Kenton
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
Band which was touring the UK. In 1958 he took up the post of Band Leader at the Dorchester hotel in London where he stayed until early 1961. Then followed a long period with the Jack Parnell
Jack Parnell
John Russell Parnell was an English bandleader and musician.-Biography:Parnell was born into a theatrical family in London....
ATV Orchestra and later with Laurie Johnson's London Big Band while he continued to play regularly at Jazz clubs. During this time he also recorded with Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
. During the 1980s and 1990s, as well as an enduring commitment to Jazz, he was also in demand as a session musician and often appeared in the Ted Heath Band, now led by Don Lusher who was a trombonist in the Heath band for many years. Through the 1990s and 2000s he continued to lead his own quartet and accompanied the successful Ella Fitzgerald Songbook, a show devised by singer Barbara Jay (his wife). Also during this period he became a member and then leader of the Pizza Express Allstars Jazz Band. In July 2005 Whittle was awarded the prestigious medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians
Worshipful Company of Musicians
The Worshipful Company of Musicians is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. Its history dates back to at least 1350. Originally a specialist guild for musicians, its role became an anachronism in the 18th century, when the centre of music making in London moved from the City to the...
for lifetime achievement in British jazz. He was still performing as late as 2010 at Ronnie Scott's
Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club
Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a jazz club which has operated in London since 1959.The club opened on 30 October 1959 in a basement at 39 Gerrard Street in London's Soho district. It was managed by musicians Ronnie Scott and Pete King. In 1965 it moved to a larger venue nearby at 47 Frith Street...
in London.