Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE, known as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist, clarinettist and writer of film scores.
24 Facts About John Dankworth
2.
John Dankworth had violin and piano lessons before settling eventually on the clarinet at the age of 16, after hearing a record of the Benny Goodman Quartet.
3.
John Dankworth began his career on the British jazz scene after studying at London's Royal Academy of Music and then national service in the Royal Air Force, during which he played alto sax and clarinet for RAF Music Services.
4.
John Dankworth attended the Paris Jazz Festival in 1949 and played with Charlie Parker.
5.
Parker's comments about Dankworth led to the engagement of the young British jazz musician for a short tour of Sweden, with the soprano-saxophonist Sidney Bechet.
6.
In 1950, John Dankworth formed a small group, the John Dankworth Seven, as a vehicle for his writing activities as well as a showcase for several young jazz players, including himself, Jimmy Deuchar, Eddie Harvey, Don Rendell, Bill Le Sage, Eric Dawson and Tony Kinsey.
7.
John Dankworth's band performed at a jazz event at New York's Lewisohn stadium where Louis Armstrong joined them for a set.
8.
In 1959, John Dankworth became chair of the Stars Campaign for Inter-Racial Friendship, set up to combat the fascist White Defence League.
9.
John Dankworth wrote the scores for the films Darling and Modesty Blaise and Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment.
10.
John Dankworth was commissioned to write a piece for the 1967 Farnham Festival; and produced "Tom Sawyer's Saturday"; written for full orchestra and narrator: "a sort of 'Peter and the Wolf' which could be played by most reasonably competent youth orchestras".
11.
John Dankworth recorded an album of symphonic arrangements of many Ellington tunes featuring another Ellingtonian trumpet soloist Barry Lee Hall.
12.
John Dankworth retained his Ellington links by performing with the Ellington Orchestra under the direction of Duke's son, Mercer Ellington.
13.
John Dankworth recorded various symphonic albums with Dizzy Gillespie and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and others.
14.
John Dankworth always had an enthusiasm for jazz education, for many years running the Allmusic summer schools at the Stables in Wavendon near Milton Keynes, a theatre that Laine and he created in January 1970 in their back garden.
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From 1984 to 1986, John Dankworth was professor of music at Gresham College, London, giving free public lectures.
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In 1982, John Dankworth was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music.
17.
John Dankworth appeared with Craig David on Later with Jools Holland on BBC Two.
18.
John Dankworth set up his own record label, Qnotes, in 2003, to reissue some of his old recordings as well as new ones.
19.
John Dankworth was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2006 New Year's Honours List.
20.
John Dankworth remained an active composer into later life, and he wrote a jazz violin concerto for soloist Christian Garrick to play.
21.
In October 2009, at the end of a US tour with his wife, John Dankworth was taken ill.
22.
John Dankworth did return to the concert stage for just one solo at the London Jazz Festival at the Royal Festival Hall, London, in December 2009.
23.
John Dankworth died on 6 February 2010, aged 82, on the afternoon before a show celebrating the 40th anniversary of the foundation of The Stables.
24.
John Dankworth's funeral took place on 1 March 2010 at Milton Keynes Crematorium, followed by a memorial service held at the Stables the same day.