Ken Colyer

Ken Colyer ( born April 18, 1928 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, † March 8, 1988 in Les Issambres in southern France ) was a British jazz and Skifflemusiker.

Colyer taught himself to play the guitar and trumpet. In 1949, he was with his brother Bill Colyer, one of the founding members of the Crane River Jazz Band, which in 1951 he left again to join on the basis of a command of the merchant navy. He came to New Orleans, where he performed with various known musicians from the surrounding area. In 1953 he returned to England and joined a band of Monty Sunshine, Chris Barber, Lonnie Donegan and so on, Ken Colyer 's Jazzmen & the Skiffle Group was called. The very next year he resigned from the band ( which then changed its name to Chris Barber 's Jazz Band). Ken Colyer had other musical ideas and led under the name, Ken Colyer 's Jazzmen his band with other musicians on.

In the late 1950s he brought George Lewis as guest soloists to Europe.

In 1954 he was a member of various jazz and Skifflebands and made briefly recordings for Decca Records. In his famous jazz band that he led the mid-1950s, playing among others also Acker Bilk, Mac Duncan, Ian Wheeler, Ray Foxley, Sammy Rimington, Cyril Davis, Alexis Korner, Geoff Cole, Graham Stewart, John Bastable, Ron Ward and Colin Bowden with. Also in the 1960s and 1970s Colyer was still active with his own bands and also founded his own record label KC Records. In the early 1980s, he became leader of the All-Star Jazzmen.

Disco Graphical Notes

  • In the Beginning ( Lake 1953 /54)
  • Club Session with Ken Colyer ( Lake, 1956)
  • Up Jumped the Devil ( Upbeat 1957 /58)
  • Studio 51 Revisited ( Lake, 1958)
  • Colyer 's Pleasure ( Lake 1962 /63)
  • Ragtime Revisited (Joy, 1970)
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